Practical Tips to Improve Recruiting

Practical Tips to Improve Recruiting 

Recruitment has come a long way from the days of placing advertisements in a newspaper and waiting passively for applications to roll in. Today’s human resources departments need to be proactive and digital-minded to attract the top talent before competitors. To that end, ManpowerGroup’s Candidate Preferences Research helps employers understand the challenges of engaging with talent. Here are three practical ways that recruiters can improve the application process.

Treat customers as future employees

Your future star employees may be using your products right now. Satisfied customers are more likely to consider working for companies whose products they use. In many cases, customers already understand and share many of the core values of an organization through their interactions with the product or service. But historically, too little attention has been given to the consumer talent pool. But companies can invite customers to become part of the employee team by integrating HR messages into the broader brand communications and sharing resources with marketing and sales departments. For example, T-Mobile offers discounted calling plans to Veterans — a group it is committed to recruiting and hiring for its workforce.

Streamline the job application process

The job application is one of the first impressions a company makes on a potential job candidate – and the digital revolution has increased expectations. Technology has enabled us to get a driver in minutes with a push of a button, and groceries delivered to our doorstep with a few clicks in an app. Many job seekers expect – or at least appreciate – the same level of convenience in an application. In fact, half of all global candidates expect applying for a job to be as easy as buying products and services online, according to ManpowerGroup research. Is the application long and hard to navigate, or does it signal a streamlined organization with clear priorities?

Expand to new digital platforms

ManpowerGroup Solutions research has identified a new group of candidates known as Early HR Technology Adopters. This group uses three or more technologies in their job search, including a smartphone app, social media advertisement, virtual job fair, text message to or from a company, video interview, employer website chat, game or skills challenge test, or voice search via a virtual assistant. To reach this group, recruiters should post their openings in new digital spaces to attract Millennial talent where they are searching.

As the current methods to recruit new employees becomes saturated, companies will need to continue to differentiate themselves. These three tactics will help companies who are looking for the top talent to stand out and attract the best candidates.