Five ways in which organisations can increase their chances of attracting and recruiting candidates

Finding the right approach to attracting and recruiting candidates will increase your chances of filling key positions and gaps in your workforce.

It has become more problematic over the past few years to recruit new employees across all levels. The UK has been experiencing a shortage of talent and skills in the labour market, as well as feeling the effects of a reduction in workers due to Brexit and the pandemic, meaning attracting and recruiting candidates is becoming increasingly difficult.

The challenges in finding low-skilled workers to take up roles in industries such as hospitality and agriculture have been well publicised, however this is also affecting the recruitment of high-level roles, skilled candidates and professionals, where employers are finding it hard to fill more senior positions.

As a result, employers now need to adopt a different, more open approach to recruitment and finding the right people to fill the gaps in their workforce. We’ve suggested five ways in which organisations can increase their chances of attracting candidates with the skills and talent they need.

Broaden your horizons

Change and broaden your outreach efforts and the channels you use to attract people. Internal advertisements, online networking social media channels such as LinkedIn (see our related article), recruitment agencies and search consultants, plus of course your own organisation’s website are all highly effective for publicising available positions. Other methods to consider include:

• Apprenticeships
• Links with schools and education establishments
• Specialist/trade publications
• Local and national press
• Commercial/industry-specific job boards
• Job fairs and online events
• Collaborations and partnerships with other organisations
• Word of mouth

Engage and interact

Be sure to engage with potential candidates throughout the recruitment process and get rid of any obstacles that might hold people back from applying. Consider how using technology can improve candidate selection process, such as developing online tests and assessments and utilising tracking systems for applicants. This could speed up the selection process and compliment the human interaction aspect, without intending to replace it.

Be inclusive

Employing inclusive recruitment methods can make a huge difference. Research undertaken by the CIPD in 2022 found that only 35% of organisations were actively recruiting talent across all age groups, while just 24% were advertising positions in different sources to increase the chances of a better response from under-represented groups. Think about how jobs can be designed, particularly for hard-to-fill roles. Advertising roles as open to flexible working is reported to be many organisations’ most effective method of attracting and recruiting candidates, according to the CIPD’s Resourcing and talent planning report 2022, with 69% of organisation advertising at least some jobs as open to flexible working.

Promote your brand

It is important to establish a strong and reputable image as an employer. The CIPD’s Resourcing and talent planning report 2022 found that 75% of organisations responding to the survey of over 1000 HR professionals reported their organisation has taken action to improve its employer brand over the last year. Actions taken include:

• Increasing flexible working opportunities.
• Improving pay and benefits to make the organisation more competitive.
• Revamping and promoting organisational values.
• Making improvements to their workplace environment.
• Offering development, coaching and career opportunities
• Promoting reward and recognition schemes and initiatives

Be transparent

Be transparent regarding salary and benefits, as more organisations are now offering improved pay and benefits to address cost of living rises as well as providing flexible working arrangements. Make sure you shout from the rooftops about what you can offer potential candidates and don’t be afraid to share the details when advertising positions. Consider pay transparency when advertising roles, whilst being realistic in your approach to listing benefits, and make sure you include pension schemes and other core benefits in the details.

Why Linkedin is now the best place for recruitment

The recruitment world is changing. We are connected like never before, with online platforms able to bring us instant recruitment posts as soon as a job goes live - with professional networks, groups and connections all communicating across various social media platforms. LinkedIn is increasing in popularity as both a job posting and referral site.

Posting a vacancy on a job board can be a complicated business. Big traffic recruitment sites get a high volume of applicants, but these applicants are not always of suitable experience, training, or qualifications. When you need to fill a specialised role, you also look to recommendations from businesses that you work with. A candidate that comes recommended can hugely simplify your process of employment. Particularly if you work in a specialised industry, finding a candidate as unique as your job requirements may involve specialist help.

That’s why your employee recruitment strategy should focus on LinkedIn. This is not to say that you should remove job boards from your recruitment strategy; finding new talent is one of the best ways to grow your business. LinkedIn offers the ability to easily find other professionals in your field. Here are our favourite ways for taking advantage of what LinkedIn has to offer:

• Build a constructive network for your company online and you will find that recruiting a suitable candidate becomes far easier, as your job posts are seen and engaged with.
• Stay in touch (and on good terms) with anyone who has worked for you or with you in the past. They will have other contacts in the industry, so even if they don’t work with you again, they may know someone who would be perfect for your role.
• Actively use LinkedIn. Respond to other company or individual queries and raise your profile.
• Make use of groups dedicated to your industry. Primarily these will be discussion based, but it will again raise your profile.
• Use InMail. You can send requests to contacts and acquaintances for recommendations for your role.
• Actual job listings. LinkedIn offers paid job boards for employers, where job seekers can search for free.  Encourage your network to share this listing. It will also be boosted to any LinkedIn members who are registered as seeking employment in that field.
• Target both active and passive candidates. You can contact those who are seeking employment, but LinkedIn also works for headhunters. Advanced searches can help you identify potential candidates who you can InMail.

LinkedIn is ideal for building strategic relationships. As with networking, LinkedIn allows you to introduce yourself to other business professionals in your field and discover new candidates who may previously have inaccessible, or unavailable for work. It also builds your profile within the community, meaning when you do reach out to a potential candidate they are more likely to recognise and reciprocate interest.

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Reward and recognition of employees without breaking your budget

Rewarding staff is a great way of motivating them and maintaining employee satisfaction. But how can you do so without spending money? We understand that as a business you can’t throw bonuses their way every time you want to say ‘well done’ or ‘thanks for the good work’. We’ve created this article to share some top tips for showing your employees appreciation for a job well done without putting pressure on already stretched budgets.

Keep hold of your talent

Employee satisfaction is absolutely vital in any workplace, but that doesn’t mean salary reviews and end of year bonuses have to be the ‘be all and end all’. To motivate and retain talented employees for the year ahead, employers need to develop more innovative recognition and reward strategies that don’t rely on money alone. Doing so will protect against misalignment between company goals and individual activities and keep everyone on track. You will maintain and improve employee happiness without damaging the company’s budget.

Honesty is the best policy

Speculation and gossip surrounding pay increases and bonuses can be dangerous. It’s impossible to eliminate this completely but you can make sure that you’re delivering a consistent and honest message about opportunities for financial reward in the coming months and years. Employee wellness is important, so it’s important they know how things like pay increases work because, if for example, an employee had false information, and was hoping for a bonus/increase in the nearby future it could lead to constant disappointment and the employee might start doubting their work and lose motivation and interest. That’s why it’s important you provide accurate information. This will give your employees a sense of control over their futures and help to create an open, honest workplace.

Offer opportunities

A good way to recognise high performance is to offer opportunities to broaden your employees’ experience. For example, ask them to lead an internal knowledge sharing session or offer a day’s job shadowing. This could lead to creating a new role for them in another area of the business. Engaging with the aspirations of your employees and creating personal development plans that help them realise their ambitions is crucial to retaining talent.

Regular feedback

Taking the time to evaluate your communication and feedback processes sends a strong message that you care about employees’ development and that good work will be recognised. Without structured feedback employees can feel like the quality of their work, good or bad, goes unnoticed. Staff surveys and focus groups are a good way of achieving this.

Say ‘thanks’!

It’s common knowledge that  a lack of recognition from management is one of the most demotivating factors for employees. Taking the time to highlight good work will boost employees’ job satisfaction and put any constructive criticism in context. Drawing attention to achievements across teams can be a powerful motivation to other team members.

Successful recruitment – what to look out for

There is a growing demand for workers within the private sector. As more organisations look to recruit, the competition is hotting up to attract candidates with the best qualifications and skills. It’s not just about who’s got the best CV – its about being able to spot potential in a candidate.

The CIPD’s 2015 Resourcing and Talent Planning survey (in partnership with Hays) found that half of CEOs have talent management as a key priority. The survey also found that skill shortages are escalating, with over four-fifths of respondents believing that competition for talent has increased over the past two years.

John Telfer, Managing Director of Inspiring comments: “Recruitment can be an expensive business, not just financially, but also in regards to time. The right talent management system will help you understand which skills you need to look out for, and reduce the costs involved with staff turnover.”

Using a tool such as Inspiring Leadership Index can highlight skill gaps in up and coming managers, help to identify suitable mentors and spot employees with the potential for internal promotion.

You could also choose to create your own Talent Bank. For large organisations this could help manage internal vacancies and contract placements, whilst smaller companies benefit from recruiting and sharing talent across groups of organisations with similar business needs.

Emotional intelligence also factors greatly in spotting and managing talent and much research has been conducted around how it links to performance in the workplace. Findings suggest that high levels of emotional intelligence are particularly useful for managing interpersonal relationships and leading teams.

Mariah DeLeon, Vice-President of People at workplace ratings and review site Glassdoor, recently wrote for Entreprenuer “While different companies embody various values and cultures, success in the workplace is strongly influenced by a person’s emotional intelligence, a quality that should be a non-negotiable when vetting job candidates”. Entrepreneur’s recent article on this subject gives examples of 7 Interview Questions That Determine Emotional Intelligence which could result in some interesting responses from interviewees and help spot those with potential.

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Read more about Inspiring Leadership Index and Talent Bank. The people within your organisation are what makes your business. Choosing to focus on your workforce and ensuring you can attract the talent you need will help your business to achieve its goals and drive success. Call us on 0800 612 3098, email info@inspiring.uk.com or get in touch using the enquiry form on the left.