Why You’re Not Attracting Quality Job Applicants (And what to do about it)

Hiring is one of the most important things you will do for your business, but finding the best candidates is not always easy. In today’s employee-driven market, companies must work harder than ever to attract top talent. It is no longer enough to post a now hiring ad and hope the right person applies. Instead, employers must fight for the best candidates out there.

If you have found yourself struggling to find quality applicants that can help take your business to the next level, check out these five tips to gain insight on why this may be happening and how to overcome them.

1. Your job post is ineffective. Let’s start with the job posting itself. Writing a job description that both informs the candidate while also attracting them to the position is a tricky thing to do. It is important to keep in mind that your job posting is an advertisement for your company and the available position. Advertisements attract people by highlighting the best parts of what they are selling, and for you that is a job! You want to keep the post organized and concise while also maintaining the voice of your company. Be sure to use keywords and job titles that clearly define the position, and do not forget to include the things that make your company great to work for.

2. Your application process is way too long. According to a study done by Careerbuilder, 60% of job seekers quit in the middle of filling out online job applications due to the length and complexity of most of them. In order to discover highly qualified applicants, employers often believe they need to create lengthy job applications that cover everything they would want to know. Ironically, this leads to pushing away over half of your applicants. Keep in mind that this is an employee-driven market and simplifying your application process can be the key factor in finding your ideal employee.

3. You don’t provide enough benefits. When searching for jobs, salary is not the only thing applicants are looking for. Many applicants value a great compensation package and will often choose a position with better benefits over a higher paying one. This can include everything from healthcare to retirement and childcare. This can be great news for companies that are unable to compete with skyrocketing salaries and can instead focus on what benefits they can offer. If you are unsure what benefits would be valuable in your company, reach out to current employees and find out what is most important to them!

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4. Your job post doesn’t have a big enough reach. If your job post is optimized, your application process is not too long, and you are offering awesome benefits, it’s possible you just aren’t reaching enough applicants. With the thousands of job boards, use of social media recruiting, and even AI recruitment tactics, it is getting increasingly difficult to get your job in front of job seekers. Consider researching how your competitors are advertising their jobs and ways you can streamline your recruitment process. Look into software that can help, such as an applicant tracking system and job posting tools. Finding ways to get your position in front of as many job seekers as possible will increase your chances of finding the perfect employee.

5. You are not targeting passive candidates. When you think about your ideal employee it is usually someone with extensive knowledge, experience, and a passion for what they do. Unfortunately, these rockstar employees are often already employed and not actively searching for new opportunities. We call these people passive candidates. There are a few ways you can target passive candidates, but the important thing to remember is to show them why your company may be a better place for them. Use your network, ask around, and look at sites such as Linkedin to find potential passive candidates.

Attracting quality applicants is incredibly tough in today’s competitive market, but by utilizing these five tips you will be well on your way to discovering those top-notch, rockstar employees.

Paige Garner

Paige Garner
Paige Garner is the marketing coordinator for Proven.

Paige Garner

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