CEO & Founder at THE HR ICU. Providing simple, affordable and time-efficient HR tools for all levels of people leaders in an organization.
Just a little over five years ago an organization could post a job on one of the major recruiting sites and within a few weeks the hiring manager would receive about 100 candidates for the role. Eighty percent of the 100 resumes the organization would not be interested in at all. The individuals wouldn’t meet the requirements for the job, did not have enough experience or education or perhaps they weren’t eligible to work in the country and were applying hoping to seek a visa.
As the hiring manager would filter through the 20% of potentially qualified resumes, by the time they do their own social platform research, book and conduct interviews, they would have shortlisted two to four candidates. At this point, three to four weeks would have gone by.
Let’s face it; recruiting is not what it used to be. So there is no better time than to seek help from those that understand what is happening and update their practices in order to stay competitive.
What can organizations do to help transition to this new normal?
1. Go beyond your job posting.
Add sentences about the company and how this role fits within it. Provide highlights of the day-to-day tasks, and not an exhaustive list. (Further in-depth conversations can happen in the interview.)
WIIFM, or “What’s In It For Me,” also needs to be the main part of your job post. This section is not just about salary or health and dental; it is the total compensation and benefits package.
What is a total compensation package? It is how you differentiate yourself. It is a chance for you to lay your cards on the table and only keep a few additional secrets to discuss during the interview process. For example, if you say “a generous benefits package,” what exactly does that mean? Be specific such as “Only 20% employee contribution with a generous benefits package.”
2. Explicitly lay out your retirement offerings.
If you provide a bonus or additional monetary compensation that can be added to a 401(k) or RRSP, you should also share the percentage of what the company will match. I.e., a 5% match for your 401(k) savings or a 5% match for your RRSP.
3. Detail your flexible work options.
If you offer hybrid, specify how many days and which. If you can’t offer hybrid, then consider providing something else. Do not just assume people are OK coming back to the office full time just because they need a job. Keep in mind there was a lot of flexibility for three years, whether your organization operated as business-as-usual or not. Even if all your staff stayed in the office during Covid, there was more leniency with project timelines because of vendors or partners, and people got used to that flow of work. So again, if you cannot offer hybrid, you can offer paid personal days. I.e., six paid personal days you can use to attend your little one’s recital, when they are sent home from school sick or when they graduate from school.
4. Include your company values.
What does your organization do for your community? What charities do you support, and do you give a day with the pay to your staff to participate in these charity events? Share this info in your job post. I find that people like to be part of something bigger and find ways to give back. It’s also attractive to an applicant to see what charities you support.
5. Do not be afraid to be transparent.
In my opinion, people are still feeling misled throughout their daily lives and people are seeking a truth serum more than ever. Be honest in what you are offering your candidates.
The above list is an example of how you should differentiate yourself. If you are a company that feels you do not want to share this with the world, or these suggestions will cost you too much money, consider what it is currently costing you not to adapt.
I can say with 100% certainty that if you do not adapt your total compensation package for your potential applicants, they will go elsewhere. Now this also means you should be reviewing your total compensation for current employees as well; however, that is another subject for a different article.
For well over a year now, I have been conducting my own little study speaking to people in the engineering field, senior executives, retail, medical, non for profits, IT and entertainment and general laborers. Hands down, I am getting the same sort of information from everyone—that how someone feels about work and their job is not the same as what it was in 2019.
I have asked applicants what they are looking for in a company and what makes them apply or be attracted to apply, and the results all come down to one thing: WIIFM. Over half of the people I have spoken to look at the WIIFM section of the job post before even reviewing facts or details about the company itself. They see the job title, then go straight to what their piece of the pie will be. More and more people are not always willing to compromise on what their WIIFM criteria are as they are confident they can get what they are looking for. And quite frankly, they are right. It is an employee’s market and will be for quite some time.
In my experience, the pool of qualified candidates has gone down even more. Therefore, your opportunities to find that gem might be even harder; hence another reason why you should focus on WIIFM even more.
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