In such a competitive market, it’s more important than ever to ensure that you provide the best candidate experience, so that today’s top talent chooses to work at your company. Here are 5 steps to get quality candidates to say YES to your job offer.
The average person changes jobs 10 to 15 times during his or her career.
1. Get candidates to chat with your employees.
In the late stages of the interview process, invite candidates to have lunch at the office with current employees who are in similar roles. This will allow job candidates to ask questions about the job and company to someone they might be working with. It also says a lot about your company culture: it shows that the employees are friendly and that colleagues talk outside of work.
Google is said to have incorporated this into their hiring process and they have one of the strongest candidate pipelines in the world, with over 2 million applicants every year.
2. Know your demographic.
When candidates ask questions during a job interview, it’s important to know what they are looking for—especially in terms of benefits. This starts with knowing your demographic. According to Harvard Business Review, women are more likely to prefer family benefits, like paid parental leave and work-from-home options. Meanwhile, 76% of Millennials say that retirement benefits offered by a prospective employer are a major factor in their decision to accept a job offer.
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"Providing the right mix of benefits that are both inexpensive and highly sought after among job seekers can give a competitive edge to businesses that can’t afford high salaries and pricier job perks." —Kerry Jones, Harvard Business Review |
Of course, be honest about your company’s benefits. However, emphasizing the benefits you do have based on the demographic you are speaking to can be the decisive factor in a candidate choosing to work with you.
Read also: Where to watch your wording to accommodate all demographics.
3. Stay in touch.
Send emails for several weeks following a candidate’s interview with employee content. This could include employee videos, testimonials, and blogs. In fact, our research here at Sage indicates that candidates are most likely to respond after the third and sixth email in our 6-touch outreach process. A candidate nurture campaign following a candidate’s interview can thus be extremely useful—it reinforces why your company is such a great place a work, and keeps your company fresh in a candidate’s mind.
4. Show them you care.
Small actions can say a lot. After an interview, give candidates something to remember you by. At Netflix—known for their first-class talent and company culture—candidates get a small goody bag, a bottle of water, and a gift code for their Uber ride home. Such simple gestures show that your company values the candidate and their time.
5. Utilize social media.
According to a Glassdoor survey, 79% of job seekers use social media in their job search. And yet, 3 in 4 say their employers do not—or do not know how to—promote their employment brand on social media. Properly using social media to promote employee content, your company’s mission, and your overall brand can help make your company really stand out among the plethora of other companies a candidate might be applying to.
