As a new year begins, and hiring organizations reassess their talent acquisition strategies, it’s helpful to take a look at best – and worst – recruiting practices, in the context of today’s business climate.
With this in mind, here’s a list of recruiting do’s and don’ts for 2022.
Do’s
Do craft each and every job ad with attention to your audience.
- Give the job a title a person would use when searching for that particular job. Ideally, the job title should also be short. Appcast Research finds job ads with shorter job titles (1-3 words) have higher click rates and higher apply rates than job ads with longer job titles.
- Job seekers are interested in the what’s-in-it-for-me (WIIFM) components of a job ad. These components include compensation, benefits, and career development.
- Some benefits resonate with job seekers more than other benefits; Appcast Research finds certain benefits are associated with increases in apply rates. Check out the Appcast whitepaper How Benefits Impact Candidate Attraction to learn which benefits perform best overall. The paper also looks at top performing benefits by industry / job function.
For additional information about job ad content, download Best Practices in Job Ad Content.
Do cast a wide net when searching for candidates.
- Programmatic recruitment advertising solutions, like those offered by Appcast, allow for posting to a wide variety of job sites, and allow for measuring results.
- If you’re looking to further your diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, download the Appcast whitepaper Diversity Recruiting: Finding and Hiring Candidates.
Do know who your talent competitors are, and what they’re offering the candidates you seek.
- Your talent competitors are any companies or hiring organizations looking for workers with the same or similar skill sets as you are. In many cases, industry doesn’t matter. Geographic location may not matter, either.
- For actionable advice on how to navigate the current labor market, see Top Recruiting Trends for 2022.
Do find ways to shorten your apply and decision-making processes to expedite hiring.
- Appcast Research finds that a mobile apply time of less than five minutes results in a higher apply rate. Since mobile has now overtaken desktop as the preferred device, the mobile apply process is particularly important.
- Revisit your interview requirements. Does a potential employee really need to interview with five people? Remember, every interview adds time to the process. Similarly, is it possible to confirm education and other credentials during the interview phase, rather than as a separate step? Don’t compromise standards but do look for ways to quickly move candidates through the pipeline so you don’t lose them.
Do explore technology solutions, like programmatic recruitment advertising, which allows for greater control of your spend and your time.
- Solutions, like Appcast Premium, allow you to leverage technology and the data and insights it provides. The Appcast whitepaper How to Use Data and Insights to Make Better Recruitment Advertising Decisions will help you understand the process—and what you can expect to gain.
Don’ts
Don’t follow unsuccessful recruiting practices and expect different results.
- “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” This quote gets attributed to Einstein, but he didn’t say it. Still, it’s good advice, although we like our version better.
- Face it, the current business climate has no precedent. If your strategy and practices aren’t serving you well, a new approach is necessary.
Don’t trust your gut instead of data.
- It’s natural to make assumptions. But without data, these assumptions are not based in reality.
- What about assumptions, based on the past? See the second bullet item under the previous statement.
Don’t ignore job seekers’ preferences.
- Make no mistake, this is a job seekers’ market. The Wall Street Journal sums it up this way: “U.S. job openings continue to far outpace the number of available workers, with nearly five million more open positions than people seeking work.”
- In this environment, it’s a mistake to look at job seekers preferences as nice-to-haves. These are job seekers’ requirements.
Don’t make assumptions about what individual candidates want.
- Relying on research about job seekers’ preferences is a great starting point, but don’t forget that there are exceptions to generalizations.
- Job application and interview questions, as well as pre-employment assessment tools, can provide important insight.
Don’t lose your recruiting talent.
- Organizations are having a tough time finding recruiters, and the situation isn’t likely to improve in the near future. You can read more about this in the Appcast whitepaper Top Recruiting Trends for 2022.
- Given today’s hiring challenges, recruiter retention is key. Companies that prioritize mental and physical health and wellbeing, and address unreasonable workloads, will have an advantage over those that don’t.
