6 ways to attract more candidates to your jobs

Beth is a PR & Communications Assistant at CV-Library. She did her degree in English Literature, but loves all things language-related and is trying to learn Spanish too! She kept a blog on her year abroad and loves being able to write creatively about all things career-related in her job. 

Here, Beth discusses how you can attract more candidates to your jobs….

“With unemployment dropping and competition for top talent getting stiffer, employers are having to think outside of the box when it comes to sourcing the right candidates.

After all, being able to attract more candidates means you’ll increase your chances of finding employees who’ll really fit the job. But with increased competition from other employers and job postings appearing in all sorts of places, how can you ensure that your company maximises these opportunities to stand out and attract more candidates to your jobs?

In a job market that’s led by candidates, this guide aims to help employers reverse the trend and find the right people for their roles.

1. Compare your salary offering

Unsurprisingly, salary is hugely important to job-seekers. The easy solution to attracting more candidates, therefore, might be to offer a more competitive rate. You can make sure that you’re offering a reasonable sum by finding out the market value of the position you need filled.

If you’re offering a high salary, but you’re not attracting enough candidates, then consider pushing your workplace benefits. Employee wellbeing is not something to ignore and benefits can end up being worth a considerable amount.

Perks such as flexible-working will show that you’re serious about your employees’ wellbeing, potentially differentiating your organisation from others. Other benefits might include training and development programs.

Either way, showing candidates the great opportunities that they can snap up further down the line will get them chasing after your job roles.

2. Be aware of your online reviews

Candidates will get creative when researching potential companies that they’re considering working at. This could be why they’re rejecting your offers.

Review sites like Glassdoor and Trustpilot will inform candidates about what it’s like to work at a company and its reputation in general. Although these are great for providing informative feedback, no doubt there’ll be the odd review which doesn’t put your company in the best light.

Be prepared for candidates to see these reviews and address the problem before it arises. Action bad reviews by replying to them online and resolving the issue. This will show to candidates that you’re willing to listen and adapt.

Double-check your job adverts

You might list your job adverts on every job board going, but often these can be pushed to the bottom of the pile by newer vacancies. To combat this, ensure that you continuously promote the job roles across your company’s social media accounts to attract more candidates.

Additionally, save candidates the trouble of trawling through the job specification just to find out what they’ll be doing. If the advertised vacancy has a unique-sounding title, consider revising it to make it more accessible.

Finally, proof-read the advert, making sure that it suitably covers everything candidates need to know. Ensure there’s no typos, as this is the kind of unprofessional error which will make candidates run a mile.

Promote an employee referral program

Your employees are your best brand ambassadors. They know the industry inside and out and will most likely have other friends in similar roles. Therefore, they can be a great source of potential new employees.

Having an employee referral program will expand your candidate pool to people you might not have otherwise been able to target. You can encourage your employees to promote job vacancies to people they already know are qualified, in return for a financial incentive.

Get creative with your advertising

Keep your eyes peeled for new advertising opportunities for your job roles. Targeting locations with high volumes of traffic may cost you initially, but will work to attract passive as well as active candidates.

Likewise, sometimes online advertising needs a boost. This can be done using paid promotional tools. In a saturated market, don’t underestimate the value of a boost in helping you stand out to candidates.

Also, think about how you can link your job advert with the role it’s promoting. If you’re hiring for a role that requires graduates, then consider partnering with nearby universities. Unlike big job boards, universities can keep students up to date with job vacancies as well as providing personalised information.

Improve your recruitment process

Candidates don’t want to have to jump through a hundred hoops just to get to the final interview stage. Understandably, you want to recruit top talent, but you could risk scaring the best candidates off with a lengthy recruitment process. This could include:

• Forcing candidates to meet various people from every section of the business
• Constantly making changes to a pre-agreed schedule
• Not getting back to a candidate within a prompt time-frame

Little touches, such as offering to cover travel expenses or provide lunch for interviews, will also reflect well on your company. Companies that go the extra mile in the early stages of the process will generally have greater success in attracting top talent.

However, don’t feel like you have to rush to get back to candidates. It’s ok to have a structured interview process, so long as you communicate this to candidates early on. If you’re too quick to offer them the job, they may start to wonder why you’re desperate – which is equally off-putting!

How to attract more candidates

If you’re able to get these six points right, you’ll have a much better chance of attracting more candidates. Remember that the most attractive aspect of your company is that it’s completely different to any other place to work.

This should be something which you reinforce through all aspects of your job adverts. Ultimately, your USP and company culture will not only attract candidates but get them to stay with you. Hopefully you’ll end up making several job offers!”

Short on time to accomplish this… 

If time is something that you don’t have a lot of, we can help you find the right candidates. Here at Zenopa, we specialise in recruiting for Sales, Marketing, Management Advisory and Service Engineering roles in the Scientific, Dental, Animal Health, Pharmaceutical, Consumer Healthcare, Physics, Laboratory, Chemistry, Medical Devices and Healthcare Communication. 

If you would like us to partner you with your recruitment requirements, you can Send us a Job Specification , email enquiries@zenopa.com to find out more, or call us on +44 (0) 1494 818 000.