It's a job-rich market (I'm telling you something you already know right?) There's a shortage of candidates that are willing to change roles. My advice.... think outside the box.
Treat your recruitment advertising like you would your sales and marketing.
Here are some of my top tips...
1. Clearly establish your aims and objectives and establish the vision
So, you know the position/s you want to fill, that’s a given. But what’s the longer-term vision here, is this a brand new role set to revolutionise the company, is this a rare opportunity, is this a crucial role, a role with potential for promotion, a role with clear personal development opportunities.
“Our objective is to fill the accounts team vacancy by the end of December 2021, with an aspirational graduate trainee, given that in 3-4 years the more senior role of management accountant will become available due to retirement plans.”
2. Bring your ideal candidate to life
Who is most likely to be interested in this position? Bring your recruit to life by getting under the skin of who they might be as a person, their likes and dislikes, their values and goals, who are they influenced by, what might be their objections, what are their challenges and pain points?
“Our recruit is most likely a recent graduate or a junior looking for their next step up, Generation Z, highly digitalised, a strong social conscience and considers the impact on the environment in most everything they do. They want to achieve career success quickly and are willing to put in the hard graft to do so. They’ve got strong support in the background; head screwed on and are driven and ambitious to succeed. They’re a social character, outgoing and confident, likeable with a good sense of humour – they must be to fit into our team! They’re happy with a salary of between £22-27K – for now”
3. Recruitment SWOT Analysis
A Recruitment SWOT Analysis is a way to assess a company’s (internal) strengths and weaknesses, as well as (external) opportunities and threats and to compare them with competitors.
Carrying out a SWOT analysis will help to show how the company performs within its industry against its peers. The findings can then be used to identify the ways in which the position you want to fill is better (or maybe not) than other similar roles in competing companies. It also will help to decide how best to write the job description and profile the position to attract the talent you need.
It’ll also help to anticipate any concerns that prospective candidates may have about the company and to negotiate from a position of knowledge when you find the person you want to recruit.
4. Decide on the key messages
Decide on the key things you want to get across to this new potential recruit. Be clear and concise, be sincere and truthful, distinguish your message from the noise of others, but keep it simple.
- “We’re looking for a graduate trainee”
- “Promotion for the right candidate within 2-3 years”
- “Join our team of superstars”
- “We’re flexible about work”
- “You’ll love working in our team”
- “An entry-level position with great opportunity to grow”
- “Training and ongoing personal development plan is just how we do things here”
- “What you’ll do for us” “What we’ll do for you”
Try not to narrow down your requirements too far, there is already a small pool of people out there, why make it even smaller?
5. Choose how you’ll get those messages out there
Bearing in mind that in the example I’ve used here, conventional job pages in the local paper will just not work. Remember this person is a Gen Z, so digitally minded and likely lives their life online.
It’s important to have a great job page on your website (ensure it's mobile-friendly and completely aligned with your brand) with all the information you can muster. Be completely transparent, say exactly what will be expected of the candidate and what the candidate can expect from working with you, not just the job, but all the benefits for the candidate and their families. Don't make them look very hard for it, and make sure they're not going to walk into a situation where they are not informed. No surprises.
Try including social sharing options – making it easy to tag people online who may be interested.
Once you’ve got the job page established, it’s time to start to market the message to your audience. Where do they hang out? Choose your channels; social media, job sites, LinkedIn, agencies. Whichever is your chosen method, one or all of them, the core messages and presentation should reflect all the good work you’ve poured into your job page.
Now all that’s left to do is put your plans into action.
Taking a marketing style approach to your recruitment advertising will pay dividends in this candidate-driven market. We're always on hand and delighted to help with your recruitment planning, please just drop me a line [email protected].
If you are curious to know what makes a candidate apply for your job, then check this out. Total Jobs have researched and compiled this report, it makes great reading.