Just a few weeks ago, we published a piece on recruitment and why if you’re ready to grow, you need to take action as soon as possible because the pandemic has made the process more complicated. And if you’re reading this, you’ve heeded our advice and you’re ready to find new talent. Great!
The problem is every step of the recruitment process has changed – even selling your business to talent. The elements that would have enticed people to dream of a job at your company, such as seeing the doors to your offices buzzing with energy or your social media sharing examples of events and experiences, are no longer there. Not only that, but you can’t give candidates a tour of the office or a sense of the culture or working space when they come in for the interview.
So how are they to get a true sense of what it is like to work at your company? Your website and your explanation on a zoom call are all they have to get excited and make them choose you over a competitor. Remember, you’re not the only company recruiting. The top talent will have a choice of jobs – how do you make them want you? In this post, we’ll talk you through the steps you can take to make your company stand out.
Your website
This is the face of your company, so is it doing a good job of selling the business? If recruitment is a priority, make sure it’s easy for potential recruits to find the career page and see the vacancies available.
Not only that but make sure the job ads sound interesting and give plenty of information about the company culture as well as the role. It might also be wise to add a page on your site where people can learn from employees about what it’s like to work at the company both in the office and remotely. This can be a simple task of approaching five or six people from across the business for a quote and a profile picture and then asking your marketing team to work their magic.
Your social media
Just because your staff can’t hold face-to-face events at the moment and the cultural activity is low, doesn’t mean you can’t share examples from the past. Celebrate your amazing workforce and their sporting / charitable / award-winning efforts on your channels, and if you can encourage your staff to get involved too and tag your business, even better. Please make sure you get your Communications team to set some ground rules first so that the content remains professional.
The communication during the recruitment process
Because they can’t meet you face-to-face, the email, phone, and video communication needs to be perfect. Ramp up the friendliness and enthusiasm – formal and professional doesn’t have to mean cold and dull.
During interviews, think about your video call background and your body language. Candidates will be scrutinising you as much as you are them.
Video of the office
In the absence of a tour of the office and the department they might be working in, candidates will appreciate seeing a video (or photos) of the office. It may surprise you to know that a person’s desk, the style of the meeting rooms, the café facilities, and the décor can play a huge part in the decision-making process, so if you’re proud of where you work, show it off and give candidates the opportunity to see it too.
Video from team mates
Just as important as where they work is who they work with. If technology means it’s not possible to hold a “chemistry” interview (a meeting with some of the team, often in the later stages of the recruitment process, to see if the personalities complement each other), then record a video of the team so the candidate can at least get a sense from someone other than the recruiting manager what the team is like.
The onboarding process
Recruiting during a pandemic is tough, and for the candidate, they’ll be wondering what happens after they’ve got the job. Give them as much information as you can about how you have adapted your onboarding process to ensure they can immerse themselves in the business and the team as quickly and effectively as possible.
We hope this helps, but if you do need further support on any aspect of the recruitment process, we are here to help.
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Disclaimer – The contents of this blog do not constitute legal advice and are provided for general information purposes only. We can only advise on the basis of specific client instructions and are unable to offer legal advice by email to anyone who is not our client. To find out more about becoming a client of Lodge Court, please talk to us.