In this series, we have dealt with the challenges companies face with recruitment. Increasingly, employees are more discerning about what they want from a potential employer. The balance of power is shifting, and employers have found themselves doing more to attract potential employees than ever. Consider that a McDoina’ds outlet in Florida offered $50 for people to come in for an interview. Blake Casper, the owner, said, “If we can’t keep our drive-thrus moving, then I’ll pay $50 for an interview.” View full-size Download Is this an extreme example? Sure. Is it Exceptional? Maybe not. Is it instructive? Yes. So, what should we do? It starts with an inbound mindset If you’ve followed this series, you’ll know that I have been encouraging the reader to adopt an inbound marketing mindset. What does that mean? Candidates have questions. We must answer them. We have discussed two questions in the previous posts. Salary and benefits Problems If you want to earn the trust of potential candidates and attract a better, more relevant pool, you need to believe that candidates are out there searching for an employer they believe will be a good fit for them. Sadly, too few companies are helping them do this. They leave out important information in the recruiting process. These companies find themselves ghosted as soon as the employment contract is signed. It’s like watching an episode of Love is Blind, up to the part where the bride leaves the groom at the Alter. At this point in the relationship, the desperate pursuit is over. The groom, smiling from ear to ear, is ready to commit. The bride appreciates that, for the first time, she finally knows enough about her groom to make a decision. Essentially, there are too many doubts and forever is not an option. “I don’t”, she says. The groom is ghosted. Devastated, he says, “ I’m never doing this again.” So, how do we get ahead of potential employee doubts and concerns? We answer their questions. There are types of questions. The Big Five Salary and benefits Problems Comparisons Best of lists Reviews  So far, we have seen how important it is to disclose salary and benefits. We have also seen how valuable it is to write openly about the problems and challenges of working with your company. Next, question 3 deals with comparisons. Question 3: Comparisons While your potential candidates are vetting you, they might start comparing you to other businesses. This means we need to write another bold set of posts to openly compare ourselves with other suitors (competitor employers). Here you have the opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of working with you and compare yourself to the various options your candidates might have. Examples of comparison articles Company XYZ vs Company ABC, which one is better to work for? Company XYZ vs Company ABC, who offers the most flexible employment options?  Where should I work – Company XYZ or Company ABC? Which company offers better internship opportunities in [City] – XYZ or ABC? Career development options: ABC cs XYZ vs 123?   Why would you do it?If you can answer “yes” to any of the following questions, then this strategy would benefit your recruitment processes: Have you ever lost employees to a competitor and found out a few months later that they weren’t 100% satisfied with their move? Have you ever attracted talent that worked for a similar/competing company?  Do you compete for a finite pool of talent? Have you ever had an employee poached by you’re a competitor in your field? Have you ever interviewed a candidate who told you they were also considering an opportunity at a competing company? Do you ever wonder what factors potential candidates weigh up when considering you vs another employer? If you believe potential candidates weigh up working with you against working with somebody else, you need to face the situation head-on. To get ahead of their questions, start answering the comparison questions. Make sure they learn it from you first. See this as your opportunity to position yourself as the voice of authority in your sector and area. Honesty (impartiality) is keyI must emphasize how important honesty is. You know you’re doing this right if it doesn’t seem natural. You will want to be biased and paint yourself in the best light. But you shouldn’t. Be completely honest and unbiased. As soon as you do that, your audience will detect it. Trust will be gone. Anything positive you say will seem like a lie. Anything negative will seem like an admission of guilt. Remain completely objective and neutral. Sources of impartial information i) Recruitment websitesDepending on your business size, you could find unbiased statistics from recruiting specialists such as Indeed and Payscale. If you cannot find impartial information from external sources, try moving closer to the source. ii) Competitor company websites and Linkedin Posts If not, you could use information directly from LinkedIn. If you use LinkedIn as a source, ensure you present a competitor company’s information as accurately as possible. Use a screenshot if you must. Where do you start? How does one practically begin answering the comparison questions? List the companies that you compete with for talent. These might not be competitors, merely employers who attract the same talent pool you draw from. Read about key factors that they write on their website or job posts. How do you differ? How long have you each been in business? Is the company big or small? Do they boast a small family-style culture or a larger corporate-style culture? What do you know about their compensation structure for specific jobs? Compare these factors to yours. Do you have any employees that worked for your competitor companies? Could you interview them to hear their perspectives on the two? Conclusion Writing comparison articles is a great way to associate your name with all the other aspirational employers in your sector. This is an excellent opportunity to take control of the information that people research when looking for employment opportunities in your sector. Approach it honestly and objectively. Don’t try to position yourself as the best. Instead, position yourself as the source of truth. Being the source of truth builds trust. Earning people’s trust is the top priority when working through the Big Five. The next Big Five topic is related to this one. We will look at “Best of” lists. 

Jonathan Jensen

November 29 at 04:19pm

Businesses, especially in the USA and the UK, struggle with staff shortages. In my previous post, I shared some research findings that showed you the number one thing you can do to attract better, more relevant job candidates immediately. This post will look at what we should do to attract better candidates.You need to adopt an inbound mindset In the previous post, I encouraged the reader to adopt an inbound marketing mindset. We must consider our potential candidates’ questions when looking for a job. Then, we need to answer them. Companies that do a better job of answering questions attract better, more informed candidates. In other words, if we want better, more informed, good-fit candidates, we must get ahead of the questions they ask before applying. There are essentially five types of questions. Answer them in your blogs and Linkedin posts. The Big Five  Salary and benefits Problems  Comparisons  Best of lists  Reviews The first question we dealt with was salary and benefits:  Some businesses believe there are a few good arguments to avoid being transparent about compensation. However, the benefits of transparency far outweigh the justifications for hiding the answer to everybody’s number one question. If you want a more comprehensive, relevant talent pool, disclose salary and benefits in job posts. If you want to annoy potential candidates and damage your company’s reputation, keep potential candidates in the dark for as long as possible—next question. Question 2: Problems Another thing to be open and honest about is your company’s shortcomings. When people want to know if there are any problems to expect when working with you, they are already considering your business as their next potential employer. You need to keep them engaged, and you must answer their questions. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but your business is not a good fit for everybody. What are the potential benefits of discussing the shortcomings and challenges of working for you? Here are three obvious benefits: Candidates who understand your challenges come to job interviews with a solution mindset. Employees who understand your shortcomings have more realistic expectations and are less likely to quit due to disillusionment. Employees who do not foresee success in your “challenging” environment will automatically exclude themselves from the recruitment process. You get to skip the part where they will say anything you want to hear just so they can get the offer – only to reject it later (or worse, quit after two weeks).   Examples of problem articles: What articles could you write about your company’s problems? Top five reasons why employees quit their jobs at XYZ company. Three things to be 100% sure about before you take a job at XYZ company?  Why people leave Company XYZ: Some people stay for 10 years, and some quit after 10 weeks – why? The hardest part about working with Company XYZ, according to current employees.  Ten reasons why you might not enjoy working at Company XYZ   How can one possibly justify talking about the negatives? It seems counter-intuitive that talking about the negatives has positive outcomes. How could we justify this? Instead of answering the question, I will challenge you to consider the following: Every business has its problems. Do you think they are willing to talk about it?  What goes through a candidate’s mind when they first encounter a company that openly and candidly discusses their shortcomings?  Imagine the calibre of candidates you would interview if they knew that you weren’t perfect and wanted to work with you despite your shortcomings. If people are going to find out about the challenges of working with you, where would you prefer they learn about it? From your competitors or on your website? Whom would you trust more, a company without problems or a company that is willing to disclose its problems? It’s undeniable: The fact that you are willing to share your shortcomings candidly gains instant respect. You will probably find that recruits are leaving their previous company after spending years discovering their problems.   Conclusion If you want candidates to research your company as a potential employer, help them to find the information they seek. They will want a sense of whether they can trust you or not. Set yourself apart from your competition, spare disillusionment, and attract solution-minded employees – be honest about your challenges and shortcomings. As soon as you are open to the fact that you’re not the best fit for everybody, you are more likely to attract better-fit candidates.

Jonathan Jensen

November 29 at 04:15pm

Today, first-world economies like the USA and the UK are still struggling to reset after the pandemic. Staff shortages remain a significant nuisance. Next to inflation, the largest complaint from businesses is the shortage of workers. 42% of companies are finding it more challenging to generate applications. I met recruiting specialists Matt and James Cooper in Coventry, UK. They are the founders of Get Staffed Online Recruitment, an online flat-fee recruitment agency. Their business has been helping businesses with their recruitment needs for over a decade. We were all there to hear keynote speaker, Marcus Sheridan. Marcus shared a slide, “The Big Five”, explaining five principles that apply to inbound marketing as much as they do to recruitment. Marcus encourages a culture of listening to the market and answering questions openly and candidly. Matt and James, in the UK, have been practising these same principles steadily for years. What a position to be in: on stage, we have Marcus Sheridan, the world-renowned inbound marketing genius, sitting behind me, two highly experienced recruitment experts. What can we learn from them to help us attract great candidates immediately? Start with an inbound mindset. Placing a recruitment advert on LinkedIn is no longer sufficient. Your potential candidates are searching for jobs that meet their criteria. Your business needs to answer their questions if you want them to apply. Your Linkedin job post, if compelling enough, will set a potential candidate on a path of research to determine if you are a good fit. If your post fails to connect quickly, you will instantly discourage potential applicants, especially the more discerning and goal-orientated ones you’re hoping to attract. So, start with an inbound mindset; and answer the Big Five questions. Do this on your company website blog and through the content you share on Linkedin. The Big Five 1.  Salary and benefits2.  Problems3.  Comparisons4.  Best of lists5.  Reviews Question 1: Salary and benefits This post promised to share one thing you can do to attract better candidates. Therefore, I will now discuss the first Big Five question. I will address the others in four other posts. i) Start disclosing salary and benefits At the top of the Big Five is the one question everybody wants answered –  money. Every candidate wants to know about it, and most companies refuse to answer it. And to you, that should spell opportunity. When looking at a job post, 70% of candidates (if not more) want to know what kind of salary they can expect. If you could track the mouse movement of anybody browsing your Linkedin advert, you would find every candidate will scroll through your advert looking for the salary figure before they read anything else. So, why hide it? You’re going to discuss that at some point. So what if I don’t disclose the salary – will I miss out on talent? Matt and James have the numbers on this: ii) Disclosing salary attracts more applications According to Matt Cooper, your ad will receive 37% more applications if you show the salary. This number was up from 21% the year before. The number might be higher or lower in your industry, but it’s still high and climbing. It’s common sense; If you want more applicants, start disclosing salary and benefits immediately. iii) Disclosing salary improves how your company is perceived In the USA, The HR Director, or HRD (probably the most respected independent resource for senior HR Practitioners) finds that 48% of all job seekers say that the absence of salary negatively affects their perception of the hiring company. iv) Disclosing salary attracts more relevant candidates But won’t I be flooded with unnecessary applications? Is that your next question? Let’s answer it: HRD asked hiring managers about the effect since they started disclosing salary details. Here is what they found: 42% found that applications were more relevant. Do you want more relevant applications? Disclose the salary. v) Disclosing salary saves time Perhaps you’re still not convinced. You might think, “more applications will make the process take longer.” If so, let’s hear what other hiring managers said: 35% saved time in the recruitment process. Do you want to shorten the time taken to fill positions? Disclose the salary. Conclusion It’s time to approach hiring with an inbound mindset. An inbound mindset aims to answer the questions that potential candidates ask. We now know that salary is the question that comes to mind first, so it’s the one you need to answer first. If you want to do one thing today, you will enjoy the following benefits: You will attract better candidates You will attract more relevant candidates You will reduce the amount of time it takes to fill positions. And that was just the first of the Big Five. Follow me to find out what the others are. Next, We answer the second group of questions, namely, "Problems".

Jonathan Jensen

November 29 at 03:52pm

🎉 And if you need to learn how to calm down... Breathe through one nostril 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

John Phelan

November 16 at 01:35pm

There were a couple of other great quotes from this book - “Grasp the simplicity and power of no excuses and you have guaranteed success.”**It is so simple and powerful to just give yourself ZERO option because when you do that, you'll get out of your own head/your own way and have that guaranteed success 🎉🎉🎉“To win you must change the way you approach day-to-day situations. You must have the courage to choose the harder right over the easier wrong **Everything in life is perspective, right? This quote from this book was a great reminder of that! Nice share  John Phelan  🙌🏻

John Phelan

November 3 at 12:57pm

Such a great reminder on the importance of creating "space" to think instead of simply reacting, John Phelan .I'm embarrassed to admit how many times I've missed the opportunity to do this... and I've seen the ADDITIONAL stress and lack of clarity it creates. I love that this tactic is designed to interrupt our natural human pattern.Also... I can't wait to freak my wife out later when I put my finger up my nose haha!

John Phelan

October 25 at 01:19pm