The April Jobs Report released by the Labor Department shows better than expected jobs growth in April and the lowest unemployment level since May 2007. Optimism is up and the job market is hot! If you’re in growth mode, you may be looking at hiring in the near future. If this is the case, understanding how to hire well in a tight talent market is essential.
The best sales execs do their research before following up on a lead or approaching a prospective client. Part of this research includes looking at what their competitors have to offer. Likewise, understanding the current talent market is vital to position your company and hiring opportunity to attract the best candidates. If you don’t know what competencies you’re targeting and who your competition is, you won’t be in the best position to acquire top talent.
I coach my clients to clearly define their value proposition for the talent market and to share it throughout the organization. Questions you might ask include:
- What’s great about working for our company?
- What’s our company culture?
- Why have other employees joined our company?
- Why do they stay?
Face the market with transparency about who you are and the things that make you a uniquely great place to work. That way, you can focus on attracting employees who fit best with you and quickly screening out those who don’t.
In the recruiting industry, there’s a key metric called Time-to-Hire. It measures the time from when a position is first posted for candidates to apply through to an accepted offer and candidate start date. In most recruiting efforts there are multiple steps from start to finish. The key is to minimize the time for each step and time between these steps, thus keeping the search moving with the most viable candidates staying engaged from start to finish.
To present a consistent and winning value proposition and manage your time-to-hire, it helps to have each person involved in the process on the same page. Investing time upfront defining the goals for the position, putting your recruiting campaign together and gaining agreement from your hiring team, will position you to pull targeted candidates into your process and keep them focused on joining your team.
If you would like further information or are interested in discussing your hiring needs, we invite you to get in touch with JESSI Search.
