The Road to Recovery Readiness

As most of the workforce begins to shift into recovery mode, one point is clear: the recruitment landscape is poised for a seismic shift in the way employers are positioning their branding and communicating with candidates. With regard to hiring, certain industries haven’t skipped a beat; some are in hiring freeze mode; and still others are in a holding pattern, awaiting the opportunity to either rehire furloughed employees or consider targeting new talent re-entering the workforce.

No matter where your organization is positioned in the hiring spectrum, it’s important to
consider what you can do today to prepare for the hiring recovery. The following are recommendations to consider:

Workforce Planning‍

What is your workforce going to look like when you bring people back? How subtly – or drastically – will your environment be altered? How are you prioritizing staff re-integration? Have your needs shifted so dramatically that you are considering a permanent hybrid of on-site/remote work options? A few “quick hits” that you can address right now include:

• Ensure that your ATS job descriptions are accurate and up to date. If your organization has created entirely new positions, or altered the job description for existing positions, be sure to update that content in your ATS. Revisit your job titles and responsibilities to ensure that your job descriptions accurately reflect the job duties. For example: an international retailer recently updated their store security job description to include new responsibilities of taking customer temperatures at the door and ensuring social distancing within the store.
• Promote your priority needs front and center. If your business needs to ramp up ASAP and you have need for immediate hires, consider digital and social campaigns that drive candidates to a stand-alone landing page where they can either apply directly or fill out a data capture form for your urgent jobs.

Career Website Refresh

‍When was the last time you visited your site with a critical eye? Do you need to adjust the tone and focus of your “career sell” with more empathetic messaging? It is critical to consider your brand and how you’re interacting and engaging with candidates. From content to visuals to messaging, your career site should adjust in order to accommodate candidates’ changing needs and expectations. So, what should you actually be doing?

• Review your career site images and messaging. If your business is on the front line interacting directly with customers (or patients), consider the environment that your career site needs to convey. Do your visuals include people wearing masks and practicing social distancing, reflective of your new way to work?
• Promote your commitment to safety. When your workforce re-enters the physical workplace, it is vital to have strong health and safety protocols in place. Do you have your new safety guidelines in place and posted publicly? Consider adding a link/new page on your career site to promote your efforts. Discerning candidates will appreciate and respect your transparency.

Digital Media

‍For organizations still engaged in active hiring or those needing to build a pipeline to attract passive candidates, a digital media solution may be best. From display banners to Google keyword search campaigns, your messaging can be devised to target a specific audience, job category or location. You can target competitors with “Having a hard time finding work? We’re still hiring.” type messaging designed to speak directly to your present – or future – hiring need, desire or goal.

People are spending more time on social media than ever before. A Facebook-specific or larger, comprehensive social campaign is a good way to increase company and/or hiring awareness. Potential candidates can be directed to your company’s career site or a specific landing page to learn more.

Programmatic Advertising

‍Extremely versatile and dynamic, programmatic media buying is designed to target candidates based on a number of variables, reflective of your hiring needs. Your focus may be role-based (a specific job title), category-based (targeting a certain job family) or location-specific. Programmatic advertising allows you to refine and retarget as necessary; for example, you can limit/readjust your spend on jobs you’re already seeing specific traffic for and focus on immediate hiring needs (jobs you need more traffic for).

If you have multiple locations and one facility has a hiring need more than others, you can also direct your ad spend to specific, geotargeted locations. Consider this: there may be businesses or organizations you’ve read about that are struggling or having a hard time keeping their employees. As the goal is to hire the best people regardless of where they are, geotargeting across many variables may be where you wish to concentrate your efforts.

Internal Communication Programs

‍Do you have an Employee Referral Program (ERP) in place? Is it perhaps time for a boomerang campaign to retarget former employees? Your messaging should be sensitive to and reflective of the mindset of both your own staff (your best brand ambassadors!) and the audience you wish to appeal to.

Furloughed Staff Outreach

‍Considering the sensitivity around transparency, it is important to avoid false messaging or grandiose promises when communicating with furloughed staff. Take advantage of the opportunity to connect with this group via email outreach. A drip campaign may serve you well in this scenario. Connect with your people to let them know where your business stands, what your expectations are in the near term and where they fit in. It is crucial that you – the employer – take a proactive approach in keeping the communication lines open so that your furloughed staff are engaged and informed.  

According to recent data, open rates for drip campaigns are approximately 80% higher than single-send emails. Drip emails also offer a 119% increase in click rate, which is substantial considering drip campaigns require less effort than many other campaign tactics.  

Get Ready for the New Way to Work

‍If you haven’t yet felt the impact of the emerging “new way to work,” that doesn’t mean recruiting will remain the same for you. There are many variables to consider (more/less competition in the job market, remote work options, etc.). Although you may theoretically have the same needs, doing “what you’ve always done” may not yield the same results as before.

Let us help you embrace the change as you look to implement strategies that best fit your hiring needs moving forward. NAS can help you define the right strategy, at the right time, targeting the right people. Reach out to us for a complimentary audit of your career site so that together, we can assess and determine your needs.

Additional resources:
Redefining Work, Workforces, and Workplaces
Rapid employee return and ramp up