3 reasons why you are not getting the candidates you need

11 November 2021

When it’s time to look for a new member of staff, many organisations will follow the same approach: posting the vacancy on popular job boards and waiting to see who gets in touch. Yet all too often, this strategy fails to deliver the calibre of candidates needed for the position in question, or those who apply will simply not be suitable for the remit of the job or represent a good cultural fit with the company. The reason for this can frequently be traced back to three key reasons, and tackling these issues can help optimise your organisation’s future recruitment drives.

Reason One: A Lack Of Clarity
Of course, posting job advertisements is an integral part of any contemporary recruitment process, but the key to success is how these are drafted. If your job advert is too vague about the nature of the vacant role, or the precise skills and experience required, then it will be difficult to ensure that it works as it should: namely, attracting only the most suitable candidates. Similarly, the job advertisement is an excellent opportunity to introduce top talent to your organisation, and attract them onboard. However, all too often, this is chance is passed by, with only vague descriptions of the company included, if any. Instead, use the text of the advert to highlight why a high quality individual should be keen to apply to work with you: mentioning any benefits such as awards, workplace ethos and culture, or interesting clients or projects can all help to make your advertisement stand out in a crowded job board.

Reason Two: Unrealistic Expectations
Another major reason why companies may struggle to attract the right candidates is that the salary or package offered is simply not competitive enough. After all, if you want the cream of the crop to join your team, it’s realistic to expect to have to pay for it. Sometimes the low salary on offer may be due to an innocent miscalculation, based on what may have been an acceptable going rate last time the role was advertised. Yet skills shortages in certain areas will affect salary expectations, so take the time to review the job market before making an offer. Whilst this may seem disheartening news for smaller enterprises, or organisations without such generous budgets, there are, happily, other ways to boost the package and tempt top quality candidates on board. Nowadays, employees place a high priority on company culture, green credentials, and other non-fiscal benefits, so if you can offer flexible working patterns, or run any carbon-offsetting schemes, be sure to highlight this as one of the perks of the job.

Reason Three: A Mismanaged Process
You may well be targeting all the right job boards, promoting the vacancy on social media, and tapping into established networks whilst in the quest for the perfect new hire, but if a recruiting strategy is not carefully managed, all this effort could be causing more harm than good. It’s essential to have a method of tracking the sources of all of your applicants, so you can identify which means of advertising is the more effective, thereby allowing you to optimise the process. Make sure, too, that if you are offering prospective candidates a variety of ways to apply, such as email, via the company website, or through job boards and that each of these avenues is properly tracked. This will help to ensure that no application ends up being overlooked.

Get An Expert Onboard
When it’s time to hire, one tried and tested way to ensure that your organisation attracts exactly the right talent, is to partner with the experts in recruitment. At rmg digital, our experienced specialists can take care of every aspect of the hiring process, from the initial talent search, to drafting the perfect job advert, through to interviewing. Why not get in touch today, on UK Tel: 020 3800 1118 Swindon, UK Tel: 01172 840840 Amsterdam, Netherlands Tel: (+31) 208905766 and discover how rmg digital can optimise your recruitment process?

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