How to Attract Standout Talent in a Competitive Job Market
Employing recruitment best practices is crucial to attract top candidates in today’s environment — an environment where the most talented individuals are hard to find in high-demand sectors like healthcare, IT, finance, and admin. The chances are good that you’ve experienced the challenges of hiring – fewer qualified candidates, evolving job requirements, and increasing expectations from applicants.
Despite the current market uncertainty, and the rapid rate at which technology is being adopted to perform traditional job tasks, the demand for specialized talent hasn’t slowed. The companies who are winning in the race for talent aren’t those offering ever-increasing salaries; they’re the ones who are developing smarter and faster hiring strategies focused on the candidate.
At Lakeshore Talent, we’ve been supporting hiring companies in their quest for talent for three decades. Here’s what we’ve learned, and how you can apply these best recruiting practices to attract and retain the best candidates in even the toughest markets.
Why Talent Is Hard to Find
The challenge in recruiting standout candidates isn’t only about the shortage of talent. It’s about finding the best fit. Across a range of roles, you need a rare combination of technical and soft skills specific to your organization and vacancies.
Unfortunately, the pace of technological change means that many job descriptions are evolving faster than the available talent pool. On top of this, expectations of candidates have also evolved. The best candidates now desire flexibility, meaningful work, and comprehensive benefits – and a workplace that offers an inclusive culture. We’re finding that these factors are now considered as important as salary, and often more so.
There’s also a misconception that access to remote employees should make it easier to hire the best people. Yes, this has meant the talent pool is now deeper, but you’re also swimming with many more competitors seeking the same talent.
Last, but by no means least, in sectors in which demand is outpacing supply, sluggish hiring processes are costly. In-demand talent doesn’t wait when they have multiple offers on the table.
Smart Sourcing: Best Practices to Find the Right Candidates
In high-demand sectors, traditional candidate-sourcing strategies often fail. Here’s what works now:
· Tap into Passive Talent
The most experienced and highly qualified professionals are rarely to be found among active job seekers. They’re valued by their current employers, and highly selective when it comes to career opportunities.
At Lakeshore Talent, we’ve developed an unrivalled network and a personalized outreach strategy that targets the talent our clients need – because the best candidate isn’t the one applying to job postings.
· Leverage Referrals
Referrals are still one of the most effective sources of top-quality talent. Candidates who are recommended come with built-in credibility, and, usually, they onboard into roles and teams faster. They also tend to stay longer.
Great people usually know other great people, which is why we encourage our placed candidates, clients, and network to refer people they trust.
· Use Specialized Recruiters
Niche industries require niche expertise, with a need for specific skills for specific roles in specific sectors. Our recruiters have an in-depth knowledge of their industries, and understand the organizations for whom they are hiring. Add pre-qualified talent pipelines, familiarity with industry trends, and insight into what candidates are seeking from their next role, and it’s a package of hiring expertise that generalist staffing agencies simply cannot match.
· Embrace Data & Market Intelligence
You make the best hires when they are backed by up-to-date data. We help our clients by providing insight into current salary scales, benefits, and compensation packages. We also ensure that job descriptions attract standout candidates by crafting them to be competitive and appealing.
· Plan Your Hiring Strategy
When you plan for talent acquisition, you will hire more effectively. Clients who bring specialist recruiters into workforce planning before a role is officially open fill that role faster with stronger candidates. By planning your recruitment strategy in advance, you give recruiters time to be proactive in the passive talent pool, and this allows us to nurture pipelines for you rather than rush to make a hire.
Employer Branding Matters More Than Ever
The best candidates always have options. Your reputation as an employer really does matter, and candidates will do their research. What they read about you, or discover from their contacts, can make or break your chances of hiring the talent you need.
When writing job descriptions, it’s crucial that they reflect your working environment. The language you use should help candidates to understand your culture, and you should be clear about your values and mission. All of this helps to build trust.
One of the big turn-offs that candidates discuss with us is poor experience during the hiring process. The most common complaints center around:
- Not being kept informed of progress, which is seen as a reflection of a poor communication culture
- Delayed interviews, demonstrating a lack of respect for the candidate’s time and poor organization
- Drawn-out interview processes, with the same questions asked at subsequent interviews
At Lakeshore Talent, we help our clients maintain an engaging hiring process throughout. We gather feedback from candidates to help you understand how your hiring process is perceived, act as a conduit with candidates, and make certain that candidates are left with a positive impression.
Retaining the Candidates You’ve Worked Hard to Hire
Hiring is only half the battle. Retention is where your investment really pays off. Here are the three key factors that talented employees tell us are crucial to their job satisfaction and your retention rates:
1. Deliver Opportunities for Personal Growth
In high-demand sectors, employees don’t just want jobs, they want careers. Talented employees value opportunities for personal development, and they desire advancement or mobility across operational areas. Commitment to your employees’ long-term success is a valuable commodity.
2. Total Compensation Matters
Yes, salary is important. But flexibility, paid time off, health benefits, DEI initiatives, and company culture are now high on the agenda, too. With deep industry insight, we can advise you on how to design compensation packages that will not only attract talent to your company, but also help retain your best employees.
3. Recognition & Feedback
Talented professionals leave their jobs for a number of reasons, but open of the most common is a lack of recognition – and we’re not talking salary increases. People want to know that they are doing good work and that they are valued. They are motivated by regular check-ins, performance feedback, and meaningful recognition.
A Strategic Hiring Partner Can Make the Difference
Hiring in high-demand sectors is increasingly challenging, especially in an uncertain environment in which the most talented candidates aren’t actively looking to change jobs. With the right partner, you will receive more than resumes. You’ll gain market insight, help with your hiring strategy, and access to a broader and deeper talent pool.
At Lakeshore Talent, we deliver three crucial benefits to our clients: sector-specific knowledge, proactive sourcing, and a candidate-first approach that helps you hire with confidence and retain your top talent in the face of stiff market competition.
Are you ready to embed the best recruiting practices into your hiring strategy? We’re here to help you. Contact us today to discuss how we can help you hire the talent you need.