Recruitment - We Have Jobs, Now Where Are the Applicants?

It is a dilemma every company faces. How to recruit talent. Whether you are a local government trying to entice minority candidates to apply, a manufacturing firm looking to hire fresh faces and expand production, a healthcare provider seeking qualified STNA applicants, or even a school district trying to add newly minted teachers the problem is everywhere. The jobs exist, yet we are all lamenting that qualified people aren't applying.

What's that you say? 'But I received over 100 applicants for the manager's job I posted last month' of course you did. A management job that pays well is the brass ring everyone wants. How many actually had the qualifications you asked for in your job posting? 

How many people applied for that non-management-foot-in-the-door position you also posted last month? Less than twenty? How many of them meet your criteria? Of the five you interviewed, how many would you actually hire? Of them, which ones filled out all the paperwork correctly, had solid references and/or showed up for the drug screening? If your organization is part of a regulated industry how many passed the background check? Better still, how did these people hear about you?

Competition for qualified individuals who are willing to work in non-management positions is fierce. For a difference of less than twenty-five cents an hour that bright young STNA the care facility just hired will quit (most likely without notice) and bop on down the road to your competition.

So how do we recruit talented, bright young people to offset our graying workforce and bring fresh faces into our offices, plants, schools and care facilities?  It's a good question.

I don't have all of the answers of course, no one really does. Goodness knows there are hundreds if not thousands of firms out there willing to sell you their strategies and plans for tens of thousands of dollars. And maybe they would work. But what if they don't?

Ask yourself: what is my current recruitment strategy? Where am I posting my job openings?

You know your field best. You know your company/organization. You know the kind of people who would fit your team. But do you know your local media? And by "media" I do mean social media. Let's be honest for a moment, today's job hunter is not necessarily going to be reading the local newspaper and getting newsprint on their hands. Today's job hunter is going to be using digital sources primarily: LinkedIn, job boards and yes, even Craig's List. But you still have to target your audience. Also take another look at the filters you have set up for your automated online applications and HRIS tool - maybe you're missing good candidates because they are getting caught in the filters. Are you ruling out older workers unintentionally by having extremely tight keywords built in or asking what year they graduated from college for example? 

There is a social media outlet for every type of candidate. Corner office job? The Ladders, Ivy Exec, iHire, professional associations (think SHRM for example), and so on. Scrappy, youthful creative thinkers? Craig's List and FlexJobs are good starts. Target your digital recruiting the way you used to target your print media recruiting. Know the audience for each platform and go from there. Not sure? Ask! You have people in your organization right now you can ask for input. That up and coming young woman you hired a year or two ago, ask her what tools she used to find you. Ask her what people like her look for when looking for work and where they are looking for it.

Yes, keep using traditional methods too, but don't put all your money in the local paper. Use it by all means because that 40-something middle management hotshot might still be reading the paper, albeit on his/her iPad. Yes, contact college and university placement offices and post on their electronic outlets. Yes, be mindful of where the minority audience looks when they are job seeking - for them it may not be electronic media but maybe it is. Again, ask! 

Your current employees are your best focus group for this kind of thing so don't count them out. Pull together your best and brightest, have lunch brought in and brainstorm. Feeling as though their ideas and insights matter not only will lead to some solid recruitment strategies for you it will also go a long way towards making these employees feel as though they are contributing and when employees feel that way you score retention points.