Hard to fill positions, no matter what kind, put a lot of stress on companies. The lack of talent puts an unequal amount of pressure on existing employers or managers to take up the slack and all you are left with is stressed out workers longing for additional help.
As a recruiter, your goal is to fill your roles as quickly as possible but today’s tight job market has other plans for that.
There are no magic bullets here. Recruiting for these jobs is a grind so employers must take a consistent and persistent approach to make any headway.
If what you have been doing is not producing results, it’s time to rethink your attempts to fill these roles. First, you must realize that this requires resources in the form of manpower and money.
With that said, here are some tips and tricks to try.
Social Recruiting
Most employers still do a poor job of recruiting on social media’s “big 3” channels: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. A lot of them just post some jobs which is the opposite of what you should be doing.
There are two tracks to take when it comes to social recruiting: sourcing and interesting content.
Sourcing across these 3 main sites takes time and effort but it can prove to be a great way to reach those hard to find candidates. Tools like Hiretual allow you to search Facebook profile data and a simple boolean string can easily search profiles on Twitter or Instagram. Looking for a “Data Scientist”? No problem, Instagram has those [click here].
When it comes to content, companies need to get more visual with what they post. Show candidates what it is like to work there, show off your employees in action and give insights into your culture and benefits. Express in visual images and video why someone would want to work there.
Employee Referrals
How good is your company at getting employee referrals? Are you maximizing that effort internally? For example, the team at SHYFT Analytics in Boston gets over 50% of their hires through referrals. They do that by aggressively marketing their jobs internally and go so far as to put up TV monitors in the office advertising current openings.
Referrals are a great way to increase applicants just be sure to maximize that program to your existing workforce.
Revamp Your Job Descriptions
If your job postings contain phrases like “Job Duties” and “Requirements” it’s time to rewrite them into an advertisement that sells the job. Our best advice is to hire a copywriter off a site like Fiverr to come up with some new templates you can use that sell your company mission and offer reasons why a candidate should choose to work there.
There are way too many bland and uninspiring job postings online. Rethinking how you word them will enable you to stand out among your competition.
Get Visual
The web is a visual place so if you are still publishing text only job ads it’s time to rethink that strategy. Today’s candidates would rather see images and video embedded in job listings especially if they are looking at it on a mobile phone.
Consider creating short 2 minute videos for your evergreen jobs and embed it in those job postings. You can use Youtube to host them or if you don’t want ads to appear try using Vimeo as an alternative.
If you can’t do a video, create a nice cover image that sits at the top of the job description so it becomes the first thing a candidate sees when they click on your job.
Geofencing
Geofencing allows advertisers to target specific locations like a mall or hospital. Ads are shown on apps people use or websites they visit. Those apps/or sites cookie those users so they know where they are (but not who they are). Companies like WorkHere.com based in Indianapolis, are pioneering geofencing for recruiting. They are seeing solid results especially for entry level, healthcare and retail type roles with this kind of job targeting.
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Hard to fill jobs require a well thought out strategy and willingness to try new tactics. We hope this post gave you some new ideas. Get creative when it comes to filling them. The employers who do a better job at making their jobs stand out will be the ones who get the hire they need.
