Navigating a Candidate Rich Market: Strategies for Success

Your employees are one of your greatest assets. Recruiting top talent and maintaining an engaged workforce is imperative in today’s environment. After all, your people can make or break your business.

In 2022, finding top talent was a struggle for many businesses. However, the weak economy has led to an increase in unemployment, resulting in a candidate-rich market.

While this scenario is good news for businesses eager to hire top talent, it presents new challenges.

Hiring in a candidate-rich market can be extremely time-consuming and resource-intensive. Keeping the candidate experience positive can be challenging, and investing in the wrong hire due to the overwhelming nature of sifting through so many candidates can be costly.

Staff turnover is estimated to cost employers up to $1 million per annum. Reducing churn by just 5% could save $280,000 per year for every 100 employees. The Wynhurst Group found that 22% of employee turnover occurs in the first 45 days of employment. These statistics highlight the significant cost implications for your business if you get it wrong. Looking for tips on retaining staff, check out our recent article.

So, how can you mitigate this risk?

Ensuring Accurate Business Representation

It's essential to ensure that your business accurately presents itself during the hiring process. New starters can become dismayed if their experience doesn't match what they feel they were promised, contributing to high turnover rates within the first few months of employment.

To prevent this, consider the following steps:

• Honest Job Descriptions: Ensure that job postings accurately reflect the role and expectations.

• Consistent Communication: Provide a realistic overview of the company culture and day-to-day activities during the interview process.

• Employee Testimonials: Use testimonials from current employees to offer genuine insights into the company. This could include a meeting with some staff at a similar level in the companies hirerachy.

• Thorough Onboarding: Implement an onboarding program that reinforces the company's values and supports new hires.

By presenting an honest and consistent image, you can build trust and alignment with new employees, reducing early turnover and enhancing overall satisfaction and retention.

Do You Have an EVP?

An Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is a tool used to understand why people would work with you and continue to work with you. It encompasses your brand values, culture, rewards, and benefits. It communicates what you stand for and what you stand against, and includes everything you are doing to attract and retain your workforce.

Your EVP sets you apart from the competition in terms of hiring top talent. Finding and keeping engaged employees is a daily challenge. By taking a fresh approach to your EVP, you can ensure your organisation stands out when it comes to finding the skills you need. When was the last time you walked in the shoes of one of your job candidates or employees? How might they view your company? If you’re unsure, it may be time to review your employer brand and update or build your EVP.

Being clear on your EVP ensures you hire talent that shares your vision. Talent who believes not only in the product or service you are selling but also shares your values and understands the company’s goals.

Look for Support During the Journey

Hiring new staff can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, even for the most seasoned hiring managers. In the current candidate-rich market, this challenge is amplified. Sourcing, assessing, interviewing, testing, checking, offering, negotiating, and onboarding a new employee involves a lot of work. Doing all this in a timely manner, without bias, and with consistent communication and feedback to ensure a positive experience for all candidates can be overwhelming, and takes you away from other important things.

Using a recruitment agency for some (or all) steps in the hiring process is a viable option. We offer services that can assist you at any stage of the process, helping you secure the best talent for your role, so reach out today. It is also a great opportunity to check out our recent article on Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO). With our support, your team can focus on managing the ongoing people and culture function within your business.

A great recruitment agency can also enhance the efficiency and speed of hiring due to the talent pools they have available. Pre-screened, assessed, and tested candidates identified as looking for roles in your field can be onboarded into your business quickly and easily.

As a nationwide recruiter with a global talent pool, Adecco is here to support all your hiring needs. Please reach out to our consultants today.