What is the Best Way to Recruit Top Talent in a Tight Job Market?

What is the best way to recruit top talent in a tight job market? Many recruiters and human resource professionals face this question on a daily basis. When an economy is growing, employment opportunities are plentiful. This in turn increases the difficulty of finding top talent for open positions. Competition for highly skilled and talented employees means employers must examine their processes and find new ways to gain an advantage in tight job markets.

Some employers have found unique ways to expand their recruiting efforts. Others have found advantages in offering programs that appeal to job seekers as well as their families. Often, employers must look inward to determine the specific reasons why employees choose to accept or decline their job offers. With this knowledge, employers can improve their recruiting processes to appeal to a larger number of candidates.

Here are five ways employers recruit top talent during a tight job market:

1. Leverage Social Media to Recruit Top Talent

The Society for Human Resource Management’s survey of HR professionals on whether they are using social media for talent acquisition shows that 84% of organizations are currently using social media for recruiting, and an additional 9% have plans to do so. Also, over 30% of organizations are targeting smartphone users with mobile recruiting efforts.

Most of these recruiting programs focus on passive job candidates. Efforts may be as simple as sharing job openings on company Linkedin pages, or digital advertisements targeted to appear when job seekers enter specific terms into a search engine. 71% of companies report these efforts are effective in decreasing the time to fill non-management salaried positions. Interestingly, companies report that these efforts are not as effective for recruiting executive and upper management positions, nor are they as effective for non-management, hourly employees. This divergence may be due to a number of factors including access to social media, interest in maintaining such connections, and overall time commitments impacting these groups in different ways.

2. Pre-Decision Services

Companies that are considering job candidates who may require relocation assistance can gain many benefits from using pre-decision services. Putting in the extra effort early in the relocation process delivers quantifiable results for productivity and cost reduction.

Pre-decision services include:

• Candidate Assessment – Assess candidate expectations, skills, personal qualities, family circumstance, and financial preparedness.
• Cost of Living Analysis – Cost of living comparison of origin and destination cities to help determine acceptable or competitive salary range.
• Market Analysis – Determines the likely home sale timeline and identifies potential home sale challenges such as negative equity.
• School Reports – Public and Private School reports provided to the relocating employee to aid community selection.
• Moving Cost Estimates – Cost estimates on household goods transport helps budget for relocation costs.
• Community Search and Tours – Coordinates community orientation tours to familiarize relocating employees to their new location, and assist in selecting an area that fits their particular interests.

Companies benefit from using pre-decision services in many ways:

• Job acceptance ratios increase; failed relocations decrease.
• Budget accuracy increases.
• Eliminates the risk of non-acceptance by the transferee/assignee.
• Streamline new location orientations.
• Minimizes policy exceptions.
• Identifies candidates unable or unwilling to relocate so efforts are re-focused on viable options.
• Reveals concerns and issues prior to relocation, such as cultural differences or family concerns.
• Proven overall cost savings.

3. Leverage Relocation Package in the Hiring Process to Recruit Top Talent

Companies that struggle to fill positions using traditional hiring methods may not understand how to use their relocation program to attract qualified candidates. In industries with many competitors all trying to attract the same candidates, it is often difficult for a smaller or less well-known company to be seen as an employer of choice. Also, the company may not be able to offer the same level of perks and amenities to job candidates. However, offering benefits such as more flexible work arrangements might help a company attract new hires.

Relocation programs are great vehicles to clearly demonstrate to job candidates how much a company values them and their families, as we have shown in our Case Study on Technology Industry Relocation Programs. Companies can communicate specific relocation program areas that reflect industry best practices, as well as highlight their job offer and relocation assistance package in the best manner to recruit top talent. Depending on the relocation program’s specific features, companies might highlight the package’s home buying assistance, spouse and partner assistance, and full destination services for the transferee’s needs.

4. Policy Exceptions for Relocation Packages

The moving process can be challenging, time-consuming, and result in significant delays for candidates to start their new position. When moving to a new location, house-hunting might require a number of trips to search for homes, neighborhoods, schools, and nearby amenities. Relocation packages should offer some flexibility so that candidates can more easily accept a job offer without having concerns about their ability to successfully complete their relocation.

Companies should have a defined process in their relocation policy that tells candidates how to request a policy exception. Candidates with special needs and requests will feel more comfortable knowing how they should proceed. Companies can also use this information to learn whether their relocation program might need adjustments in certain areas to reduce exceptions as well as to attract new hires.

5. Increase Compensation

Companies may need to increase compensation as a way to recruit top talent that is highly skilled and experienced. Depending on the industry, length of assignment, and job requirements, higher levels of pay that are reflective of the critical need for talent might help a company attract new hires.

Industry growth and increases in employment opportunities may also lead to a rise in compensation, as can be seen in the computer/information technology and healthcare industries. Positions requiring extensive skills, technical training, and significant investment in education and internships often result in higher wages than the median annual wage for all occupations. An increasingly important specialism in IT is cybersecurity, and salaries reflect high demand for new hires who possess the requisite skills and experience.

Conclusion

Global Mobility Solutions’ team of corporate relocation experts has helped thousands of our clients design relocation programs and market them effectively to enhance the attractiveness of their employment offerings and recruit top talent. As a result, we can help your company understand how to increase your recruiting program’s success by using best practices to design a relocation program that provides a clear and distinct competitive advantage.

Global Mobility Solutions is proud to be named and ranked #1 Overall, and #1 in Quality of Service by HRO Today’s 2019 Baker’s Dozen Customer Satisfaction Survey.

New SafeRelo™ COVID-19 Knowledge Portal

GMS recently launched its new SafeRelo™ COVID-19 Knowledge Portal featuring a number of helpful resources including:

• Curated selection of news and articles specific to managing relocation programs and issues relating to COVID-19
• Comprehensive guide to national, international, and local online sources for current data
• Program/Policy Evaluation (PPE) Tool for instant relocation policy reviews

Contact our experts online or give us a call at 800.617.1904 or 480.922.0700 today.