Our experienced and caring team at Pure® Human Resources has been working with candidates for many years. We pride ourselves on really listening to what is important to them, so that we can help our candidates and clients to get the right match – the right role for the right candidate in the right business is a win win for both sides!
In this article, we highlight some of the areas that we know are important to candidates when they are looking for a new role.
These useful insights help employers to attract the best candidates for their roles, and to give them the best chance of their chosen candidate saying YES!
Good communication throughout the recruitment process
When we’re working in recruitment, it’s easy to forget what it’s like on the other side, and to put ourselves in the shoes of the candidates.
We can probably all remember a time when, as a candidate, we haven’t been treated brilliantly and maybe not even heard back from a company at all. It’s a bad customer experience that can leave you with a lasting negative view of the company.
You should see every interaction with a candidate as a positive PR exercise for your company – an opportunity to create a positive impression and generate goodwill for your business.
Acknowledge your candidates. Don’t take the approach “If you haven’t heard from us, assume you haven’t been successful.” It isn’t respectful to the effort they’ve put in applying for your role if you don’t take the time to respond with a personalised message.
Keep in touch with your candidates. How you treat them throughout the recruitment process will have an impact on whether they choose to accept your role or not, if you choose to make them an offer.
To attract the best candidates, consider their priorities
If you are unsure how to attract the best candidates, considering their priorities is a great place to start. The most obvious topic that is front of mind for most candidates, and gets asked right away, is the options for hybrid working. Also, salary expectations are high because of the cost of living crisis.
Another big driver for candidates is the amount of holiday they’ll be entitled to. Gone are the days where people are happy with companies offering the statutory requirement of 20 days per year, plus bank holidays.
Now, people expect 25 days of annual paid holiday, as well as the bank holidays. Providing this level of holiday entitlement to your candidates makes you a more attractive proposition when they are deciding which job to take. If 25 days is too much of a stretch, consider 23, incrementally working towards 25 over two or three years as an incentive.
Anything else you can offer as value added benefits are popular with candidates too.
Offer excellent benefits
The job market is highly competitive and it feels like the candidates often hold the power, so you need to make sure your company stands out with an attractive range of benefits in order to attract the best candidates.
There are many options that don’t have to cost SMEs the earth to provide but can demonstrate that you are a generous and considerate employer. For example, a hospital cash plan rather than medical insurance. Or, internal incentive schemes, like a referral programme for people to recommend candidates in exchange for a reward (which, as a bonus, saves money on recruitment).
On-site car parking is another popular benefit for many people.
Think about your working hours, and your location stipulations. This can be a major deciding factor for many people – as we have already pointed out, hybrid working is the most frequently asked about benefit.
One benefit you should not include on an advert is ‘free tea and coffee’. It sounds like you’re scraping the barrel on the benefits you’re offering!
For more advice on what not to do in your recruitment process, read our article on Common Recruitment Mistakes.
Demonstrate the right company culture
Culture is really important and a happy working environment is crucial. For those of us working full time, we are probably spending more of our waking hours at work than with our family, so choosing a place where they feel comfortable is going to be high up on the candidate’s list of requirements.
Making sure that people feel engaged, especially in a hybrid working environment when you’re not all together in person, is important too.
You need to have trust, and you need to have a performance oriented culture to make sure that your employees have clarity on their job description, that they know what your business’s goals are, and what their own goals are, and that they have the support and the resources to be able to achieve those goals.
Having regular reviews is important too, giving your employees dedicated 1:1 time. Asking how things are going at home and at work engenders loyalty and boosts morale.
Reward and recognition, and being specific when you thank your employees, goes a long way.
Provide Training and Development
Training is really important for a lot of people, which is an element that organisations quite often miss.
Most people want to grow in their role or in their career progression. Training need not be limited by the individual’s specific role, it could include personal development or other skills that help them broaden their opportunities and abilities. At Pure Human Resources, we offer a wide range of training courses covering management and personal development skills, business improvement topics and HR/ employment law subjects – most are offered as one day courses and can make a great addition to your training plans.
You can look across all generations in your organisations and find that this ambition is pretty much applicable to everyone.
Contact Pure® Human Resources
If you would like us to help you with your recruitment process in general, or you want to find out more about our Fixed Fee Recruitment package, our friendly and expert team would love to hear from you.
You can call us on 01794 329470, email us or fill out the Contact Form on our website.
