Are You Sabotaging Your Ability to Attract Top Talent?

While you and your hiring team put effort into finding and attracting top talent, you might be unknowingly hurting your chances of hiring these job seekers. A competitive hiring market can feel like a war for talent with your competitors. If you fail to stand out to job candidates, your competitors will jump in and hire your ideal employees. These employees will help your rivals excel while you fall behind. Fortunately, there are plenty of simple ways to improve your hiring process. Avoid these common mistakes that can sabotage employee engagement and hiring prospects. 

Absence of a Compelling and Informative Job Description 

If you want job seekers to find your openings and actually apply, you need to write a job description that makes a great first impression. Start with the job title. Since this is what many people use as their search team when looking for job listings, it will have a major impact on your ability to attract the candidates you want to hire. Use clear language and avoid company-specific jargon, which can make it difficult for candidates to determine what skills and experience level you are looking for.   

The job description should be accurate, informative, and compelling enough to keep people reading from beginning to end. Find the right balance between being concise and providing enough detail. You want to give candidates enough information to decide if the position is a good fit for them, but you also want to avoid overwhelming them with too many items. Describe what the position's daily responsibilities are and how the role fits into the overall scope of your company's work. If you have some strict requirements and some nice but not necessary qualifications, make sure to specify which is which. The perfect job description will help applicants assess if the position fits their skills, experience, and expectations, which should bring excellent candidates your way.  

Passivity When Waiting for Top Talent to Find Your Company 

Sitting around and waiting for talented individuals to notice your brand is a critical mistake that many companies make. Instead, you need to actively seek out the top talent and show them why they want to work for you. Prospective employee engagement can start building a connection with job candidates that will make them want to work for your company. 

To achieve this goal, you should create and implement an active employee recruitment strategy. This can involve seeking out potential employees and helping them see the benefits of working for your brand. Your company should regularly engage with job candidates by helping them complete their search and explore how your company will elevate their careers. Reaching out to potential candidates can encourage them to apply, even if they are not actively job searching or might have otherwise overlooked your job listing. 

Social media posts can also help you connect with job seekers. This is a good way to highlight your company culture and the work your company is doing. Since you can reach many potential candidates at once, good social media content can help your company compete for talent. 

Failure to Outline or Even Offer a Competitive Benefits Package 

Research shows that after wages, the benefits package is the most important factor that job seekers consider when deciding whether to accept a job offer or even apply for the position. As it is an important part of their overall compensation package, people want the best of the best when it comes to benefits. The package you offer must go far beyond health insurance, though that should surpass what your competitors offer as well. A great benefits package is essential to attracting and retaining top talent. Be sure to describe the benefits you offer in your job description so applicants know what they can expect from your company. 

As a small to medium-sized business, it can be difficult to afford a competitive health plan and other benefits for your employees, but partnering with a PEO can help. Through this partnership, you gain access to a wide range of excellent benefits that will help drive the top talent to your company. Offering these better benefits can help you compete more successfully with larger companies when it comes to hiring.   

Lack of Emphasis on Company Culture 

Your company culture helps you attract and retain great employees. It is a key part of your competitive advantage when hiring, so make sure to emphasize it in your job listings. If you want employees who stick around for the long term, your company culture must be a great fit. Finding the right match during the hiring process will help you retain the top talent you bring in. 

To address this issue, take the time to identify what defines your company culture and how that affects the experience of working there. Then, you can show off your culture to all your prospective employees to find the best fit for all involved. Make sure to discuss the career development opportunities you offer for your team members. You can reduce turnover by showing your ambitious employees how they can advance within your company.   

As you identify all the ways you might be sabotaging your ability to attract the top talent, you can start to update your process and recruit only the best. By working with a reputable PEO or outsourced HR company, you can get the help you need to boost your employee recruitment efforts and achieve your desired results.