There are two things that continue to be problematic for talent acquisition (TA) professionals: attracting and retaining qualified workers and providing a great candidate experience (CX) to help lure others in the door.
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According to iHire’s latest survey, 64.2% of small businesses say they struggle to attract qualified talent—a trend that will continue into 2020, the recruitment marketing solution provider predicts. This finding comes as a result of an iHire poll of 258 HR, hiring, recruiting, and staffing professionals from U.S. small businesses.
Next to receiving too many unqualified applicants, survey participants cited a:
- “Low volume of applicants per job opening” (55.3%),
- “Difficulty retaining employees/high turnover” (15.2%), and
- A “lack of budget/resources to support recruiting goals” (15.2%) as their biggest frustrations in the hiring process.
Other commonly cited challenges involved difficulty recruiting passive jobseekers (12.8%), inability to write compelling job ads (11.3%), and a lack of a strong employer brand that attracts candidates (9.3%).
“Although small businesses are thriving in the current economy, many of these companies are experiencing growing pains – especially when it comes to recruiting,” says Steve Flook, President and CEO, iHire—in a press release. “To find qualified applicants amidst record-low unemployment rates, small businesses need to adopt new talent acquisition tactics in 2020. For these businesses to start the year off right, iHire recommends focusing on augmenting employer branding efforts, pipelining candidates to fill future roles quickly, and diversifying their recruiting toolboxes.”
New Strategies Focusing on CX
As employers continue to find new ways to attract talent, one solution may lie in the experience TA pros are providing to jobseekers and potential candidates.
To gain a competitive advantage, a highly satisfying and interactive CX is essential, finds new research from Phenom People, a talent experience management platform. Organizations that do not deliver a personalized CX are at risk of losing top talent to competitors, jeopardizing company growth.
The Phenom People report—State of Candidate Experience: 2020 Benchmarks—provides insights as to where employers are meeting jobseeker expectations on career sites.
The most notable findings from this report include:
- 97% of employers do not deliver hyper-personalized CXs
- 94% do not include a chatbot
- 92% do not deliver recommended jobs based on candidate profiles
- 90% do not offer a social login option for candidates to browse relevant jobs
- 86% do not have semantic search capabilities
The Critical Role of AI in CX
In addition to exposing the current state of the digital candidate experience, the report evaluates how artificial intelligence (AI) is incorporated. AI and machine learning help candidates find the right jobs faster by enhancing their experience in three areas: personalization, search, and insights. Despite the industry focus on AI, 97% of the Fortune 500 scored poorly when it comes to implementing this technology on company career sites.
“Employers must stop neglecting their candidate experiences. Talent acquisition teams are just as responsible as other departments for improving the bottom line,” says Mahe Bayireddi, CEO and Cofounder at Phenom People. “When the candidate experience is less than phenomenal, a negative chain reaction occurs—recruiters struggle to fill jobs, employee evolution is restricted, and the customer experience suffers. The findings from this report should encourage employers to optimize their career sites to help candidates find the right job, and recruiters the right talent.”
This research underscores the strengths and weaknesses of the Fortune 500 CXs. Companies scored the lowest in utilizing AI, delivering job recommendations, and offering a chatbot. Conversely, companies scored the highest in fast web page load time, responsive site design, and maintaining up to date job postings on job boards.
In this candidate-driven market, TA pros and employers would be wise to shift gears and focus more on the technology aspect of their recruiting efforts. Deploying new technology that appeals to jobseekers is a surefire way to improve the CX your company offers.
Tomorrow, we’ll be speaking with Claudia Johnson, Director of Internal Recruiting at Addison Group, to discuss another way to improve CX: constant communication. Stay tuned!