In the current times, which are being referred to as a “candidate market”; job seekers have the option to choose from many different industries and positions. This has not been the case in previous times, especially not to this extent.

No matter what line of work, companies across-the-board are struggling to find and retain employees, doing everything in their power to bring new candidates through the door. This nation-wide occurrence does not appear to be going away any time soon. That being said, if businesses want to change their short-staffed situation, they must change their strategy. One way to do that is by being different.

Bringing in new candidates begins with your job postings. It only takes twenty seconds of reading a job posting for an applicant to decide whether or not they’re going to submit an application. If you don’t engage them right away, they will lose interest and not even finish reading it.

Here are some of our recommendations for getting people to apply to your job postings.

1. Instead of statements like, “we have a great culture”, communicate your company’s culture through your tone and writing style

Do you have an office that is constantly laughing and joking around? If so, add a bit of witty humor to your job description. Do you have a very relaxed team that somehow magically never sweats the small or big stuff? Use vocabulary such as, “zen” or “calm”. Most companies try too hard to maintain an overly professional image on the outside. That approach is archaic; these days, people want to see an organization’s personality.

2. Mention Autonomy

Workplace autonomy is the number one value people have nowadays. While every company is going to offer this in different ways, it’s definitely something you want people to know about right away. Do you have a hybrid model? Do your employees choose their own hours or take lunch at whatever time they want? Mentioning these things is a sure-fire way to capture a job seekers attention.

3. Talk About Personality Fit

Companies are always so quick to list out their own needs and go into detail about the qualifications and/or experience that someone needs to have in order to be hired. One thing we know to be true at Award, is that having a team that works well together can make or break the success of an organizations operations. Plus, we’ve all worked somewhere in the past where some of our co-workers made showing up every day difficult. Personality is not something that should be overlooked when you are searching for the right fit.

4. Instead of, “depending on experience”, post the salary range.

While there may be some cases where the pay is non-negotiable, you must remember that a job is a person’s livelihood. They need to know whether or not it will be worth their time to apply and set up an interview by knowing if the pay will meet their lifestyle needs. Also, people don’t want to work for a company that is totally rigid. Making it clear that there is room for negotiation in this area communicates that there is flexibility.

If your company is in need employees, we at Award are here to help. Contact us here with your staffing needs.