How does recruiting work today?

Digitalization, globalization, climate change, pandemics – all these factors have a decisive influence on recruiting today. Nothing works without digital media anymore. A company must be attractive in order to attract attention. They have to be present in order to be able to reach employees at all. A good salary alone and a secure job have long since ceased to be enough to attract candidates and win them over to the company. Everyone is talking about a shortage of skilled workers, and although companies are learning to make better and better use of the resources they have, recruiting has become an essential aspect of the company’s survival and is becoming more and more important in order to be able to counteract the high level of resilience and the resulting fragility of the company. However, especially nowadays it is not easy to find employees.

Successful recruiting is a complex process of employer attractiveness and recruiting methods.

With regard to employer attractiveness, there are countless ways to increase it. In addition to a good salary and a secure job, potentials include health management, the corporate culture and corporate values that are lived out, opportunities for self-fulfillment and further development, the workplace design of a as well as the compatibility of family, leisure time and work provided incentives for future employees. It is no longer enough to simply market a good product. In order to survive as a company, the importance of the employee and the company’s internal structures is becoming increasingly central. More details in another article.

And what does that mean for recruiting?

In the past, word-of-mouth, job fairs and job advertisements in print media were the main sources for new employees & Today, companies are taking completely new approaches. The possibilities are more diverse than ever. And that’s a good thing, because we also have such a wide variety of employees on the job market, all of whom need to be approached somehow. Because the free resources on the job market have become scarce. And so, in addition to job fairs and (online) job ads, there are many other and useful ways to address new employees.

What are the recruiting methods?

1. Social-Recruiting

These days, nothing works without a job posting on a well-known job board like Monster, Indeed or Stepstone. But many companies go even further and use social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Twitter to generate new employees.

The challenge of social recruiting lies primarily in addressing candidates directly and presenting the company in an interesting way. It is not enough to simply place a job ad, but an appealing web presence is of great importance. Above all, regular content such as blog posts, press releases and information must not be missing from a web presence in social media. Good accessibility and quick feedback are also important. When something WILL be posted, which content should be conveyed and which network should be used, all this must be well thought out.

Methods of social recruiting are therefore active sourcing, content marketing, referral marketing and job ads.

If the concept of social recruiting is well developed, it brings the advantage that the target group can be addressed directly via the post, the reach and awareness of the company can increase significantly and the company can position itself as an attractive employer (employer branding).

2. Active Sourcing – Recruiter as Networker

With active sourcing, companies themselves become active in recruiting potential employees, because passive employee recruitment is hardly sufficient to generate skilled workers. This is not a new recruiting trend. Even before the social media age, companies were actively looking for potential employees, e.g. by presenting and directly approaching them at trade fairs, via headhunters or the graduate books of universities. Even today, there are still numerous opportunities that are actively used outside of digital media, such as via trade fairs, direct approaches in lecture halls or (vocational) schools, but also networking events.

Today, however, social networks offer entirely new ways to contact potential employees directly. A 2018 Recruiting Trends study found that companies that use social networks for recruiting are quickly twice as successful in active sourcing. Whether via exciting content & postings on social platforms like Instagram or Facebook or targeted searches via business platforms like Xing or LinkedIN, recruiters have numerous options at their disposal.

THEREFORE, not only an active applicant can be addressed, but also potential applicants who are currently not actively looking for a job.

The function of the recruiter as a networker is indispensable for the success of this method. Nothing is more annoying than being contacted by 10 headhunters/recruiters with the same contact. For me, these mails actually end up quickly in the trash, unread. An individual approach is required here. Who is this person? What makes them special? Individuality is at the top of the list when it comes to attracting the attention of potential candidates. Likeable, authentic and appealing. That’s how the interview/message should be. Candidates want to know why the job fits them exactly, who the company is and to be able to sense the people behind it.A standardized approach cannot die and tends to have a discouraging effect.

3 Employee referral program

Employees recruit employees – countless opportunities arise for the company. Nothing is better than satisfied employees who recommend their own company as a great employer. And if the employee can then also benefit from a successful recommendation, this offers a good opportunity for the company. In addition, costs can be saved with this process.

4 Mobile recruitment

What if applications could be submitted at the click of a cell phone? How much more likely is it then that more applications will be received? Time is money, after all, and everyone has their free time and smartphone at their fingertips these days. The younger generations in particular like things to be quick and as simple as possible. Mobile recruiting offers just the right opportunity here. But not only the application by click on the smartphone, especially a company website optimized for mobile devices plays a major role here.

The advantages are obvious, a faster and simplified application process. Application-to-go, which leads to more applications. In addition, this method will become increasingly important in the future. When it comes to data protection, applicants are often still skeptical, and out of concern that the application is not designed attractively enough, they often opt for an e-mail application.

But mobile recruiting will be the future. Companies can therefore no longer avoid optimizing their corporate website for smartphones.

5. Career page

The corporate website is a flagship for every company. However, its necessity is often still underestimated. A redirect to the company’s career site should be easy to find. But job postings alone are far from enough. Potential employees want to get to know the company and gain an initial insight into its values and benefits. Identification with the company and the job is becoming increasingly important for potential employees. Job postings should therefore contain all the specific information on tasks and responsibilities, general conditions and benefits, goals, values and the corporate culture.Sympathetic, authentic and appealing – that’s how a job posting should be designed. The application process should be simple and fast.

A search engine optimized career site offers potential employees to find vacant positions.

6. Talent pools

A talent pool is a way for companies to quickly get in touch with former, interesting contacts. Whether former employees, internal talents or former applicants with interesting profiles. If the database is well maintained, there are many opportunities to quickly find a suitable employee for the position to be filled.

In addition to the recruitment methods, the recruitment process can also be optimized further and further in order to uncover possible weaknesses here as well and to be able to act more favorably, more quickly and more sustainably.