We woke up to a new year where the job market belongs to candidates. Not long ago, candidates were afraid to leave a job because another one might not be available. Now, people have lots of choices, and recruiters need to ramp up their game when it comes to finding the best fit for a vacant position.
Candidates are less inclined to move too far from home. Instead of relocating personnel, employers are increasingly allowing new hires to work from home. Video conferencing and internet access allow people to contribute from anywhere. The caution on this trend is that working remotely will change the company culture. Owners and managers must be trained to be comfortable supervising remote employees.
Many job applications are moving to video. Paper resumes or online applications are taking second place to Youtube or Vimeo applications. You can see the candidate and get a sense of the fit right from the beginning, cutting down on time and expense.
With the scarcity of candidates to fill available openings, companies are looking inward. New emphasis is being put on internal career development, training and promotion of existing employees. Internal candidates are being screened and interviewed with the same rigor as external candidates, so the risk of bias is reduced as much as possible.
Today, managers and candidates alike are increasingly Millennials. They don’t want to sit through multiple interviews without feedback. Hiring managers and HR departments need to use social media channels – text, Twitter, Instagram and others – to communicate the progress of filling a position.
We need to tell the truth. Communicate your company culture honestly. Describe the management style of the person to whom the candidate will report. Have real employees talk about what it’s like to work there. The candidate will want to know if he/she is a fit for the culture, not just the position.
Focus on retention. The job market means that if an employee left a company to come to you, he/she could just as easily leave you to go somewhere else. Find out what motivates people and play to their needs, or someone else will.
As always, our professional recruiting team at Valley Personnel is ready and willing to help you and your company fill positions in this challenging market.