We are a highly experienced recruitment agency within the Food, FMCG and Engineering sectors.
Filling a vacancy is an outdated view of recruitment. You don’t hire employees to simply fill a vacancy, the true objective of a new hire should be to accelerate an area of the business, using their passion, skills and experience, and ultimately it should be to drive results and contribute to the growth of a business.
The same can be said for those looking for new roles. Are you working just to earn money, or are you looking for a role that will provide career satisfaction and future opportunities that include a better salary, perks, benefits and rewards and more responsibility and success?
Below we explore the ways that both parties should consider and approach recruitment in 2020.
Employers
Let’s move away from exhaustive lists of all the things you want from a candidate. Instead, think about the true skills or values that you think a successful employee in your business possesses. At the end of the day, skills can be learnt, but personal ethics and values are ingrained and instilled in us from a young age.
Elements such as taking accountability, responsibility, demonstrating ownership and being pro-active can often serve you much better than candidates with skills and qualifications.
It’s worth reconsidering the attributes you are looking for in your candidates, and asking for ways that these can be demonstrated in the interview process, through evidence or examples.
Why use a recruitment agency to hire for you? Read our article, ‘What is the benefit of using a Recruitment Agency vs Hiring In House?’
Candidates
The same applies for candidates. It serves well to have a clear vision of the type of role and employer you want. Whether you want to work for a firm that offers competitive perks and benefits, one that reviews your progress and salary each year, or one that offers an environment and culture that is aligned with your personal taste, requirements and values.
As mentioned above in the ‘employer’ section – ownership and accountability are attractive traits in candidates, so why not start by taking ownership of your job search and creating a list of workplace ‘non- negotiables’ that enables your recruiter to find employers that are suited to these – and so you can ask the questions that matter throughout the interview process.
It’s 2020 – why aren’t you using the data that matters?
Employers
If it isn’t already, data is going to be the lifeblood of your recruitment. There are so many ways that you can leverage internal data to optimise your recruitment processes. For example, what are the traits, skills and values of the top-performing employees? This isn’t ‘profiling’- age, gender, race, background don’t even come into it – this is down to personal attributes. Are there trends across your top performers?
Use this data to cross reference with skills and personal values of applicants throughout your recruitment process.
When it comes to highlighting why you are a great company to work for, data from recent staff surveys can be used, even if some isn’t positive – if you have taken action as a result of poor feedback, this shows you are actively looking to make your business a workplace to be proud of.
Data on your staff retention rate demonstrates that people stay with you for a long time and is also a positive reflection of your business to prospective candidates.
Candidates
Using data to support your claims send a strong message to potential employers. It substantiates any examples you have provided in your application or on your CV, and use demonstrates that you re pro-active when it comes to using data.
Using data to support the value you delivered in previous roles is a great way to make your application stand out. This could be anything, from improving sales numbers, growing a team, growing your account; the list goes on. It could also be tangible things you were integral in introducing, including anything from weekly meetings, a recycling standard, right through to a monthly social night for the team.
We are in a job-seeker’s market and candidate experience is only getting more important. Here is how both employers and candidates can leverage its potential.
Employers
It’s so incredibly valuable for a business to become an employer of choice, attracting high-quality candidates.
To do this, you need to put together a recruitment process that delights the candidate all the way through. This makes them feel that their time and contribution to the process is valued. This means full transparency, fantastic communication at regular touchpoints, and an invitation for them to provide feedback with regards to their experience with you. Even if the candidate isn’t successful in one position, by filtering them into a talent pool and nurturing them, you might save time and costs when it comes to your next recruitment project.
Are you being realistic when it comes to the employees that your business can recruit? Read our post, ‘This is Why You Aren’t Attracting The Staff You Deserve?’
Candidates
A job-seeker’s market doesn’t mean you can take a passive approach to the recruitment process.
An emphasis on great candidate experience means that you have the opportunity to build great rapport with the recruiter or hiring manager. Leverage this by also demonstrating fantastic communication skills, asking for deadlines for submissions if this is applicable or dates you can expect further news and provide honest, but respectful, feedback.
As we mention above in the employer’s section, even if you aren’t hired for one particular position, creating a great impression and staying in touch means that you could be fast-tracked for future roles.
Employers
It’s likely you will receive submissions from those who are actively looking, but what about those individuals that are performing at a high level in their current roles?
Despite being content, these people may still be open to hearing about new opportunities that provide elements such as competitive salaries, rewarding benefit packages, career progression opportunities and supportive company cultures.
Although it can be a time consuming, scoping out potential candidates and undertaking research, after initially meeting online, a quick phone call can usually determine if this candidate is serious about moving forward in the process, or would rather be considered for an opportunity in the future.
Candidates
Just as the above encourages employers and recruiters to look beyond the people that are actively looking and recruiting, what about contacting firms that aren’t currently recruiting? Or contacting recruiters to gain an understanding of the roles that are currently being recruited for?
Forward-thinking firms will always be on the lookout for great talent, so why not create a list of firms that you would love to work for, work on aligning yourself with their brand purpose and mission, hone your skills and expertise, and then pitch yourself as a potential employee?
Sometimes a new career is about taking action and hunting down those opportunities, rather than waiting for them to open up and come to you.
If this post has inspired you change your perception of the recruitment process from either an employer or a candidate perspective, we can help you take the next step, helping to match candidates to roles and employers. Contact a member of The Sterling Choice team today.
I started The Sterling Choice with Gareth Whyatt back in August 2013. We’ve always remained true to ourselves and what it is we’re trying to achieve – A great company with great peo...
