Employers-The Great Resignation Gives You a Once in a Lifetime Event To Recruit and Hire Great Employees!
Human resource and recruiting departments at most companies have had front row seats doing everything they can to navigate the pandemic in the last twenty months. The term "flatten the curve" was essentially the HR manager's cue that you would be spending the next couple of years figuring out how to not only keep your employees but keep them safe, as well as try to figure out how to serve their needs remotely.
For all your "pivots," setbacks, and chartering of the unknown during this time, your reward for doing your job well (you are the business essential employee!) is watching your employees quit in record numbers. Since August, over four million people have quit each month, and that doesn't look like it will end anytime soon. On top of that, we are still four million workers short of where we were before the start of the pandemic. Some experts predict that many of this group (primarily millennials starting their own businesses and women with families) may never return to the workforce.
On top of that, you are being told your company culture is toxic, your managers are horrible humans, your company has no transparency, and no one is ever going to return to the office. Certainly, this doesn't apply to every company. A good exit interview will certainly help identify the reasons.
Here is the real deal. The pandemic is in charge, and until it is over, many current and future employees will not get back into a regular work cycle because they have reasons not to take work seriously. Employers are doing everything they can to test this (signing bonuses, more pay, etc.), but ultimately the pandemic wins.
Use this unprecedented time to supercharge your recruiting efforts like never before. If so many people are quitting, get them. At the same time, realize this important point: Once the pandemic is over, the job market participation rate will get back to normal. People want to and need to work, and they will start returning in droves. Here are some recruiting tips to help you find the best employees ever!
- Great Job Marketing Opportunity: Want to catch someone's attention that you are hiring? Try marketing slogans in your digital posts. "We Love Quitters-Check out Our Latest Job Postings" or "Don't Let a Good Resignation Get In the Way of a Great Job." Yes, clickbait for sure, but if you target your digital presence to your job requirements, you will get more applications. (If you need help with this, don't hesitate to get in touch with us!)
- Short Application Form: Most job seekers apply to jobs via their smartphones. When they hit the apply button, what happens is key to getting more applications. Ideally, you want to collect a short form name, number, email, two or three qualifying questions, and an optional resume attachment field. Yes, optional because so many people in 2022 still do not have access to attach their resume to an email. This application spreadsheet is now your lead sheet, and you can personally reach out (do it quickly) and start your kick-ass recruiting process.
- Great Jobs Title Now Includes Post Covid "Sell" Words: Job seekers scroll job postings, and your click rate will skyrocket if you have a great job title. Include in your job title one or more of these words (as long as you offer it) to make your title powerful. Words like remote, flexible work hours, exceptional benefits, hybrid workspace, and any other benefit your employees enjoy that was not available pre-Covid. Use this on all job postings and digital messaging.
- Fire Up Your Employee Referral Program. Pay your employees to post your digital job posting on their social media accounts. Have then right a comment saying something like, "my company is hiring, and if you want a great job, this is your opportunity." The other option is to pay them for anyone they refer that gets hired and stays. Very powerful.
- Move Swiftly and Efficiently. Following any of these steps, you will get many great leads that will make huge impacts on your workforce…only if you can hire them. At all levels, the number one complaint from candidates (even in this crazy candidate short marketplace) is they never know where they stand with employers. If they apply and have excellent skills, they may never get a call. If an interview does get set, sometimes it is ten days away. After the interview, no feedback is provided for weeks. If you commit to a swifter hiring process during the great resignation, you will have great results. Most importantly, you will keep your future employee engaged; and that is all any job seeker wants!