Making the right hiring decisions is vital to the success of any organisation. You increase your chances of getting it right by starting with a strong pool of candidates. But how do you increase the quality of your job applications you receive? Here are three simple things you can do!
1. Create Compelling Job Ads
It can be tempting to throw up a job ad as soon as you have a vacancy. But if you want to increase the quality of your job applications, take the time to write a quality job ad. Investing the time and effort will make your task of sourcing and attracting great candidates much easier in the short and long term. Here’s why:
- Highly sought-after candidates will apply to your opportunity rather than competitors if your offering is presented more attractively.
- A compelling job ad can also entice “window shopping” candidates to apply to your role.
- Presenting your vacancy in a captivating and exciting way positions you as an employer of choice and draws more quality candidates.
- You reduce the need to repost the job ad because you failed to attract suitable candidates the first time. Reposting job ads delay your hiring process and hurt your employer brand.
Here’s how to create a standout job ad:
- Focus on promoting the benefits of the role and your workplace.
- Employ empathy – ask yourself why the ideal candidate would be interested in your role or organisation and highlight that.
- Keep the key requirements brief and list only the essential skills and experience.
- Embed videos in your job ad to provide candidates with richer insights about the opportunity and your company.
- Be transparent about the salary range.
- Include a sincere equal employment opportunity (EEO) statement that reflects your workplace culture. You can use writing platforms such as Textio to help craft your message or review our pick of some of the best EEO statements for inspiration.
- If you are using screening questions, only include the vital ones.
If you want to boost your applicant numbers, highlight your workplace flexibility…
- Specify if the opportunity includes remote and hybrid work options.
- Indicate if you are open to the role being part-time or job share.
- Ask candidates to let you know what flexibility they require.
…and expand your candidate pool
- Explicitly encouraging return-to-work parents or those who have taken a career break to apply.
- We welcome applications from those returning to the workforce
- Making your hiring process accessible and encouraging applicants to request reasonable adjustments to assist them through the application and recruitment process.
- Applicants can request a reasonable adjustment at any stage during the recruitment process by getting in touch with the contact person
- Advertise on specialist job boards and with industry associations.
2. Review your referral program
Many people secure work through word of mouth. That is why it is critical to have an effective employee referral program. Your staff knows who will make a great addition to the team, so ensure you set them up for success!
Here’s a checklist to determine if your referral program is working as hard as it could be:
- Do staff know what the current open vacancies are? Or do you need to improve visibility?
- Can internal teams easily share your jobs with their external networks?
- Does your referral bonus offer a sufficient incentive, and does everyone know the value of the referral bonus?
- Do you have a quick and effortless way for staff to make referrals?
- Do you have a workplace culture where everyone feels responsible for assisting recruitment efforts?
3. Partner with a recruitment agency that gets your business
Selecting agencies who are specialists in your industry or the domain you are recruiting means you can better reach suitable candidates. Specialist recruitment agencies understand your industry’s challenges and opportunities and can also provide market insights and trends to support your hiring. Investing in a long-term relationship means your recruitment partner can continuously present you with high-quality candidates.
Access Clicks’ Market ResearchBenefits of engaging with recruitment agencies
In recent recruitment news, Shortlist shared an analysis by JobAdder, which revealed recruitment agencies fill roles faster than internal recruitment teams – in particular contract and temp positions. Recruitment agencies also have better-established networks and access to a more extensive candidate database. This reach enables agencies to proactively source and headhunt talent, which has become increasingly important as the number of job seekers applying via job ads has decreased since 2019.
How you can help recruiters best represent your opportunity to prospective candidates:
- Arm them with relevant information, such as an updated position description, an overview of your employee benefits program, and an opportunity to meet the team or conduct an office tour.
- Be available to answer questions about the role and provide feedback throughout the recruitment process.
As recruitment and staffing specialists, we might be biased, but we genuinely believe your people are your organisation’s greatest asset. Hiring well sets you, your team, and your company up for success!
Clicks is an award-winning IT recruitment specialist. We have specialist teams who are trained across each IT skill vertical. As Australia’s favourite recruiters, we help companies find great people in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, and Brisbane each day! Whether it’s permanent, contract, fixed-term, master vendor, or payroll only, we’ve ready to help. Register a Vacancy or contact us on 1300 CLICKS today for a confidential chat.
