Even though it is definitely an employer’s market out there at the moment, there is still a lot of recruitment activity, and candidates, particularly the really great ones, have choices. So, how do you stand out from the crowd?
The biggest error
The biggest error is writing a job description, rather than an Advertisement. Would you buy Coca Cola if the adverts were a list of the ingredients? (You probably wouldn’t ever drink it again if they did!). Recruitment advertising is the same; you need to sell things like why the role matters, what makes your workplace appealing, and how the candidate can grow with you. Rather than listing the duties (yawn).
How do you get in front of the “best” candidates?
This will definitely depend on your role and situation, but some generic things to consider are:
- If you want someone who is driven and ambitious, they are most likely successful in a role they are currently in, but fairly passively looking for their next opportunity – i.e. they are not necessarily looking on Job sites every day, so you will need to think about other ways for them to see your advert
- Are you in a very niche market? How are you going to get your advert in front of those candidates?
- Is the role suitable for “mummy hours” ? E.g. will accommodate flexibility and school hours of work. This may be someone who is returning to the workforce after a period of absence, so how do you get in front of them?
Don’t make the application process to complex
In today’s fast-moving, and phone based scrolling environment, those passively looking candidates will often have their interest piqued and click the “apply now” button. If they only have to attach a CV to the application, they will do it then and there. If they have to write a cover letter, they may put it on the back burner, and then not get round to applying.
Won’t this mean I get lots of applications to scroll through?
Spreading the net wide will definitely give you a better chance of finding the right candidate, but yes, it can mean you get lots of applications. The good news is that job sites such as Seek do a lot of the hard work for you with AI screening and categorising of candidates.
Where to Advertise
Seek for white-collar roles, and Trade Me for trades roles are still by far the most effective platforms in my opinion. However, in addition to that, I strongly recommend using social media, employee referrals, and your own website to push people towards the main Seek/Trade Me advert.
And the follow-on webinar – Interview strategy and best practice, can be viewed here