When considering job candidates your goal is to learn as much about them as possible. But, even before you first make contact with a candidate, your candidates have already taken the time to learn about you.
In a recent study on recruiting trends, LinkedIn examined common hiring development activities both within the US and Canada, as well as globally. LinkedIn surveyed professionals by asking what professional development activities they’d done in the past month. Some of the most common ones included:- Researching job opportunities (45%)
- Networked for professional purposes (45%)
- Researched a company that interested me (40%)
So, even though only 30% of talent is actively seeking employment according to LinkedIn, almost half of the professionals they speak to are taking the time to learn about companies and jobs that they’re interested in.
This can be a great benefit to your talent acquisition efforts – if you know where to meet your potential talent. While it’s clear that your talent is looking at you, are you covering your bases and making sure that what they’re seeing is desirable? The last thing you want is to miss an opportunity with A+ talent because he or she didn’t like something they saw, heard, or found. But there are areas you can make efforts in to ensure that you won’t miss any top talent before they even reach out to you. Some ideas include:
- A Strong Web Presence: Make sure that not only your candidate can find you, they can find plenty of exciting things about you. Make sure your website offers a section for candidates to learn more about the company and/or job opportunities. Ensure that your website is mobile optimized – not only will it help your Google mobile rankings, but with more candidates depending on mobile for career research, it will make for an easier, painless experience for them. And it leaves a good impression on them as well.
- Encourage Your Employees: Candidates who professionally network will likely reach out to an employee or speak with someone they know who works for your company. While every employee is entitled to his or her own opinion, it helps to give employees a reason to be excited to talk about their work. An employee referral program can do wonders for your company’s perception to potential candidates – and it’s been proven that employee referrals often yield the best candidates.
- Don’t Lie About the Position: If a candidate is interested in your company they will be interested in researching the jobs that are available. When candidates go to the “careers” section of your page and look at a job description, make sure what they’re seeing is honest. It can seem easy to get a candidate excited and apply immediately to a position that sounds like “everything plus the kitchen sink,” but you’ll only set yourself and your candidates up for disappointment in the long term if you do. Make the job description exciting – but make it realistic to the job too.
To keep up with the latest ways to reach the best candidates available, continue to check the FurstPerson blog for more posts. And, to develop a top-notch quality of hire report card, download our whitepaper "Developing a Quality of Hire Report Card for A+ Results" below:
Topics: Talent Selection Ideas