Today’s Talent Acquisition market is becoming more and more candidate driven. Employers are not the only factor in the decision-making process, instead the candidates themselves can choose employers to a greater extent than ever before. This place increasing demands on employers and recruitment methods. In order not to miss out on potential candidates, employers must adapt their recruitment process to the new rules and conditions.

Review the long-dated recruitment process

In todays’ employment market there are more jobs than there are qualified candidates, which means that it has never been a better time to search for a new job, for both the passive and the active candidates. However, this increases difficulties in recruitment, in both attracting candidates and retaining them during the recruitment process. This means that it is time to abandon the time-consuming and heavy recruitment process that may have worked in a market dominated by employers. The situation today is different and requires a new approach or else you risk of losing your candidates. Today, the recruitment process needs to meet the demands of the online world.

The application process is often the first impression a candidate will have from you, which requires both a well-written advertisement but a new softer candidate driven treatment of the process as well – since it can be difficult to catch the right candidates today and retain them during the application process. Especially when there are numerous other ads that could attract the candidate, the application process is increasingly important.

Qualified candidates are in short supply

The most important starting point for recruitment processes is the target group, which the process should be designed and adapted to. In general, you could say that the younger generation wants a quick and an easily accessible application recruitment process, while the older generations prioritize a simple and caring process. Think about which approach you need to prioritize or whether you need to combine them both in order not to lose applicants in the market where qualified candidates are rare.

3,5 billion smartphone users

An easily accessible and quick application process needs to be implemented to shorten the time for smartphones. The beginning of next year (2020), there will be 3,5 billion smartphone users around the world, meaning that the smartphone is a central part of our everyday life. If the application process is customized for smartphones users, you improve the chances of not losing your candidates. If a possible candidate sees an interesting job advertisement in their social media on their lunch break, the chance increases that you lose this candidate if they can’t apply in an easy way there and then. There are many different ways to work around this problem, one example is to let the candidates answer a short questionnaire and send in their resume at a later time, or let the candidate insert their email-address in the application form to remind them later when and where they applied for the job.

Through the candidates’ eyes

A simple application and recruitment process are just like it sounds, it´s not supposed to be complicated and difficult for the candidate to understand. This is where all parts of the application process come into play. A complicated application process could discourage the candidate, as well as a difficult test or questionnaire. Therefore, it could be a good idea to review the different steps in the application process from the perspective of the candidate. If this feels too difficult you could ask a colleague to fill out the application and ask for feedback or ask new employees what they thought about the recruitment process. That way you can create a better understanding of the recruitment process from the perspective of candidates.

Make the candidate feel seen

The layout of the application process is important because it is often the first impression that the candidate will have of you as a company, but also because there are many more jobs to apply for than just yours. But this doesn’t mean that the other parts of the recruitment process are any less important – there is a risk that the candidate gives up on the process if it is too slow or too complicated. Since the market is driven by candidates the content of the advertisement is more important than ever and it’s important to emphasise what’s unique with you as an employer to attract candidates. It’s also very important with feedback to those candidates who have applied for the job or to those who have questions about the job, this makes the candidates feel seen and make them understand that the process is moving forward.

Times are changing and the conditions for a successful application and the recruitment process with it. Employers has to make sure that their recruitment methodology lives up to the candidates wishes when it comes to the layout of the application process, that they´re emphasising the best that the organisation has to offer and give the candidates feedback to make sure not to lose them. Also, employers should be where the candidates are to reach them, be more accessible and make sure it´s easy to apply for jobs. If the conditions are adapted to the candidates, employers can make sure that a candidate driven market doesn’t have to be a disadvantage.

2019-12-02

News.