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Though it's nearly been half a year since the Great Resignation became a major point of discussion, experts say that it's far from over. With recent surveys finding that even more employees wish to change jobs this year, the phenomenon of the candidate-led market is here to stay.
Under these circumstances, employers will have to exert more effort if they wish to hire and retain talent. As each company fights for the best candidates on the market, internal teams are adapting their sourcing methods accordingly. Below are a few things they're doing to adjust.
Positive branding
With candidates holding most of the cards, employers are now working hard to portray their organizations as the best places to work. Reinforcing a positive brand reputation is one way to stand out from the crowd. This is done by sharing the stories behind their brands to demonstrate firm missions and visions, clear brand messages, and expectations discussing company culture. These factors are usually designed to align with the interests of a company's ideal candidate – such as a strong emphasis on ESG principles for those focused on sustainability, for example.
Companies are also working internally to foster a strong work culture that celebrates employees' differences, has zero-tolerance for discrimination and harassment, respects work-life boundaries, and encourages greater job satisfaction and productivity. Addressing these aspects of working culture also tends to turn existing employees into brand ambassadors who can spread the word about their companies being appealing places to work.
Streamlined recruitment
Time is money, especially in a candidate-led market. A slow recruitment process gives candidates time to receive, consider, and even accept other job offers, so companies are working to make their hiring practices faster and more efficient. Many talent teams now aim to send out an initial job offer within 24 hours of a final interview, something that barely seemed possible even a year ago. To make this possible, successful talent teams spend a lot of time ensuring all parties involved in the hiring process know exactly what they’re looking for before beginning a search and ensure each stakeholder carves out the time needed for interviews.
We've also noted that companies can outsource recruitment to save time. This allows employers to focus on other tasks while ensuring the job gets done with the help of experts. Ultimately, it's a step businesses can take if they wish to recruit in the most effective way possible and know they don't have the knowledge to do that to the best of their ability. At the same time, it allows them to instead focus their time and energy on the parts of recruitment that they excel at — like onboarding. With the ability to exert additional effort in this way, internal teams can better focus on each candidate they wish to hire and further incentivize this much-needed talent to work for them.
Better incentives
Hiring the best talent involves offering more than just sick leave and vacation days. Noting the changing face of HR amid significant technological advances and diversifying workforces, compensation and benefits managersinstead find that offering relevant benefits plus competitive pay appeals to today's employees the most. For instance, candidates now look for the ability to establish flexible and hybrid work arrangements, as well as the provision of mental health resources and paid mental health leaves. Companies now make accommodations for single parents and working fathers with benefits like paternal leave, as well. Finally, they also offer clear opportunities for career growth and development through upskilling.
For their part, candidates are also letting go of the concept that each industry has a "typical" compensation rate. Instead, companies that successfully hire top talent base their offers on a candidate's skills and experience.
An emphasis on onboarding
Both in the U.S. and abroad, it has also been noted that candidates are increasingly ghosting employersafter taking a job offer, or on their supposed first day of work. In part, this may be due to the fact that they often juggle multiple job applications and offers simultaneously. Regardless, companies are moving to resolve the issue with early onboarding. This involves creating regular touchpoints between the job offer stage and a candidate's first day of work. Through this sort of initiative, recruiters can communicate via call or email to reinforce the message that the company looks forward to working with its fresh hire, and inquire if said hire has any apprehensions or needs any additional information about their new role.
Among other things, the pandemic has taught us that time is precious — and as a result, more people wish to do more meaningful work in a way that still allows them to live their lives to the fullest. As the resulting candidate-led trends continue to dominate the job market, it's clear that employers need to adapt to changing preferences if they wish to continue attracting and securing the best talent available.
If you need help hiring the best real estate and construction talent for your team, get in touch for an initial discussion on how Cobalt can help.
Content intended only for the use of cobaltrecruitment.com
Prepared by Alicia Brandon