Are You Limiting Your Talent Acquisition By Ignoring These Candidates

Are You Limiting Your Talent Acquisition By Ignoring These CandidatesThe talent shortage is real. The 2017 Staffing and Recruiting Opportunity report from Bullhorn found that for 61 percent of organizations, trouble finding employees is their biggest barrier to growth. But maybe the issue isnt with talent its who were directing our talent acquisition efforts towards. Tzu siche are definitely certain types of candidates who might be trickier to reach. But just because traditional methods havent worked, doesnt mean its impossible to tap those talent pools. In fact, they might even produce better employees, making them worth the effort.Here are six tough talent pools to reach and how your talent acquisition strategy can get to them1. Passive candidatesMeet Patty Passive. She has a decent job at a large company. She comes in each morning, talks politely with herbeibei co-workers, and goes about her day. Her work isnt parteicularly challenging or exciting, but shes fantastic at it. For Pa tty, the paycheck and benefits she receives make the dull job tolerable. But just barely.For you, Patty Passive is the holy grail of hard to recruit talent. According to a 2016 Future Workplace survey, 80 percent of HR professionals say passive candidates make better employees.Candidates like her are skilled and experience. Unfortunately, they dont technically need a new job. Its up to you to convince them theyd be better off with your organization. It might take a little bit of extra effort, but its worth it.The trick is connecting with passive candidates in a way that isnt intrusive. Theyre not regularly on job boards, so there isnt much of a chance of them coming across your postings. And since they might be nervous opening emails about a new job at their current one, your recruiting emails are likely to go unopened.The best way to catch a passive candidates attention is through their network of friends and family. Many people first hear about a new job opportunity from someone t hey know, not a job board. In fact, a 2016 LinkedIn survey found that 21 percent of people who changed job found out about the opening from someone they knew. Only 14 percent did so through a job board.The best people to pass along that type of information is current employees who love the organization. Keep a running list of candidates youve placed with your clients. Then when new jobs open up let them know so they can spread the word to all the Passive Pattys they know.TipEncourage employee ambassadorship by having clients profile their employees on social media. Employees will share it with their friends, which will peak passive talents interest in the company. Then you can monitor who engages with behauptung types of posts and reach out to them about a job theyd be perfect for.2. Gen ZersMeet Gemma Zee. Shes about to enter the job search in a few years and has high hopes for her future career. Growing up with technology, seeing a company website thats outdated negatively affects her opinion of how creative and innovative that organization is. And if the only contact information thats available on the site is a phone number, she would even think about reaching out to them.Just when you think you finally understand millennials, here comes Generation Z. As a new crop of candidates, the offer a lot of talent acquisition opportunities. However, since theyre totenstill new to the workforce, everyones still unsure how to approach them as a talent pool.What types of benefits are they looking for? What type of company cultures appeal to them? Is meaningful work or compensation mora important to them?If you want to connect with this new young talent pool, its important to focus on what we do know about them. To start with, theyre technology natives. A 2017 Bridgeworks survey found that 71 percent of Gen Zers describe themselves as tech savvy.As a result, they are less comfortable with older forms of communication. The Bridgeworks survey revealed that 74 percent of G en Zers think their generation struggles with in-person communication. Twelve percent said the same thing about phone calls.However, only 2 percent said they had a hard time with modern communication like video, making it the easiest way to bridge the gap with Generation Z. By using video interviews, you can get your talent acquisition strategy ready for these candidates. It shows the company uses current technology and provides the applicants with a way to interact theyre familiar with.TipStart using video interviews as part of the hiring process for your internship. That allows tech savvy Gen Zers to feel comfortable while applying. Then after their internship they can transition to being a great full-time employee.3. Talent in another fieldMeet Trey Transition. He currently works in publishing, but employment in that field has been declining recently. While he loves his career because of the communication and organizational skills its help him developed, hes worried about his pro fessional future. But since hes been in publishing his whole life, he doesnt know what other options are available to him.A 2015 Burning Glass survey found that theres more similarity than we realize in the desirable skills across different industries. Looking at 15 different fields, the report discovered that communication, organizational, and writing skills were on employers list of top three skills they were looking for in almost every industry.That shows that what many staffing professionals already know it doesnt matter where a candidate learned certain skills as long as they have them. Unfortunately, talent doesnt always understand that making it unlikely that theyd consider working in a position thats different from their current one.Find ways to show candidates that they can successfully translate their skills and bring value to a new field. Break down your job descriptions to the most basic terms. Also avoid any industry jargon that might confuse or scare away talent unfami liar with the industry.TipBe clear about which job requirements youre flexible on so candidates can see how well they meet your needs. Sure they might not have 10 years experience in the industry. But if the most important part of the job is being a good communicator and theyve got that down, theyll still apply.A candidate working in a different field, doesnt mean theyre off limits. talentacquisitionClick To Tweet4. Boomerang employeesRe-meet Bob Boomerang. He worked for your company a few years ago. He was a great employee and although he left for a new opportunity, it was on good terms. Occasionally an update from him pops up on your LinkedIn page and you get the feeling hes not too happy at his new company. If only hed consider coming backBelieve it or not, boomerang employees, or ones that leave a company, but then eventually return to work there again, are gaining in popularity. A 2015 survey from The Workplace Institute found that 76 percent of HR professionals are more likely to hire back old employees than in the past.Whats great about boomerang employees is you can be confident in both their work ability and how well they fit in with the company culture. As long as there were no hard feelings when they left the organization, theres no reason that cant make a smooth transition back.Whats difficult about reaching out to these employees is convincing them this isnt a step backwards in their career. Simply offering them the same old position wont work. Instead, consider them for new roles that have recently opened up. Think about what roles will allow them to grow or allow them to use new skills theyve learned.TipPerform exit surveys when employees leave. That will let you keep track of who might be willing to come back. It will also allow you to point out any positive changes that have occurred since they left. For instance, if the reason they left was they wanted more from your benefits package and youve since improved it, be sure to tell them that.5. T elecommutersMeet Tammy Telecommuter. Shes been working from home for the past few years and loves how it improves her work/life balance. Theres flexibility in her schedule so she can adjust her workday depending on her family responsibilities. Not seeing or talking to her coworkers for days at a time, however, does get lonely.Many people assume working from home is for everyone. Who wouldnt want the option to sit in their pajamas and work from their bed? But the truth is, that its common for telecommuters to feel isolated.Steelcase examined what they called presence disparity in their 2015 research. The phenomenon occurs when situations like the following occurBeing a telecommuter on brainstorming call and having everyone talk about visuals they cant see.Being on a conference all when everyone else is in the same room. As the others try to talk over each other, the telecommuter cant tell whos saying what and it all sounds like gibberish..Being a telecommuter and having an intense fe eling that the real meeting started after your part of the call ended.Over time, these things cause remote workers to feel presence disparity, or a sort of loneliness at work. It makes these employees feel like they arent really a part of the team. And for many people that makes working from home not all that its cracked up to be.At the same time, staffing professional believe that people who are currently telecommuting could never be convinced to come back to a traditional office, limiting their talent acquisition options.If your organization can still offer great work/life balance to employees, highlight that in your job advertisement. It might not be what theyre used to, but it shows telecommuters that they wont be sacrificing something thats important to them.TipFeature current employees in company culture videos and other recruiting material. Include information that give more insight than each employees job. Allow them to show their personality. That will show this type of tal ent the sense of community you can offer to them.6. Older studentsMeet Max Masters. Hes in his early thirties and has recently decided to go back to school for more education. He knows that getting a masters degree will help in the long run with his career, but right now money is tight and hes strapped for time.Its not uncommon now for professionals to return to get their masters or doctorate later on in life. In fact, 2015 research from the National Center for Educational Statistics estimates that by 2025, almost 10 million people over the age of 25 will be enrolled in post-secondary education.But that does mean theyre off limits as possible employees. It might not be easy to convince a student to apply for a part- or full-time job while they study, but if you make it worth their while, the can become great employees. After all, these are people improving their professional knowledge and skills, which can be valuable for the organization.Show them you would sttze their educational endeavors by creating programs that help them learn. Approach local colleges with high graduate-level populations and seeing if an agreement can be made where student who work for your organization receive credit in return.TipOffer benefits, like student loan forgiveness, to help out these types of candidates. It will show them that you understand theyre working hard and want to reward them for it.Graduate students are interested in jobs while they study. Dont ignore them. talentacquisitionClick To TweetWhat are some other ways to target your talent acquisition strategies towards candidates who are tricky to reach? Share in the comments below