The ability to attract and retain talent is crucial to the ongoing success of any organisation. We are seeing a scenario play out right now in the Australian market that is, dare I say… unprecedented. Post-COVID Australia is a very interesting place now when it comes to the job market. Unemployment rates are dropping, online job adverts are at their highest since first being tracked in 2008 and we are seeing a workforce come into the market looking for something completely different to the generations before them.
So what does all this mean? It means it is harder than ever to find talent suitable for your organisation. The competition is fierce and you need to put your business in a position to have the best chance of getting the right candidate.
Here are 4 things you can do to gain an edge against your competition.
Move Fast
Most importantly, your process needs to be quick and efficient. I get it, your business has a standard process which is five interviews and some sort of testing. That’s fine, but if you can, change it. If you can’t, condense it. Get hiring managers to double up in interviews, and do video rather than face-to-face. Whatever it may be, you need to think of the candidate’s experience. Anything over three interviews and longer than two weeks will severely reduce the likely hood of you securing your candidate.
Don’t Just Rely on the “Active Market”
The “active market” are the candidates who are actively looking for roles on the online job boards. Typically, this represents less than 5% of the available candidates who have the skills to do your job. Now, if you are looking for the best candidates, you have 95% of the suitable candidates out there not even engaged. You need to look at strategies to tap into the other 95%. This is typically done through headhunting and or utilising a specialist agency to recruit for you.
Promote Your Employee Value Proposition (EVP)
Your Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is the things your organisation can offer an employee that typically makes your business a great place to work. Whatever these reasons are, they may join your business and then stay, you need to promote them out in the marketplace and also ensure you promote these to candidates in your process. An interview process goes two ways. The candidate needs to convince you they are right for the role but you also have to convince them you are the right place for them. It can be as simple as promoting your EVP on your company website and/or LinkedIn page. Sending it to prospective candidates when booking in an interview or briefing your recruitment agency partners who can promote the EVP to candidates for you. If you don’t have an EVP it is reasonably easy to put together and doesn’t have to be a time consuming and costly exercise. Your HR team should be able to help you or any decent recruitment agency should be able to consult with you on the best way to go about it.
Always Think About the Candidate Experience
Last but certainly not least you need to ensure that your process is easy and enjoyable for the candidate. Candidates will judge you based on your process. If it is too long and drawn out they will see it as you take too long to make decisions as a business. If you are late and have to reschedule interviews they will see you as unprofessional. Even the way someone is greeted at reception can have an impact on their decision.
As you can see these points are really easy to implement but will go a long way in making sure you can get your desired candidate in the market. At Miller Leith, we work with our clients daily to help refine their process to get the best outcomes.
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If you’d like to gain further insight into the current candidate market and how you can gain a competitive edge, please reach out to hello@millerleith.com.au and get a free market insights session or download our latest Employment Market Insights & Salary Guide for 2023.