Once you have put the effort into attracting the right talent to your organisation you want to be sure you can conclude the process and convert any initial conversations into a hire. What are the best ways to do this?
1. Ease of application and interview process
Hays recruitment recently released Search Apply Decide Join?, its second annual report on what workers want, which examines the priorities of prospective employees and what really matters to them in the workplace. The report is based on more than 1,800 responses from employees and prospective employees. It shows two thirds of applicants have been deterred by a poor application experience which includes; web applications that are cumbersome and not easy to use, underprepared interviewers and delays in process or receiving an offer. Deloitte was recently awarded employer of the year 2018 by gradireland.com with a special award for best innovation after it overhauled its job application process from taking almost a day to complete to a 15 minute online application which, if successful, is followed by a face-to-face interview.
2. Flexibility
Recent research from Irishjobs.ie shows there are now 220,000, or 10pc of the working population, who work at home at least some of the time. The number of Irish candidates on Indeed.com seeking to work remotely has increased by 170pc over the last two years. Any employer seeking to hire talent must have flexibility of work location as a consideration, if even only applicable after the probation period or 1st performance review.
3. Opportunities for growth
The Hays report shows 47% of applicants said their starter expectations, including on-the-job training, were not met or were misleading. When selecting a new role, candidates want to know their career ambitions can be met. Talking through possible career paths, sharing success stories of existing employees, can help them visualise this better. Interestingly this is one area where smaller Irish businesses can offer a more personal atmosphere, where employees know the senior staff well and have greater opportunities for personal advancement.
4. Money Vs overall package
Although salary is always important, the Hays research shows that candidates are focussed on other aspects of the package on offer. One of the surveys showed that 72pc of applicants want to see a commitment to diversity and inclusion before committing to an organisation. Of high importance is improved work/life balance through increased days off (in some cases unlimited paid time off) and longer paid parental/maternity leave. Some organisations offer perks and benefits that may look attractive to some such as games, bean bags, bars and onsite chefs; an employer that wants to hire talent and does not offer these perks, needs to stress the importance and true value of these often less valuable benefits versus the benefits of a good pension and private health insurance.