Digital Age Represents a Behavioral Shift in How People Find Jobs, and Not All Approaches Are Alike
Meet Sarah. Sarah is a hard worker who comes in early, stays late and willingly gives her discretionary effort to get the job done no matter what. She’s a steward of the values aligned with the culture of the company for which she currently works. She’s a team player and, by all accounts and measures, someone you definitely want on your team. What’s the problem with Sarah? Well, she’s employed elsewhere and simply isn’t looking for other employment opportunities.
Now meet Jose. He’s been successfully performing in his role for the past five years, but over time, things have started to pile up for him. Several team members have turned over, causing disruption to the business, and underperforming team members have gone unaddressed. Jose’s direct manager is highly assertive, consistently avoids taking ownership and recently turned Jose’s process improvement idea away because he “didn’t have the time for it.” If there was a breaking point in Jose’s willingness to remain in his current role, this was it. He’s beginning to think it’s time to explore other career options.
Say Hello to Candidate 2.0
Both Jose and Sarah are candidate 2.0—the high-caliber candidate in today’s digital age—and very likely the candidates you want to join your team. Candidate 2.0 represents a shift in behavior in terms of how prospects find jobs. Many of your customers do their research and are 70% through the buying process before you even know they exist. The same is true for candidate 2.0! They will likely know a lot about your company before they ever express interest in one of your job openings. Your challenge is to get on their radar and stand out above other employment opportunities they may be considering.
What Today’s Market Looks Like
Nowadays, the job market is predominantly candidate-driven for a few key reasons:
- The steady state of unemployment is the lowest we’ve seen in 50 years.
- The immediate access to information via the internet gives candidates more power to make informed decisions.
- Technological advances have led to hyper-connection—people will make their decisions based on the online experience as well as the experience of others.
What does this mean for you, the employer? If you want to attract Sarah or Jose, you’ll need to shift your talent acquisition strategies.
Start by Answering Their Questions Before They Ask!
Borrowing a concept from They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan, you can place yourself ahead of other potential employers by being proactive. Your goal is to embrace the questions your top candidates may be asking and be open and honest in answering them.
Below is a list of questions candidates typically have and considerations for how to answer them.
Candidate 2.0 Questions |
Answer Considerations |
|---|---|
|
What is the job? |
Highlight what a day in the life of Sarah’s new job looks like and what makes the role special and exciting. Ask your top performers what they enjoy most about the role, and use this knowledge to attract other top performers. |
|
How will success be measured? |
Successful people want to know the yardstick for performance, so be prepared to share expectations. |
|
Are there career advancement opportunities? |
Highlight stories of how employees have advanced in their careers while working for your company. Better yet, create and share career paths for the various roles. |
|
What is your company culture? |
Be transparent. What values and beliefs are important? How do employees describe the environment? Why do your very best employees choose to stay? What types of people don’t fit in? |
|
What flexibility for work/life balance exists? |
Jose will work hard and put in the hours needed to be successful, but he may want the flexibility to leave work to meet other life demands. Does your company allow for this? If so, under what conditions? |
|
What does the hiring process look like? |
Having a well-defined and structured hiring process leads to the greater likelihood you will hire a successful employee. Share this step-by-step process with candidates and commit that you will be timely in both your communication and decisions. |
|
What is the compensation for this role? |
Be prepared to answer this question because it will come up at some point in the process. Feel free to include general insight into what is included in total compensation, such as commissions, bonus opportunities, contests, spiffs and awards. Many companies share a range for the role, or if you’re hiring for a sales role, share what an average employee can expect to make and what a high-performing employee can expect to make. The key is set realistic expectations. |
|
What company benefits do you offer? |
This is the place to showcase all you offer! Think beyond the medical and dental benefits to things like volunteer time off, company celebrations, sporting teams sponsored, etc. |
|
How does this company make a difference? |
Giving back to the communities where employees live and serve is meaningful to them. Highlight how your company positively impacts the lives of employees, customers and communities. |
|
Will I be able to make an impact? |
Jose and Sarah want to know they make a positive difference. Share how they can do that in their roles! |
|
What is the leadership style at the company? |
As you read earlier, a primary reason Jose is leaving is due to his leader. Be transparent about your leadership philosophy and how you expect leaders to behave when leading their teams. |
Help Candidate 2.0 Find Your Company
The great candidates, like Sarah and Jose, are walking past your digital storefronts every day. Some are reaching out to you, and others are waiting for you to reach out to them. Your prospective candidate should have a very robust awareness journey in which they are engaging with your company, even if only at the superficial level.
A consumer often needs up to eight touch points with a brand before making a purchase decision. Similarly, candidates may need multiple interactions to learn about you as an employer before deciding to apply. That is why you need to create relevant and interesting content as part of your storefront that candidates can engage with on their awareness journey.
Let’s Look at Potential Journeys Our 2.0 Candidates Could Take
Sarah: Remember, she’s happy in her job and not looking on job boards to see what other opportunities are available. She will find out about your company through other channels. Below is Sarah’s awareness journey.
Jose: He follows a different awareness journey since he is ready to find a different job.
Tie Your Employer Brand into the Awareness Journey
In today’s competitive hiring environment, having an employer brand is becoming increasingly critical. In fact, 80% of talent leaders agree that employer brand has a significant impact on their ability to hire great talent. Your employer brand is the market’s perception of your company as an employer and describes your employee value proposition to candidates and employees. The good news is there are a lot of ways to get your employer brand in front of Jose and Sarah, as depicted above.
Careers page. If you don’t already have a prominent careers page on your company website, you should. Jose and Sarah will undoubtedly go to it, as that type of page is the number-one resource candidates rely on when researching companies. Make sure your careers page can be easily found from the home page, highlights your culture and fosters an easy job application process. And of course, post the answers to the top questions most candidates want answered when seeking you out as an employer.
Job postings. Stand out from the myriad of other listings by highlighting your company culture, what make the job so interesting and what they get in return for their contribution.
Social media. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram are all great places to answer candidate questions such as how your company makes a difference, community involvement, culture, awards won and what a day in the life of your company is like.
Brand ambassadors. Every one of your employees can be a walking billboard for you as an employer. Teach them how to connect with potential candidates or others who can refer candidates to your company, and prepare them to talk about career opportunities. Who better to answer questions about the leadership of the company, the benefits, how they can make an impact and the culture?
Thought leadership. The Candidate 2.0 group is full of learners. They seek out knowledge to make them even better. You have experts in your company who should write blogs and articles to share content that candidates find useful.
Company reviews. Candidates proactively seek these out, so pay attention to what is being posted about your company online. These reviews may rate your company or comment on many of the questions candidates want answered. If your company receives a negative review (which happens to every company at some point), respond authentically to the concern.
Make a Long-Term Relationship Your Goal to Hire More Candidate 2.0s
Like Sarah, some candidates are not ready to make an immediate career change. But if and when they are, you want your company to be top of mind! How do you do this? By nurturing your candidates throughout their journey. Make their experience top priority—switch your mindset: instead of quickly converting applicants into hires, create a full experience that delights them. This takes place when the experience is personalized and intentional, creating a positive attitude toward you, the prospective employer, and ultimately, the successful acquisition of Candidate 2.0!
