What Caused the Hiring Shift and Why Adapt
With technology diving deeper into our personal and professional lives, it’s critical that we keep in mind this is still a human issue. Posting the same job description on multiple job boards and relying on that strategy to bring in your next best star seems incredibly uncalculated. Even relying on recruiters who are scouring LinkedIn for experience and job titles is an outdated method – more on this later. Instead, this passive strategy needs to become more competitive.
“People who have the skills you need at your business have more options than ever. There are no longer just two or three big businesses in your town that employs 90% of the people. The demand for skilled humans is so high and the supply cannot meet the demand.” Shaun P. Martin
Understanding this early on before most businesses is one way to potentially give you the edge down the road.
Quick and Easy Ways to Set Yourself Apart When Recruiting
Everyone posts on job boards – LinkedIn, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Monster… the list could go on for the rest of this article. What else can you do RIGHT NOW to set yourself apart from those boring old job descriptions, blah blah blah.
“When I see companies that say ‘I posted on a job board, what else can I do?’ Well… what would you do if you needed this person this week. I assume you need them for something. Instead of passively hoping the right person comes along, you need to fight for the talent you deserve.” Shaun P. Martin
- Set up a camera, get a few internal employees to answer some questions about your business and collect B-roll footage from events and the office space for a cool culture video. This will provide a much clearer picture for candidates than a job description that promises free snacks and a matching 401K plan. Post on all your social platforms – not just job boards. Utilize a hashtag like #LifeAtDepot and have your employees share it out!
- A quick trick: look at a calendar of “National Days” like National Day Calendar and post things relevant to your business about those ‘holidays’ on social. #AdministrativeProfessionalsDay, #NationalInternDay, even #ChocolateMilkshakeDay (provide milkshakes to your staff for this one) can all be great opportunities to share how your business operates inside its walls.
If You Want an ‘A’ Player, Show Them How They Can Win
An ‘A’ player is likely someone who likes to win. Keep that in mind when creating your job description.
Show people how they can achieve. You can do this by distinguishing between output and outcome.
- If you just have a checklist of what needs to be done (output), great. Someone can put a check on each box and apply.
- If you’re showing how each task impacts the business and all parties involved (colleagues, customers and company), then you’re giving the candidate a clearer idea of what they will affect – the outcome. Paint a picture of the value your candidate can bring, not just the tasks that need to get done.
Three Tips to Vastly Improve Your Hiring Process Right Now
- Use an applicant tracking system and make sure all your candidates/applicants are in one place.
- Before looking for someone, get clear on who you need and why. Especially for small businesses that don’t have time to search for a needle in a haystack.
- Leverage the one thing you have no one else has. Your network (how to network). When you know what you want (step 2), you can ask people that know and trust you. You’re more likely to find the people you need without wasting a lot of time and humanpower.
Recruiting Buzzword Bingo – Let’s Play
A quick LinkedIn search will show you that there are over 72,000 ‘ninjas’ on LinkedIn. Over 72,000 people have likely encountered a job post that stated, “Looking for a Rockstar ninja…” and now there are 72,000 people who have put the word ‘ninja’ in their title. Go figure.
If you wanted to hire someone for a specific skillset – does the word ‘Rockstar’ or ‘ninja’ explain anything to the job seeker? No, unless you were actually looking for those specific lines of profession. Shaun shared with me Recruiting Buzzword Bingo, and I have to say, it’s fun and easy to catch job posts like this. So, play along with your job descriptions and make sure you don’t get BINGO.
Rockstar, ninja, an exciting opportunity, amazing culture, storyteller, thought leader, wizard… how are you doing?
If you can get rid of buzzword bingo, create and share more media portraying what it’s like to work at your business, and clearly show how your candidate can win at your company, you might be ahead of the recruiting curve.
References and Resources:
Human Capital Benchmarking Report
The Cost of Hiring New Employees Infographic
Hidden Costs of Employee Onboarding
Your Approach to Hiring is All Wrong
Marc Hogan Video
Rebase
About the Author
Jason Eisenberg is the Community Program Manager for Office Depot, specializing in small business and entrepreneurship. Based in one of the most exciting cities for startups — Austin, TX — Jason is plugged into the business community, often connecting with thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and strategists to help identify and find solutions to common pain points all business owners share.
All content provided herein is for educational purposes only. It is provided “as is,” and neither the author nor Office Depot warrants the accuracy of the information provided, nor do they assume any responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein.
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