How can companies attract the right talent through optimising their digital platforms
The age of technology and the internet has changed the way we live and interact with one another and is already affecting the way recruitment is approached. With information readily available to candidates at the touch of a screen, candidates now turn to the internet to look for job openings and evaluate the companies that they potentially join in a similar way to how consumers make product evaluations: they conduct research, they read reviews of previous employees, and make an evaluation of how they fit in the company before making an application.
For companies, it becomes a matter of perception and companies must be proactive in attracting potential employees in the present candidate-driven market by optimising their organisation digitally and employing recruitment marketing strategies to build and market their company in such a way that can attract talent.
1. Employer branding strategy
Figuring out your company brand is a vital step to optimising your digital platforms. Your brand is an exhibition of your identity, and having a strong company brand will help in the recruitment process.
The way to establish a branding strategy is by looking inward and asking how to put your company forward to potential candidates who are researching you. Besides that, companies have to consider who their recruitment target market is and marketing the company brand by amplifying your strengths as an employer to attract talent to come to you.
How you are viewed as an employer from a branding standpoint can affect hiring. A positive employer brand is critical as it affects hiring and retention, and when a company is able to show the organisation’s unique cultural differentiators, you are then able to amplify them and position your company as an attractive place to work.
2. Building a good online presence
With an established company brand, it is then important to translate that into your online presence through the company website and social media platforms.
Candidates will rely heavily on online searches of a company’s website and social media platforms to see whether they can envision themselves being a part of an organisation. Because of the candidate-driven market, candidates will look for a good culture fit with potential employers before submitting an application. This is where your organisation can use your online presence to your advantage.
A way to start is by creating and maintaining a visually appealing website which is easy to navigate, and updated with clear descriptions of your organisation and includes up-to-date information of the company’s ongoing activities. Company’s should also include relevant and targeted content such as videos exhibiting the company culture, photographs of the people making up the company and video interviews with people within the organisation to show candidates what the company has to offer. Companies can also build their online presence through social media platforms to build their social media network of candidates. This can be done by putting up postings related to the company brand, advertising vacancies and even connecting with followers of their social media platforms to drive up engagement.
3. Search Engine Optimisation
Candidates are no longer searching for jobs the way they used to. Although the internet is rife with job boards or career pages, more often than not, candidates will first turn to Google when searching for a job. This is where utilising a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy in recruitment is a must.
SEO is a process of optimising your website to get organic or unpaid traffic from the search engine results page by implementing relevant keywords into the body of your website and across your content to increase the ranking of your website appearing in a Google search. By implementing an SEO strategy, companies can increase their visibility online and will increase the likelihood of candidates noticing your website, thus attracting more candidates to your company. It is also a huge advantage for companies to appear higher in online search rankings: it builds trust and credibility for your brand, and will help immensely in recruiting for the long run.
In a market where the talent pool has plentiful choices, it is important that companies gain every competitive advantage to set themselves apart from other companies. As such, companies can no longer rely on the traditional recruitment strategies and must evolve digitally to access greater segments of the talent market.
