Attracting the best talent

Why aren’t candidates applying for your job?

The job market is extremely tough right now and it is definitely a candidate market. The talent pool is limited with the best candidates just aren’t actively looking. So how do you increase your flow of quality candidates? If you are finding that you are struggling to fill your vacancies and just haven’t got the flow of quality candidates that you need, it may be time to have a review of your recruitment processes and establish why your jobs just aren’t attracting talent.
Reasons why people aren’t applying for jobs:

There are many reasons why a candidate does not press the apply button and upload their CV to your job advert. Here are a few of the obvious ones:

• There is no mention of salary, it states competitive (but what does that mean?!). The salary is too low against the market standard
• The hours are more than the old standard of 35/37/37.5 or no flexi working
• There is no option of hybrid working
• There is no option of flexible working
• The job description is too specific
• Benefits are limited or not listed
• It is not an inclusive advert

Review your job advert

Read your job advert(s) and place yourself in the shoes of your audience. Decide if it was yourself reading the job advert, would you apply? and if not, ask yourself why not! Questions to ask yourself, does the job sound appealing? is there enough information about the company and their values? what are the essential and desirable skills, experience and qualifications to be shortlisted? what are the key selling points for the job? With these points in mind, would these be enough to entice the candidate to press the apply button and apply for your job vacancy or move onto the next job advertisement?

Here are some of the red flags

1. The salary
Most candidates will be counter offered when they resign and the counteroffer is often around 10% of their salary. With this in mind, you need to ensure that your salary is pitched higher than your competition or consider a performance related bonus. When was the last time you benchmarked the salary for this role and is your salary realistic for the seniority of the role and responsibilities?

Statistics show that a job advert without a salary will have distinct less applications than one with a salary banding. The use of the word ‘competitive’ can be misleading and be quite frustrating and time wasting if the candidate then finds that the use of the work ‘competitive’ is misleading.

2. No hybrid
Many employees were happy to return to the office after the long ‘working from home’ during covid and enjoy working in the company of others. Simple routines are important for positive mental health wellbeing. Having said that, a recent survey indicated that over 80% of potential applicants would still expect a hybrid option to be included in a job advertisement and not having this would stop them from applying. A review of your working arrangements would be recommended if you have no hybrid option currently in force.

3. No flexible working
Many businesses do offer flexible working to include flexible start and finish times and perhaps shorter lunch breaks to compensate for urgent appointments you need to attend for example, unplanned home issues, pets needing walking/feeding or family illness. Knowing that there is a back up plan if this happens is so important as a vast percentage of workers will have commitments at home which they need to ensure are covered off.

4. The job description is too specific
The job description should entice the applicant to apply for the role. It should be an advert that makes them feel that it is a good match of their skills, experience and aspirations. Listing too much in a job advert will often mean that the passive candidate will remain passive, and they will move past your advert without applying for the role as they won’t feel that it is a good fit. Most roles require a percentage of experience, skills and strengths, but there are elements of duties which can be trained with the right trainer and employee. Could you therefore move your requirements of essential skills, experience and qualifications and be more flexible? If you do, you will begin to widen your pool of potential candidates and find a suitable person for your role.

5. Benefits are limited
A prospective candidate wants to know both financial and non-financial rewards. Its easy to list your financial rewards and good career prospects but what makes your company an attractive place to work? Speaking to your current staff would be the first place of call to establish why they are loyal and remain in your employment or speaking to recent new starters as to why they were attracted to joining your business. A passive candidate could be more interested in salary and flexible/hybrid working whilst an active candidate could be more interested in the values of your business which align to their own together with future prospects which outweighs any salary/package.

6. Are you an inclusive business
It’s important that your job adverts are wrote in a manner to attract candidates from all backgrounds. How do you ensure that candidates are not put off by your job advert? Some of the reasons that a potential candidate could decide not to apply is that they assume that the business is not inclusive, too corporate or gritty or, it could be that there are too many abbreviations or industry specific words which aren’t understood. General and more common use of words in your job description will increase your chances of attracting more suitably qualified candidates and those from other industries rather than restricting your talent pool to a particular industry.

More and more candidates are looking for inclusive businesses where their employer has strong values aligned to their own. A feeling of belonging is important as well as being in a collaborative working environment where they feel valued. They want to know that there are equal opportunities for development and that investment is made in supporting them as future employees.