HR Connection blog

Over the last year, many employers have worked to increase workplace diversity and expand their DEI strategies. And for good reason. As Glassdoor's Diversity Hiring Survey reveals, “3 out of 4 job seekers and employees (76%) report that a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers.”

Please allow me the luxury of taking you on a trip down memory lane that has led us to the modern-day highway of horror. It was 2006 and Manpower published its first Talent Shortage Survey. Yes, you read that correctly – 2006.

Let’s not tempt fate by asking if finding talent and filling roles can get any harder or the job market could get any stranger. Instead, let’s focus on what works to get talent in the door and on the job.

Everyone is spending a lot more time online these days—including job applicants. Job seekers (especially younger ones) are increasingly using social media in their job searches, and organizations are capitalizing on this trend to widen their applicant pools. Companies worldwide are leveraging their social media platforms to build their employer brands and create fun, laid-back content that attracts potential candidates. With the following strategies, organizations can drive interest in their next hiring campaigns. 

As I'm sure you already know, recruiting and marketing have a lot in common. Both have prospects, pipelines, and leads. Writing a good job description is an artform that uses techniques directly from the marketing copy writer's playbook. The techniques recruiters use to attract candidates and the challenges they face staying top of mind are no different than what is being used down the hall in the marketing department. In the marketing world, we can leverage drip and nurture marketing campaigns to stay top of mind with our prospects and these exact same techniques fit nicely into a recruiter's tool kit as well. A drip marketing campaign is the easiest to implement. It's a type of automated email campaign that allows you to send out a series of scheduled and personalized emails to your contact database over an extended period of time. Drip marketing helps you to stay engaged with not quite ready candidates over a longer period of time through consistent touch points. Once you determine the goal of your drip campaign (stay top of mind with candidates, gain more referrals, etc.) use an automation tool like HubSpot or Active Campaign to share content on a defined schedule. Some examples of content you may want to email are A list of jobs you'd love to see referrals to Updates on how your company has flourished over the past year Interviews with current employees Anything that sets you apart from your competitors as an employer A nurture marketing campaign takes a bit more planning but can be highly effective. This type of campaign is built around a series of emails that are sent based on a candidate's behavior. The campaign will deliver timely, targeted information that helps guide them through their job search (or any goal that you set). As the candidate receives emails, they are presented with information based on your goals and their actions. Specific behavioral data matters in nurture campaigns, for example, how many times a candidate visited your website, which articles or guides they've read, and what jobs the applied to in the past. The goal is to deliver educational value while encouraging engagement. Unlike drip marketing, the nurture campaign is triggered by these actions, creating an even more personalized sending schedule. It can often take a lot of work to bring candidates into your database. If they are someone you'd like to hire one day, it's a good idea to keep in touch and using a little automation will help make the effort easy and scalable.

After the year we just endured as a global community, should anyone (economist, epidemiologist, astrologer or otherwise) feel comfortable making predictions about what’s ahead? At Employment Enterprises, we have one employment prediction for 2021 that we offer up with certainty: It will be the year of the dedicated recruiting solution. Why? Because decades of job market ups and downs have taught us that rebuilding business strength and stability begins with people. Big comebacks take skilled talent.

To learn more, please join us on Tuesday April 14th at 1:00 EST (10:00 PST) for a Live Webinar with Val Grubb. This webinar is valid for 1 PDC toward SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP recertification and has been pre-approved by HRCI for 1 HR (General) recertification credit hour. Click here to register.

According to author and TED speaker Simon Sinek, “a worthy rival inspires us to take on an attitude of improvement.” That’s part of what he calls the infinite mindset. This infinite mindset is what Sinek believes differentiates businesses that think ahead versus those that live in the past. “Business is a journey without a final destination,” he says. “The goal is not to win but keep playing.”

The recent spike in mergers and acquisitions, the Internet of things (IoT) and technology-centric business transformations have organizations moving faster than ever to achieve strategic initiatives. To keep pace and effectively execute against operational goals, a strong workforce is essential.

The unemployment lows we’ve seen throughout 2019 are expected to continue into the new year. In 2020, recruiters will have to work harder than ever.