Here are some simple tips that hiring managers and HR departments can use to positively influence an applicant’s decision to move forward, ensuring you secure the best talent for your business.
Social media sites are commonplace, making accessibility to employment information easier than ever before. But it works both ways – just as you evaluate candidates, they use the same channels to perform their own research and evaluation of potential employers. Candidates readily use channels such as LinkedIn to evaluate the people they’re scheduled to interview with, be managed by, or eventually work with.
But you would be surprised at the number of line managers with out of date profiles that don’t reflect their current job title and experience. So, in the same way we advise candidates, I like to reinforce to our clients the importance of keeping company and personal LinkedIn pages up to date.
Particularly for executive level candidates, willingness to offer and accommodate options for interviews in and around business hours or at offsite locations helps demonstrate to candidates your genuine interest in connecting.
Being flexible around when and how you interview candidates can help reduce feelings of potential frustration around scheduling conflicts
While traditional face-to-face meetings are still preferred for contact with candidates, effective outcomes can be achieved using video conferencing tools like Skype or Facetime to circumvent time and travel pressures.
Providing detailed feedback in a timely manner at various stages of the process is key to keeping candidates engaged, particularly if candidates are considering multiple opportunities. Unfortunately, we experience cases where clients miss out on candidates as they are too slow in providing feedback and keeping candidates up to date on their hiring process.
Setting clear expectations around hiring timelines can help candidates maintain interest over the process to avoid them pursuing other roles with businesses better able to provide progression towards an offer and contract.
In a buoyant market where you are often competing for candidates with several other companies, it pays to think creatively regarding offers and salary packaging. Given the evolution of expectations around flexible working arrangements, being open to options such as working from home, 9-day fortnights, earlier or later start and finish times, or working half days can provide the competitive edge you need to secure good talent.
Including a sign on bonus or extra annual leave can be appealing one-off options, while companies that offer health and wellness benefits or provide the ability for employees to volunteer during work hours can offer points of difference that persuade candidates during their decision making.
We can, of course, help you assess applicants’ salary expectations in relation to their credentials and in line with what the market is offering, however when you find a potential candidate with a good fit, it pays to go the extra mile to improve your chances of securing the right talent for your business.