If you comb through the many recruiting groups on social media one problem I am hearing about more frequently is that applies to job postings have dropped substantially in the past few months. This quote by one talent acquisition pro says it all;
“It’s been a struggle for us specifically since new round of stimulus went out along with the added stress of W2 -- I’ve been in Recruiting/HR for about 3 years now and never have I seen a such a decrease in applicant flow, and an overwhelming increase in turnover and attrition all at one time. At this point, companies are literally begging people to work.”
That’s a big issue that many employers seem to be facing despite reopenings and a swelling number of vaccinations happening every day. It seems a lot of workers are taking stock of their career prospects for a post-covid world.
So what’s an employer to do if jobs are everywhere but no one is applying? Read on...
First I think it goes without saying that you have to have great wages and great benefits to attract today’s job seeker. Even in places like retail where companies like Amazon and Target have upped wages to $15/hr, you’ll have to compete with that as an SMB. My daughter just left a daycare job paying $12/hr for a job at a country club paying $15/hr. To her, that’s a huge increase in weekly wages.
One of the companies in retail that does a great job at paying workers well (and using it in marketing) is Buc-ee’s. They have now hiring signs in stores that spell out exactly what you’ll make.
Second you must optimize your application process...to make it faster and easier to apply. Still making people login to apply? Get rid of it! Still requiring a length application? Shorten it! Chances are your application is keeping people from applying is some way. Go back and streamline it.
Job applies are a numbers game. The average Career Site Visitor to Apply rate is around 5% for mobile candidates (Source: Appcast).
That means that if the company is directing candidates from a job board to their career site to apply, they are losing 95% of the candidates, with no way to reach out to them. Just changing this conversion ratio from 5% to 10% a 100% increase, would double your applicants!
This is where modern recruiting automation comes in. Jonathan Duarte founder of GoHire, says his platform has increased the apply conversion rate 500% for several clients. “It's repeatable, and anyone can do it, with a low risk, low cost solution”, he adds.
But even beyond technology solutions, there are a number of creative ideas you can implement to drive more applicants.
Let's take a look.
Creative Job Marketing Ideas
Leverage Influencers: Find and hire social media (industry specific) influencers to promote your jobs and culture. For example, lets say there’s a nurse on TikTok with 80,000 followers. She’d be a great fit for a travel nurse company to help promote their openings.
Job Board Apply: the vast majority of jobs on job boards redirect the job seeker to an ATS. If you want more applies let people apply on the job board instead. There’s a company called Jobsync that allows you to do this on sites like Indeed and Facebook Jobs while still delivering the data to your ATS. Even LinkedIn has their own apply button. Use it.
Apply Reminders: Since the vast majority of clicks to your job listings don’t lead to an initial apply why not remind them to come back? Text recruiting software platform Emissary.ai has a solution that lets you place a reminder popup after a few seconds that captures the job seeker phone number and then sends them a daily text reminder to come back and apply.
Boost Employee Referrals: One recruiter told me this is what she does. “I created a campaign of ‘become a referral hero’ with a super hero theme. I have flyers and made referral business cards to the employees to give out. I’ve done a blitz type reward like refer someone who is hired by a certain date and we bought a big screen as a reward. Employee referrals are the best thing that works for us.”
College Newspapers: If you recruit in a college town look at advertising in the student newspaper/website. Or partner with local fraternities/sororities to spread the word.
Billboards: Offline advertising strategies are an often underused tactics. Billboards (which are sold by the month) are a good strategy to try if you have never done so before. Just be sure to keep the messaging brief with a strong call to action.
Virtual Job Fair: Host your own virtual job fair. There are a number of vendors like Brazen who can help or for a DIY solution just use Zoom. Check out my article on virtual job fair platforms.
Streaming Advertising: Streaming services such as Spotify and Hulu offer self serve ad platforms now. Why create an audio or video campaign to advertise on these up and coming audience networks.
Local Facebook Groups: Post your jobs in local job search Facebook groups on a daily basis. These groups are essentially mini-job boards inside of the world's biggest social network.
Think Leads, Not Applies: You can advertise for leads (contact info) on ad platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. Trucking companies do a great job at this by simply collecting the basics: Name/Email/Phone and if they have a CDL license. A lead is better than no resume at all!
Internal Ambassador Program: Leverage your employees to share your jobs on their personal accounts. One employer says they do a cash give away ($1,400) each month for employees that do so. If they also post about why they like working there, they get a 2nd entry in the drawing.
Use Temps: Partner with a temp agency to help you fill applicable roles. Give those workers a 90 day review period and if they're good, bring them on full time.
Start texting: Jonathan Duarte from GoHire, said this to me about email: “When was the last time you sent an email to someone under 25 and they responded to it in a week, if at all? Exactly! The only reason, outside of school, that mobile-first and hourly workforce has an email address, is to sign up for Instagram, Snapchat, or another social network. They don't read or respond to emails.”
Sponsor High School Sports: Contact local high schools and see if you can sponsor sporting events. Perhaps you can even hold a hiring event at the game to help recruit parents in attendance.
Relocation: If it’s a really hard job to fill you should have some form of relocation package at the ready.
Job Wording: Hire a copywriter to rewrite your job descriptions. Be sure to match the language in the ad with the kind of candidate you want to hire. Words matter in job ads.
Content: Up your content game and start writing job search advice content on a company blog. Write about life at your company. Give candidates tips on how to impress your recruiters. Be an advocate for their success.
BONUS TIP: Leverage News Outlets Through Press Releases
Publish a press release on the national newswire about your hiring plans. Here’s an example from Six Flags the amusement park about their hiring plans. News outlets love covering stories about companies who are hiring. If you can get coverage that equals free advertising!
Conclusion
Sure, it's tougher than ever to recruit, but even more so for hiring teams stuck recruiting with old strategies and technology. Jobs are everywhere today which means yours must stand out above the rest.
That's where creative thinking and technology like text messaging and recruiting automation come in, and you don't have to be a big company to get it. Improving or replacing your recruitment technology will go a long way towards increasing the flow of applicants. Be creative, experiment with new channels and see what works.