Todays job seekers are enjoying an unbelievable amount of transparency, and detailed information on virtually all organisations is just a mouse click away. Better informed candidates understand this and put themselves at an advantage.
There are multiple sites and sources where they can evaluate your organisation, from seeing what roles are open, how your remuneration and benefits compare to your reputation online reviews, what career opportunities exist, and more besides.
By knowing the information job seekers are looking for can help you to engage with candidates/potential hires in a better way, saving time and money, as well as making more successful hires.
Recent research tells us that over 80% of employees/job seekers will do research on company reviews and ratings before deciding to apply for a job.
Virtually all employees and job seekers believe that it is important to consider carefully the company culture, its values, mission statement and operational model. They are also keen to know what the future plans are for the organisation and will weigh the pros and cons about the role prior to accepting a job offer.
Currently approximately 50% of job seekers say that their preferred source for finding a relevant new opportunity is via an online job site.
Most candidates look for the following key things when viewing job opportunities online.
Salary is still the number one initial factor, followed by location and commute/travelling time, employment benefits and also existing employee reviews, which allow them to develop a real feel for the people working there and if this organisation is going to be right for them personally.
What is it that makes a job seeker actually follow through with an application process for your open job?
Interestingly research says that the most important factor is a local or easy commute, closely followed by a good work-life balance and the company culture. In a post COVID workplace, flexible working and work life balance will, we believe, become the main factors in candidate decision making.
Some of job seekers' frustrations during the hiring process include: cancelled or postponed interviews, only having limited information about job role or no detailed job description, and recruiters and hiring managers being too slow to give prompt feedback or regular updates.
The number one reason for candidates pulling out of the recruitment process is when an employer announces redundanci even if it is in a different area of the organisation.
Indeed, many candidates are not looking at new roles right now because they are perhaps prepared to stick with the devil they know. Particularly if they have several years’ service and are unwilling to go through a probation period with a new employer.
The most important factors to make for a positive hiring process include:
getting prompt and constructive feedback from the company, even if they were not successful
the company or recruiter giving clear and detailed instructions ahead of the interview, in order for the candidate to prepare.
Also organisations that make their existing employees accessible in the recruitment process are likely to have a higher acceptance rate to job offers made and ultimately have better retention rates.