Are You Ready for the January Hiring Push?

The number of job openings in the U.S. is up 6.5% as of the latest JOLTS report, and there continue to be fewer people seeking work than available positions. Combined with a slight downturn in separations, this strongly indicates the talent shortage will continue into 2023—and it could even worsen given the added challenges of skills shortages in certain industries.

Because historically, the first two months of the calendar year are peak hiring season, employers need to make plans now so they are in a good position to compete for the attention of top talent at the turn of the new year. Your ability to attract and successfully keep candidate's attention on you is the most valuable component of your organization's talent acquisition strategy. With many employers still experiencing high levels of candidate ghosting—often due to long, complicated hiring processes, according to Lighthouse Research—TA leaders can’t afford to hold off on solutions any longer.

Drawing on insights from Monster’s Q4 Hiring Report, here’s what employers need to do now to hit the ground running in 2023—and how virtual hiring events play a crucial role every step of the way.

Be ready to quickly move candidates through the process

In most industries (including the U.S.), it’s still a job seeker’s talent market and the research is clear that what most candidates want is a fast and transparent hiring process. To deliver this kind of candidate experience, you need a proven strategy to help you move candidates from interest to application to hire as quickly as possible.

Brazen clients are finding success hosting “one-and-done” virtual hiring events where they are making offers the same day as their virtual events, moving candidates through the entire recruiting funnel to the offer stage within a matter of days or even hours. During a recent webinar, Cathy Henesey, Executive Director of Talent Acquisition at AdventHealth, shared that her team is hiring 60% of candidates on the same day as some virtual hiring events—and they are also using that hiring rate to drive candidates to attend future events.

Clearly communicate how your workplace will meet candidates’ needs and expectations

Driving candidates through the door isn’t the only thing you have to do, however. When you’re talking to candidates to convince them you’re the one, make sure you share how your workplace stands apart when it comes to what your talent pool wants.

According to Monster’s research, there are five key areas where candidates want extra employer focus: fair compensation, compensation beyond salary, healthcare benefits, flexible work schedules, and paid time off (PTO). Employers that offer these things will come out on top as long as they can effectively communicate these attributes to job seekers. To do this, employers need to:

• produce informational content for your careers site;
• host regular virtual ‘office hours’ events so candidates can meet your team and talk before they apply quickly;
• host virtual informational events about benefits, perks, and work culture; and
• engage in meaningful conversations with candidates about what is most important to them. link to related posts

Key takeaway: Plan virtual events that highlight your pay practices, benefits, and work schedules. Presentations are great but it’s also crucial that these events have a Q&A feature or 1:1 chat with recruiter or hiring manager so job seekers can get answers to their specific questions.

Develop industry-specific hiring event strategies

Hiring is picking up in healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, and retail, according to the Monster data. Due to the ongoing talent shortage across industries, those in high competition sectors have to do more to attract talent and keep them engaged throughout the recruiting funnel.

Every industry from healthcare to education has its own unique recruiting challenges and the solutions are similar, although one size does not fit all in this case. The basic recipe requires employers to identify the best ways to source talent (and leverage a sourcing marketplace to expand that reach), communicate with job seekers as early as possible, and deliver a consistent, high-quality candidate experience throughout the process.

Key takeaway: Brazen clients are finding success in hosting niche hiring events that focus on specific roles and candidate profiles. Hosting more frequent and more targeted virtual hiring events will not only get your hiring managers excited to attend these (knowing they can potentially walk away with candidates to hire right away), but they’ll also entice exactly the right candidates by letting them know that attending is well worth their time.

Continue targeting passive talent

One important, and often overlooked, strategy is targeting passive candidates. The first step of this strategy is gaining a deep understanding of the most important roles—and skill sets—needed for business success. “Work closely with your hiring managers to understand which roles will make the biggest difference to your business before the end of the year,” says the Monster report. “Lean into a more targeted approach and engage these passive candidates where they spend most of their time browsing online.”

As with active job seekers, you need to prepare to move passive talent quickly through the recruiting funnel. You may need a different strategy to win their interest initially. For example, passive candidates might be more inclined to attend a “meet our CEO” virtual event than a traditional job fair. But your team needs to be prepared to quickly move them into the screening/interview phase, potentially within the same virtual event. This is one of the strategies Uber is using to engage with passive talent and there are many other proven methods for attracting passive candidates that you can add to your virtual hiring event strategy.

Key takeaway: Passive candidates continue to be an undervalued talent source and TA teams need to plan proactive strategies for engaging with passive talent.

Plan and prep now for a happy new year

Come January, you want job seekers to get excited about the prospect of working at your organization. A well-designed virtual hiring event strategy can help you capture their interest by offering a more compelling call to action than an application black hole. Invite job seekers to a virtual event where they can talk to someone on your team—a meaningful conversation with a real, live human being. Then, be prepared to move those interested candidates quickly through the pipeline, so you can evaluate their skills and potential fit without risking losing their attention.

Pew Research reported that hiring and retaining talent was the top revenue priority for executives in 2022—not surprising, given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the workforce. We predict that recruiting and retention will continue to hold that importance into 2023 and beyond.

Are you ready? Talk to our team to see how easy it is to get started with Brazen, and we can help you build a virtual hiring event strategy now so you’re ready to hit the ground running in January and capture the talent you need to win in 2023.

Like this post? Try these!

• The 2022 State of Hybrid Recruiting Report 

• How to Beat the Talent Shortage: Wisdom from our Community Experts
• 5 Talent Shortage Problems and Solutions to Address Them

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