Feb 3, 2018 ● Carole Oldroyd
7 ways to make the full employment economy work for you
Nobody has to tell you that sourcing is hard work. Since the economy started to rebound just a few years ago, top candidates have become scarcer and active job seekers have become rarer still. Knowing that, it might surprise you to learn that the full-employment economy can work for you.
Why? Because it encourages you to think differently and try new things. The strategies that you develop and tools that you use now help form a better talent acquisition process for tomorrow. Post-and-pray might have worked before the recession. Now, talent acquisition is smarter and gets better results. Here’s how you can take advantage of the trends.
#1: Give Job Ads a Makeover
How boring are your job ads? How overly technical? Chances are, whatever you’re doing it could use a little refinement. In a full-employment economy, the overwhelming majority of job candidates are passive ones. Give your job ads a makeover to capture their attention when you find them. One of the most important elements in a job ad written for the passive market is concision, says HRM Australia. Say the right things, say them briefly and say them well. What do your job ads need?- The job definition: what tasks will the candidate perform, what is expected of them, and what are the company’s goals?
- The job story: how will the job benefit the candidate’s career?
- The company story: how does the employer brand fit into the picture?
- Team members and stakeholders: who will the candidate work with and report to?
- Technology: what tools will they have at their disposal?
- Soft skills: what skills, such as leadership, critical thinking and written communication, must the candidate possess?
- A wall of words: trim them down and tighten them up.
- Itemized requirements lists: top candidates already have the right education and experience.
- Unrealistic qualifications: does the candidate really need a graduate degree?
- Mechanical language: try to be conversational and engaging.
- Too many graphics: Real Jobs Hawaii says they look unprofessional. They can also bog down the load time for mobile users.
#2: Let Technology Help You Source Better
In this age of technology, you have numerous useful tools at your disposal. Use all of them to help you source talent better (and source better talent). Talent isn’t just in one place and they don’t necessarily have the same characteristics as they once did. Differences in the talent pool since the recession also change what full employment means. SHRM‘s Pamela Harding says one important difference is the freelancing community. Not only do they affect the employment statistics, sourcing is different for them than for people who want a full-time permanent position. Job matching technology helps make targeted recruitment advertising a reality. Predictive analytics helps you make smarter talent sourcing decisions. Artificial intelligence learns from the past for better decisions in the future.#3: Hand Over Tasks to Automation
Wouldn’t it be great to slide some chores off your plate and onto someone else’s? A co-worker might not appreciate the extra burden, but technology doesn’t mind. That’s what it was made for. Automation can handle your ad buys, confirmation emails, blog posts, social media replies and followup emails. It can walk a candidate through a text messaging screening survey. Based on survey results, it can take additional action.#4: Sharpen Your Sales Skills
Talent acquisition is now sales. In truth, it always has been. But in a full-employment economy, your candidates, who are your customers, don’t rush in to buy your product, which is the job. You have to sell them on why they want it. If you take a quick peek at current job ads for talent acquisition, you’ll see that sales skills matter. These are just a few things you’ll need to feel comfortable with:- Promoting the employer brand as the best possible choice
- Nurturing candidate leads to keep them in the talent acquisition funnel
- Actively listening to candidates for a better job/candidate fit
- Following up with candidates to keep them engaged
- Considering all candidates valuable, including those for whom a job isn’t available right now
- “A hunter’s mentality.” ERE says talent professionals have to know where to look, which tools to use and the best way to capture the attention of candidates.
#5: Broaden Your Sourcing Horizons
In line with the hunter’s mentality, to find passive candidates you have to know where and how to look. The easiest way to meet that goal is with technology. If you have the right tools, you don’t have to know offhand where to look. Technology does that for you and it constantly adapts. That can broaden your sourcing horizons far beyond what you’re used to. Here are just a few places they may be hiding:- Their own professional blog