Having Trouble Hiring? Here’s How to Market to New Employees

This must be the place in neon lights


With job creation up significantly and unemployment at a 50-year low of 3.5%, a full 51% of small businesses are unable to fill jobs as 2022 begins. There’s no question that in this climate, it can be difficult to find the right person for the roles your company may be trying to fill. Hiring looks different than it did, even just a few months ago. With many companies competing for the same talent, brands must go above and beyond to appeal to potential candidates. So how can you attract qualified individuals to your organization, streamline the hiring and onboarding process and increase worker retention? We suggest following these four guidelines to help build a solid team. 

Offer a Remote Work Option

To stand out in a tight labor market, improving the benefits you offer to potential candidates is a surefire way to make your job listing more attractive to a potential candidate. In 2022, that means considering the possibility of offering fully remote or partially remote work, allowing for flexible work schedules or filling several part-time roles. Research shows the most talented and skilled candidates will opt for a remote position over a traditional position. Green Apple Strategy is a fully remote company. While our origins, heart, and investment are in Tennessee businesses, we’ve brought in talent from Colorado, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Alabama. Offering this flexibility to workers means that we received applications from qualified candidates all over the U.S.

Network Proactively 

While tools like LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, and ZipRecruiter have made finding qualified candidates easier, intentional networking (online or in-person) is hard to beat for connecting with vetted candidates you can trust. Interact with candidates on LinkedIn, follow leading HR firms, and connect with local colleges, universities, and trade schools in order to increase both the quantity and the quality of your hiring pool. 

Create An Apprentice or Internship Program 

Bringing in young, talented individuals is always a good idea, as they can provide a fresh perspective and are often eager to start their career with a bang. When you run an apprenticeship or internship program, you’re cultivating a qualified hiring pool and building relationships with potential new employees. Even if your program doesn’t end in a full-time hire, participants will receive experience and education and you will expand your talent network. It’s a win-win. 

Improve Your Benefits Package

In lieu of remote work, or to supplement that offering, consider making changes to your benefits package. In a crowded labor market, anWWi attractive benefits package can help your job listing stand out among other, similar roles. Changes to benefits don’t have to be huge but see if you can get creative in what you offer. Could you extend health care coverage to part-time employees? Increase the 401K match you offer by a percentage point or two? Offer a coworking space stipend to remote employees? Increase PTO by a week or move to an unlimited PTO option, as many tech companies do? Candidates weigh the pros and cons of each position they consider, and it can sway a candidate towards accepting a particular role.

Research Your Hiring Competitors

It’s tough to offer a competitive job listening if you’re unaware of what other roles your potential candidates are vying for. Make use of LinkedIn to research similar roles to the one you hope to fill. After all, your candidates will be viewing many of the same listings. And don’t forget to look outside your local hiring market. Candidates today have access to national and international job listings. Have a good sense of the salary, benefits, and responsibilities that the role you are hiring for entails. It will help you to craft a more informed and competitive job listing that’s likely to attract attention from candidates. 

Start Attracting Qualified Candidates Through Targeted Marketing

A strong presence on hiring sites like LinkedIn is one of the best ways to position your brand to attract new and skilled talent. Let Green Apple Strategy craft an innovative approach to your social media channels so that you can start targeting and attracting new team members. 

Reach out to us today for a consultation.

How to Write a Job Description that Attracts the Right Candidate

for-hire-vintage-sign


Gone are the days where throwing a generic job ad out on a job posting website was the only thing you had to do to find a suitable candidate. It’s no secret that the market is flooded with job seekers. Whether these individuals are new graduates seeking initial employment or veteran professionals experiencing job insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they are seeking a job description which invites rather than intimidates. 

Writing a job description is a pivotal responsibility of an employer seeking a new hire, as it sets the foundation of future employee expectations and relationships. Job ads are proof that the process of hiring a new employee is a dialogue rather than a one-sided appeal—your company should put forth a concentrated effort to market their workplace as a desirable opportunity that offers rich professional experiences.

In this article, we will discuss the importance of writing a job description that is clear, attractive, and honest in order to attract a candidate whose experience and values perfectly align with those of your company.

Reflect on the Needs of Your Company

With a million other day-to-day responsibilities, we completely understand the temptation to simply copy and paste a generic job description from the internet rather than spending the time and energy to write one from scratch. But, wait! A job description shouldn’t just be a flavorless, one-size-fits-all document, it needs to be tailored to your company’s current needs and future goals. It’s well worth the energy to internally reflect in order to come to a mutual understanding of how a new hire would fit into the inner workings of your company. 

A great place to start? Your current employees! A great idea is to interview several key employees, and ask them what their daily responsibilities and routines look like and how those align or vary from the job description they were initially hired to fulfill. Evaluating this information may lead you to some surprising discoveries; you might find that the position you set out to fill would be redundant, pushing you to completely revisit your needs from a new perspective.

Avoid Limiting or Discouraging Language

It’s an unfortunate truth that there is a large pool of job applicants who will only apply to a job if they meet every single one of the requirements listed in the job description. Although it is your goal to only receive applicants who are qualified, there should always be a slight amount of wiggle room. 

Sure, you are seeking a candidate who has a qualified educational background, as well as applicable professional experience. But, most of all, you need a candidate who is committed to the role, compatible with your company’s values, and driven to grow and bring new ideas to the environment. Before you write a required amount of years of experience, reflect and be certain that this particular role requires it. 

Additionally, take great care to avoid limiting language that could discourage women and minorities from applying. Always include a statement that encourages applicants from these groups to apply such as, “Our company is committed to diversity…”. 

Storytelling to Attract the Perfect Candidate

As you craft a job description, keep in mind that this is a document that will be revisited for years to come during employee reviews, so make sure that the language is clear and the expectations described are accurate. Our best piece of advice: potential candidates should be able to envision a day in the life of working at your company after reading the job description.

Are you looking for a strategic, full-service marketing firm centrally located in Nashville? Contact Green Apple Strategy today to schedule a consultation. Our team is happy to sit down with you to discuss your goals and how we can help you achieve each and every one of them.