As an employer, you might think that recruiting is mainly about you selecting the right candidates for your business and that especially in times of economic crisis, the candidates themselves will want to work for you anyway. And although that might be true to a certain degree, hard times after all call for hard decisions and a job is better than being unemployed, it might not be entirely true for the kind of candidates that you want to attract for your vacancies. Fact is that if you´re looking for top talent to join your business, they probably have more options than just your vacancy no matter how tough the economy might be. Hence, instead of solely focusing on what you need from an ideal candidate, try to dedicate some time as well to make yourself the ideal employer for the candidate. This is a two-way process, as an employer, you are not the only one selecting here, the candidate is just as much doing a selection on whether he or she wants to join you or not. And, applicants are looking for great employers, not just for a great job.
So, what do applicants typically look for in a great employer? Or, how can you increase your chances that they select you as the company they want to join?
- A great culture and work environment
First and foremost, most applicants are looking for a great place to work. This means that the company culture, the ways of working, the work ethic and the work environment should appeal to them. Here the challenge for you as an employer is to make them familiar with your company culture and work environment as much as possible during the recruitment process so they can make a sensible decision about it. You can´t imagine how many candidates are forced to make a decision without having the feeling they know this part of the company well enough, so this is definitely a point where you can distinguish yourself and sell yourself as a company.
- Friendly, professional and personal interactions
Related to culture and work environment but candidates expect friendly, professional and personal interactions during the recruitment process. Their reasoning is simple: if this won´t be done during a selection process, how will they be treated when they actually join the company? Hence, focus on a personal treatment, not only for your employees but definitely also for your candidates.
- Feedback
One of the most heard complaints from candidates about selection processes and employees about their daily work is the lack of feedback. Great employers dedicate time and effort to provide their employees with helpful feedback. Therefore, to make this obvious as well to candidates, start this practice during the recruitment process already. It might take quite some time and effort but it will really pay off, candidates want to work for companies with a great feedback culture so if you can make this clear already during the selection process you will definitely score points.
- Development & Growth
Applicants want to work for employers that support them in their development and growth goals so they want to know during the selection process already what they can expect from you in this regard. Here it is really important to sell yourself well and to make very clear in the recruitment process how you would envision the development and possible growth opportunities for this role. Of course, the candidate will have to earn it but it´s important that they know that the opportunities could be there.
In summary, instead of just focusing on how the candidate sells him- or herself to you, dedicate enough energy as well to selling yourself, as an employer, to the candidates and making very clear that you are the great employer that they are looking for.
