The Guarantee
May 18

Pain Point #10: I Can’t Hire Enough Qualified Staff!

The biggest differentiator between a growth-oriented CEO and an execution-oriented CEO is the former focuses on growing the business where the latter focuses on the day-to-day operations. In today’s society, we cannot afford to just be execution-oriented. The greatest growth-oriented CEOs are strategic by nature. They also know how important it is to leverage the expertise of others in overcoming the big strategic issues and obstacles to growth they are battling daily.

As we come out of this pandemic and get back to a place of normalcy, we need to be aware that the same ole tricks may not cut it. If we look around, a lot of businesses have already closed their doors for good. So what is helping those that are thriving in today’s economy?

RedRover is here to help answer those questions. We will be sharing the top 10 pain points that most every CEO is facing in 2021 — those gut-wrenching, keep-you-up-at-night issues – and how to navigate them and come out with your tail wagging!

Pain Point #10: I Can’t Hire Enough Qualified Staff!

Do you know that recruiting is often just a marketing challenge in disguise? Who could have imagined when the world shut down in the early stages of the pandemic with record unemployment that we’d be facing such significant challenges hiring qualified staff — especially in entry-level positions — so soon after?

What we’re hearing from clients across the country right now is that they are dealing with an absolute and unfortunate dearth of qualified candidates. With that challenge may come the inability to deliver for your current customers let alone capitalize on the upswing in new business that is coming your way as consumer and CEO confidence rises beyond pre-pandemic levels. After the rough year that was 2020, what an absolute shame that would be. 

In reality, this is just a marketing challenge in disguise. Most companies are gearing back up for growth and there just isn’t enough talent to go around. So let’s talk about how to solve this unique marketing challenge. Spoiler: It doesn’t rely solely on traditional job board ads.

Step 1: Define your culture.

Step one is to define your culture. In its simplest form, culture is simply your core values plus the behaviors that bring those values to life. Not only do you need to publicly document your culture but in a storytelling fashion that inspires and allows candidates to imagine the experience of joining your team. 

Step 2: Create your public-facing employment brand. 

With your documented culture in hand, you must now bring it to life through your digital footprint. You’ll need a web page dedicated to culture on your website including video testimonials from your happy employees and plenty of photos of your team working together, collaborating and supporting one another, making a difference together, and enjoying time with one another. 

What’s more, that page must definitively and persuasively answer this question: why should a candidate in your industry choose your firm vs. a competitor at this time? What clearly sets your firm apart? Ideally that’s a differentiator that is provable. 

Next up, use this content and the visuals to create a similar brand profile on hiring sites such as Glassdoor or Indeed — though the hiring platforms that matter most for your industry may vary. Lastly, ask your happy current and former employees to rate you on these same sites. According to a 2016 Glassdoor U.S. Site Survey, the majority of candidates read six reviews before forming an opinion about a company and 70 percent of people now look to reviews before they make career decisions. The key to making Glassdoor and Indeed reviews work for you is that you must promptly and publicly respond to each and every one in a positive, gracious, supportive tone — the good and less flattering reviews alike. 

Step 3: Creatively target candidates with strategies that break through.

There are two general populations of candidates to target — (1) those who are actively looking and (2) passive job seekers who are relatively happy where they are but willing to entertain the right opportunity if someone seeks them out in the right way.

Sure, posts on the job boards like LinkedIn, Glassdoor and Indeed may net you candidates who are actively looking for a position — assuming you have a strong public-facing employment brand — but this strategy falls short when it comes to passive lookers. And given how low voluntary unemployment is at present, there aren’t many active lookers out there so creative strategies are required for getting passive lookers to the table.

Regarding the first group, I’m sure you’ve already experienced the abysmal effects of placing job board ads at the moment. They just aren’t breaking through right now, so you must get creative. 

One way to break through is leveraging marketing technology called geo-fencing. Geo-fencing is a strategy for using GPS, Wi-Fi or cell signal to define an invisible geographic boundary which allows you to deliver ads to those entering that physical boundary. If you’re in the construction business and are in need of laborers, for example, geo-fencing can be used to identify active construction permit data that allows you to target current job sites in your area. So, when anyone with a smartphone enters that virtual geographic boundary you’ve set around the job site, the unique identifier on their phone is captured allowing you to deliver HIGHLY targeted recruiting ads.

Likewise, this technology can be used to message people (such as employees) entering your competitors’ offices. Talk about powerful targeting!

One of the most fascinating features of this technology is that it can be used retroactively  — meaning, you can pull device IDs from job sites and competitor offices over the past year or two to ensure you get a thorough list. So, you can go back to pre-COVID times when there was potentially more traffic at your competitors’ offices.

The ads delivered to these targeted devices can be teed up in a number of ways including: (1) ads on the websites they already frequent, (2) ads in their social-media newsfeeds, or (3) email campaigns.

Step 4: Create an optimum application and screening experience.

With the job market as tight as it is, candidate expectations for an exemplary screening process are higher than ever. The short list of how to exceed those expectations includes:

  • Give the candidate the opportunity to text to apply.
  • Shorten the application to the bare minimum.
  • Be willing to talk to and persuade a candidate to apply before they complete an application. 
  • Tighten up your screening process by pre-scheduling all potential interviews within 3-5 days of receipt of a strong application. If you snooze you lose in today’s hiring environment.
  • Be sure you dedicate 25 percent of each interview to building enthusiasm among candidates in your vision for the company and the opportunity ahead of them, as well as to patiently answer all of their questions.
  • Once a candidate accepts, send them a personalized welcome gift based on what you have learned about them through the interviewing process to show them you care and to help ensure they don’t have second thoughts.
  • Reach out in advance of their first day to help them envision what day one looks like and to answer any questions. Make sure you have someone scheduled to take them to lunch each day during week one.

Recruiting is brutal in so many industries at the moment, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s possible to create a scalable, repeatable recruiting strategy that is just a marketing strategy in disguise.

If you’re currently feeling this pain and don’t have the time and resources to tackle it, tag in the RedRover pack! We can have your employment brand buttoned down and outreach to targeted candidates beginning in as little as two weeks. Let’s Talk.

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