Navigating Your Talent Landscape

How to attract candidates using proactive talent acquisition efforts 

With the current state of the labor market, implementing proactive talent acquisition efforts is a necessary action to take to remain competitive. Businesses can no longer hire using a reactive approach.

Companies today are faced with hiring challenges primarily as a result of labor shortages. Your competitors, just like your organization, have job openings because their businesses are growing at a faster rate than the workforce population. Therefore, candidates are now in the position to be selective about where they work and demand higher pay and better benefits.

Qualifications of Your Candidate Pool

The future of hiring is rooted in what employees can do, versus the specific jobs they have done in the past. Employees are often able to learn many of the skills they need on the job or through in-house training. As an HR leader, it’s your job to reassess the “minimum requirements” within your job descriptions to align with the available talent in the market. Focus on finding the candidates that share your organization’s core values.

Attracting the New Generation of Employees

As the baby boomer generation hits retirement, hiring managers will need to consider how to attract applicants and keep them from choosing roles at competing companies using different strategies that specifically appeal to Generations Y and Z. Organizations can start by building valuable relationships with local high schools, colleges, and community groups to make sure their name is well-known among the younger generations and those preparing to enter the workforce. It’s also important to incorporate social media and experience-based recruitment strategies to reach younger generations.

Candidates are Consumers

Employers also need to understand that candidates are consumers and must work hard to attract workers with an agile and holistic sourcing strategy. According to Glassdoor, 89 percent of information that a candidate evaluates on a company is obtained digitally. HR leaders can partner with their company’s marketing team or an external source to create optimal and appealing online content that speaks in a way that aligns with your brand message and culture. This will help you to ensure your recruiting practices sell your company.

When navigating the talent landscape, you must first know who your talent competitors are and what sets you apart from them as an ideal place to work. Then highlight these prominent differentiators and Employer Value Proposition (EVP) through your website’s career page, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and overall messaging.

Track Your Data

Find what works for your company, then begin to measure the data you collect from these implementations and adjust them as you see fit moving forward. HR leaders can leverage technology to gather and analyze hiring data to find out:

• Where the majority of your candidates came from in the last year
• Where the highest quality of candidates came from
• Which positions are the hardest to fill; and why
• What the cost per hire is for your organization

Takeaways

Ultimately, HR leaders can navigate the talent landscape with ease by building a candidate pipeline through proactive recruiting and sourcing methods. For help optimizing your talent and recruiting efforts, please contact our HR Advisory team.