You’ve searched high, low and everywhere between for top talent. From database searches to endless collections of resumes, you just can’t seem to find the candidates that possess skills and characteristics needed to support your company's goals. With 32 percent of employers struggling to fill positions, you’re not alone. Talent scarcity is real — or is it?
The truth is there is no talent shortage, rather fewer easily-lured unemployed candidates. Top talent is out there, they’re just working for your competition instead. The secret to creating a talent surplus is simple: get in front of top talent, wherever they are. However, when the talent is with your competition, getting in front of them takes a little more tactical subtlety than when recruiting active candidates.
Employment branding is vital to reach passive candidates. Why? To lure the most desirable talent away from their existing employer, you’ll need to give potential candidates a compelling reason to look outside their current organization. By amplifying your employment brand, you’re effectively increasing your company’s visibility to top talent.
To convey a message that speaks to your ideal candidate, let data drive your employment brand strategy. To start, consider your company’s overall goals and mission. Then identify current performers that effectively impact the bottom line. Find out what their values are, what motivates them and how they identify with the current work environment. The goal is for passive candidates to see your message, via your career site or on your social pages, and think “this is the perfect fit for me and my future career aspirations.” Perhaps even more important, your employment brand should also instantly turn away those who don’t fit the organization’s mission.
Standard Application Tracking Systems (ATS) are a passive candidate repellent. Featuring a convoluted apply process and impersonal automated responses, the ATS application experience gives candidates, both active and passive, little hope that their submissions will actually be seen. For passive candidates, the idea of spending time on lengthy applications that will likely go to the “resume black hole” deters them from beginning the process altogether.
Instead, simplify the application experience by giving candidates a direct path to your opportunities. An ideal candidate management system works together with your career site to enable flexible job search and display options, and, provides candidates the option to apply on-the-go from any device.
Today’s seasoned, developed and proven talent seek more than a paycheck from their employer. Salary is important, but when it comes to making career decisions, top performers value meaningful work over money. Engage top talent by centering your employee value proposition around reciprocity. For instance:
Once you complete these tasks, your organization will be exceptionally more appealing to its target candidates. And once your candidate pool is overflowing with quality candidates who are eager to work for you, hiring will never be easier.
