3 Things Employers Must Do in Low Unemployment to Recruit Great Candidates

Article - Low Unemployment

 

With unemployment at 3.4% in Central Florida, you would think that there are no qualified job seekers left to fill your company's many open positions. However, this is just not the case. Many good candidates are seeking new employment but they need to be recruited a different way.
 

What am I talking about? The quit rate.


The national quit rate was up over 2% last quarter. The quit rate is the first sign in years that many people are leaving their current jobs for new ones. In what may be "full employment" in Orlando, the best candidates for your positions are currently working for your competitor; but many of these workers are ready to leave. (Just like some of your employees and it why employee recognition and incentive plans are booming…but that's another story).


How do you get your current jobs in front of this group of semi-passive job seekers?


All positions start with a well-written job posting that MUST talk about your company’s culture. You must make sure you the job is posted in more than one place keeping in mind that job boards come in all shapes and sizes. Job boards like Indeed will give you many active job seekers (most not qualified) while OrlandoJobs.com and other job boards can reach out to passive job seekers via powerful targeting technology. That same job should be posted to Facebook, LinkedIn (professional only) and Twitter. All these resources working together with your excellent job description will yield some excellent candidates. When used together, this strategy works great. It costs more, but to find the "quit rate" candidates that will make an impact in your company, the cost is very minimal. 


Here is the challenge. These candidates may have applied, but they still need to be recruited. Here are the three things you must do to make great hires in low employment:
 

  1. Contact qualified candidates immediately via text.
    If you are looking for exceptional candidates and send an email or leave a voicemail, you lose. Text great candidates directly and ask them when they can interview via phone or in person. For companies that have applicant tracking systems, make sure someone is responsible for checking these applications every couple hours. Many excellent candidates fall into the ATS black hole never to hear from you. A quick text changes that in a second.
     
  1. Make sure you have competitive compensation ready to go.
    Just like the quite rate, the nation is seeing wage increases for the first time in over ten years. Do not recruit great candidates who you can't hire because they will not leave their current jobs for lateral pay in most cases. In your initial screen with them (even via text), ask them what they are looking to earn. Too many companies spend time recruiting without knowing compensation expectations until later in the process causing all parties involved a lot of wasted time. 
     
  1. Hire fast.
    You already know this, but many of you are at the mercy of your internal hiring process. If you are struggling to hire exceptional candidates, examine one or two parts of the process that can be eliminated or sped up. One big thing is setting the first interview as quickly as possible and having all decision makers/hiring authorities ready to go that day, so you don't have to bring the candidate back for a second interview. Once you decide that this someone you want to hire, give them an immediate offer. You can't wait around. If you have a suitable interview process, this works well. Many companies want to interview everyone under the sun before they make an offer and that is a great way not to hire anyone in low unemployment.

 

Follow Roger Lear on Twitter @RogerLear1

 


 

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