Why a human-first approach to hiring works – and how to do it!
With 76% of hiring staff saying attracting quality candidates is their biggest challenge (Glassdoor), what can employers do to curb this? And what common hiring mistakes can be avoided?
When filling out positions, often speedy and effective recruitment is the goal. But with excessive filtering and rigid requirements, employers frequently miss out on many of the most talented employees.
Be warned, this mistake is not one to take lightly. Hiring the wrong people can cost your business a hefty amount of money, resources and time. Moreso, every employee represents a part of your business, so you’re going to want the strongest team to put your company’s best foot forward – the wrong fit can really damage this.
Jobseeking has changed, which means you’ve got to ensure you’re evolving your recruitment tactics. Employers using Placed make consistently quality hires – why? Because the most effective way to attract the best modern talent is to take a human-first approach. With a little human consideration, you can skyrocket the quality of your talent pool, and save yourself time, too.
Here are some ways you can do this:
Ensure your brand is strong and values are clear
Start by asking yourself “What type of people are currently in my business?”, “What type of people do I want to attract?” and “What is my company’s culture and mission?”. Once these are clarified, make your values as clear as possible to candidates, whether that’s on your website, your brand page, social pages or job listings.
When your values are clear, you’ll attract the right candidates who are naturally driven by your mission. Employees that value your brand and support your mission are likely to stay longer, feel more fulfilled and thus boost revenue (and morale).
Plus, given that nearly 80% of Millennials look for people and culture fit, followed by career potential (Glassdoor), it’s vital that you show your culture off if you want to expand your applicant pool.
What’s more, with higher quality candidates in your talent pool, you won’t have to waste time sifting through endless applications that lead to nowhere. It’s a win-win situation really, and it all stems from putting people first.
Utilise the right tech
While there is plenty of technology out there that will streamline your hiring process, such as those which scan for specific words on a CV as a means of filtering, automation can have a negative impact on the quality of your applicants. Systems such as CV scanners can miss slight wording differences and off formatting, which in turn means you’re missing out on a whole pool of great talent.
Tech isn’t all bad though. Innovative, conscious tech can be used to elevate your brand and improve the effectiveness of your hiring. At Placed, we run regular Placed panels where we ask a group of diverse, modern candidates what they believe today’s job-seekers need. According to a recent panel, candidates stated that they would look negatively on a company who never replied back to them after interviewing.
If the applicant pool is vast and replying to everyone can be unrealistic, systems which allow for an automated response will elevate your company’s reputation above those who simply do not reply at all. And, according to a survey by Glassdoor, 84% of job seekers stated that a company’s reputation is important when making a decision about where to apply for a job, and 83% of job seekers are likely to research company reviews when deciding on where to apply for a job.
The facts lay it bare – it’s important to maintain your reputation if you don’t want to deter quality talent.
Employers using Placed get automatically matched to values-aligned candidates. With a human focused approach, the intelligent algorithm focuses on personality and skill, rather than words on a CV, allowing employers to achieve and hire only the best candidates. Whats more, the ability to auto-respond allows for straightforward communication between parties.
Look beyond the CV
Similarly to the previous point, you’ll attract the best talent by viewing your candidates as people with a whole host of skills and useful traits, rather than a piece of paper with qualifications.
It is particularly true for those in the service industry, or sectors that require a great degree of human interaction, whereby personality and soft skills make some of the best employees. Consider how much experience is truly required for the job, and whether you’re already providing adequate training for those who may not have specific qualifications. By ignoring this, you may be missing out on some of your most valuable staff.
And, importantly, if your company does offer great training, state this clearly! Candidates are enticed by training opportunities and the ability to progress, so this can be utilised as a real selling point.
Engage with your Talent Pool
The quickest hiring route may be to simply write a job description, post it on multiple platforms and wait for the applications to roll in. Simple, right?
But there are ways you can engage with your talent pool in advance. Liven up your job descriptions with details, photos and testimonials. Tell your applicants as much as you can and be transparent! Be specific with your expectations, list your salary, highlight your benefits, emphasise your values. You could even add videos, if you have them. When writing your job descriptions, try to imagine you are explaining the job in real life to someone. Remember, great recruitment is a conversation, not a transaction.
Still not sure it matters? According to Glassdoor, 88 percent of hiring decision makers agree that an informed candidate is a quality candidate. This means the best candidates are ones who already know a lot about your company and feel compelled to apply.
On Placed, the top 5 performing brand pages with the most followers are Iceland Foods, Morrisons, Padella, and O2, who all include photos, videos and quizzes and testimonials from staff.
Measure and observe your demographic
Finally, it’s important to take a deeper look at your current demographic. Who are you currently attracting versus who do you want to attract? And how can you tailor your brand image to suit these people?
With a more aligned talent pool, you’ll naturally have more quality candidates to hire from. So whilst looking for your future workforce, don’t ignore your current one, as well as the candidates who are presently showing interest in your brand. It’s also a great way of measuring the diversity of your pool, which is another important factor in creating a strong workplace. After all, racially and ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely to perform better (McKinsey)
For more info on recruiting and retaining diverse candidates, check out our D&I e-book for employers, here.
Platforms like Placed give you a personalised insights dashboard where you’re able to view your demographic and adjust your brand messaging to attract the best candidates for your company.
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