These days, attracting the best talent to join your business or organization is a 24/7 operation. The best talent is in high demand and has the advantage of being in short supply. Great candidates can allow themselves to be very selective in their career choices. This is particularly true of college graduates.
For them and, in fact, for all of us, some brands are more attractive than others.
Despite the money companies may spend on their marketing, some just don’t feel as cool as others in the same space, particularly to Millennials. Let’s be honest. There are thousands of tech firms in the world, but working for Apple, Google, or Samsung appeals more than being employed at other just as well-established and innovative businesses in that sector. The same is true in any sector.
Candidates will be looking closely at your digital channels and digital communication to gain a perception of you, and to decide if they should be thinking of you as their potential employer. The consistent communication of your employer brand across your digital channels is vital if you are to compete for great talent.
So how can you better position your business to be seen as a destination employer by graduates and young professionals? My business recently devised and delivered a campaign to help a major brand attract more graduates, and here are some of the things we learned.
1. Go mobile or go home.
In 2016, HR Magazine reported that 20 percent of Millennials are now mobile-only, and it’s likely that by now this percentage is already much higher. So if you’re not thinking mobile-first in your talent attraction activities, you’re not going to be seen by this audience. Make sure your careers website is mobile-friendly and that you’re using social media channels to share content. Make good use of pay per click and search engine optimization techniques to get in front of graduate eyes.
2. Save trees.
In the research phase of the talent attraction project, we learned that graduates and young professionals are extremely interested in environmental issues. That’s hardly surprising, but it therefore made sense for our client not to be producing lots of printed material to publicize job opportunities or graduate programs. Instead, we focused on a mobile-first website to give interested graduates all that they needed to know.
3. Be visual.
Forbes recently reported that video is projected to claim more than 80 percent of all web traffic by 2019. That’s an amazing statistic, and if you’re not yet using video for talent attraction, and indeed for marketing in general, then it’s high time you invested or you will miss out on the best talent.
In our recent campaign, we created a huge amount of video content to be shared across the client’s social channels. This included animations that explained the business and its vital work. Plus we created “day in the life” videos with existing staff to explain their role and enjoyment of the business.
This has much more resonance than words on a page or webpage. Your existing staff are your best recruiters, so get them in front of a camera.
4. Focus on candidate experience.
Once you’ve got graduates interested in your business and they’re on your website looking at opportunities, make sure the first stage of their candidate experience doesn’t let you down. Make it easy for them to apply for a position, upload a CV, or make an inquiry. Don’t make any of these options a lengthy or repetitive process.
Anyone interested in applying for a position with you will get a perception of how you do things by the way you ask them to apply, whether they are graduates or experienced professionals. Keep things simple, friendly, and super efficient to build confidence and encourage applications.