Trend-Setting Employee Recruiting
There are many trends sweeping through the corporate hallways that HR managers can take advantage of. Some are more costly, but for each there is a real return on investment. In a July 17, 2017 article for LinkedIn, Dr. John Sullivan notes three major categories in employee recruiting that need to be addressed:
- Employer Branding
- Sourcing
- Candidate Assessment
Employer Branding
Most people are familiar with the term branding. It’s commonly applied to businesses that rely on marketing campaigns. You can market and promote a company to job candidates just like businesses selling products. There are a few tried-and-true methods to accomplish this goal. The first and arguably most expensive method is to create an ad or series of ads for the screen.
One of the most innovative companies using this approach is General Electric (GE). On the GE website, a section entitled GE Advertising notes: “The imagination at work that inspires our products also inspires our advertising. GE commercials bring our digital industrial stories to life.” The result? GE no longer appears to be a stodgy old company. The commercials pose a vibrant series of “what if” spots that fill a viewer with hope. As its future is in a state of flux, the company may well find the new crop of potential employees will augment its resurrection as a multinational giant.
While this example is a multi-million dollar approach to changing GE’s image, branding can come in many forms. The most technologically advanced method of recruiting is virtual reality. It’s no longer confined to the world of science fiction. In an article for LinkedIn by Samantha McLaren outlines several companies using VR as a way to improve a candidate’s experience.
Sourcing: Raiders of the Lost Art (of Switching Gears)
Where are all the candidates for jobs today? If you look at the current workforce, millennials are the largest share. They bring a different set of expectations than preceding generations: a balance between work life and private life, the application of their talents and skills to do their best every day, great managers, and no desire to stay at one job for their whole adult life. In fact, they expect to change jobs and companies about every year-and-a-half or so. What can the Human Resources person to do to attract and retain millennials? The first action is to consider what motivates them to join – and stay – at a company:
- Absorb some millennial material, and check out what new trends – such as VR – you might use with millennial hiring.
- Go to where millennials congregate…social media. Post recruiting campaigns and examples of your company’s dynamism and energy on big sites like LinkedIn, which has over 530 million members worldwide.
- Raid a business competitors’ talent base. If they join your company, the competitor gets weaker while your company gets stronger.
- Develop “Most Wanted Talents” lists…approach it as a “dream team,” with research and relationships built over time
These are a few possible approaches to enlisting the talent – both millennial and not – that can take your company to the next level of growth and expansion.
Candidate Assessments: Make Them Stress-Free
While a great deal is riding on hiring people that will enrich a company and its future with savvy and skills, employee recruiting can be tough. The image of a very small needle and a very large haystack comes to mind. If the initial culling of applicants has finished, what tools and what situations can HR use to find the perfect employee? Here are some options:
- Do the interviews via texting. It’s a medium that the target talent feels comfortable with, and clearly shows your firm uses technology well.
- Reduce stress. Make sure the recruiting steps are clearly explained.
- Travel? The use of Skype for interviewing candidates cuts down on stress. The last interview might need to be in person, but that could well be the job offer meeting.
Recruiting great employees might seem initially daunting. Human Resources personnel who take the time to learn and understand what works now will take them miles down the road.
