As quality candidates become harder to find, there’s no denying most industries must continue to reinvent themselves to attract top-tier talent. While recruiting candidates in the multifamily industry may present some roadblocks, hiring managers must continually aim to overcome these barriers by taking new and innovative approaches to the hiring process. Hiring professionals in the multifamily field can learn a great deal from what other industries and companies are doing to recruit and retain highly qualified and driven temporary and placed employees. From harnessing the power of social media to reframing your target candidate skill set, there is much to take away from the latest hiring and workforce development practices.
Here are some of the many new hiring trends multifamily hiring pros can use to improve workforce development outcomes.
Attracting Millennial Talent Throughout the Recruitment Process
With millennials expected to make up half the global workforce by 2020, companies must learn how to build positive relationships with millennial candidates in the earliest stages of recruitment. Organizations that have successfully expanded their millennial workforce have focused heavily on promoting their company culture online, making sure their websites and social media platforms are both visually appealing and engaging.
One of the most effective ways to do this is to utilize your company website and social media channels to showcase your organizational culture. According to a recent survey noted in this LinkedIn article, 55 percent of millennials say visiting a company’s website is the first thing they do before applying to a job, predominately with the intent to learn about the company’s culture. This means your website and social media should both be captivating to visitors, highlighting your culture and employees. Some ways to do this may include adding a video, such as the one on Lyft’s career page, which showcases employees and why they value being part of your team. Another idea is to feature employees on your social media profiles, so candidates can relate to the types of people at your organization. Cisco is a great example of a company that has leveraged social media to tell its story, generate authentic content and build its brand their employee stories. With so many opportunities on the Internet to promote your company culture, there’s no excuse not to invest in your online recruiting strategy, especially if your goal is to attract millennial workers.
The bottom line is this: If you’re not making your online presence a priority, you’re losing out on millennial talent!
Humanizing Your Hiring Process
Though technology certainly has a role in the hiring process, it’s still highly critical to make the “candidate experience” as personalized as possible. It’s important to evaluate your current recruitment and communications practices to see which areas you can take a more humanized approach. In recent years, companies like AT&T and Whole Foods Market have done a phenomenal job in building relationships with candidates in their recruiting efforts. Here’s the good news: Multifamily hiring pros can do the same!
This Forbes article sheds light on this topic, noting one of the first ways to “humanize” your recruiting process is to stop writing sterile or canned job descriptions that fail to connect with candidates. For example, by using third-person language such as, “the selected candidate will perform the following tasks…”, You may already be insulting prospects by implying the “candidate” will not be them! Be mindful of how this type of stuffy language can deter readers, rather than entice them to learn more about what the job opportunity has to offer.
Another way to make your hiring process more “human” is by making candidate communication a top priority. The key is to foster communication with candidates from the start. As Liz Ryan, HR expert, explains, “invite [candidates] to learn more about the company on your social media channels. Begin building that connection and brand loyalty as soon as you engage with those who have shown an interest in joining the team.” Also, remember, you do not need a concrete update to reach out. Because of hiring managers’ demanding schedules, sometimes general communication can go by the wayside, leaving candidates in the dark wondering about their application status. However, it’s important to always follow up with candidates and provide a brief update if the process is taking longer than expected. Whether it’s an email saying the candidate is still under consideration or a notification that the position has been filled, the correspondence will be appreciated.
As reflected in a 2017 IBM Smarter Workforce Institute study, candidates with positive application experiences are 38 percent more likely to accept a job offer – saving your company precious time and money related to recruitment costs. And, remember, news about poor candidate experiences can spread like wildfire, especially through mobile and social media channels. Don’t let poor communication practices have a negative effect on your company’s reputation and ability to attract other candidates in the future.
Recognizing Transitional Skills
There’s no denying there may be many prospects in the applicant pool at any given time; however, many employers struggle to find individuals whose qualifications match their exact candidate profile. The reality is that there is no perfect candidate. As the labor demand grows, hiring pros must embrace the idea of “transitional skills,” or soft skills that can be applied to many jobs and industries. For example, candidates with a willingness to learn and take the initiative tend to be well suited for many jobs, as they have a natural interest in acquiring new skills. Rocketrip, which helps businesses reduce travel costs by incentivizing employees to save on business trips, is a good example of a company that has an open mind when recruiting for soft skills. Because it has essentially invented an entirely new industry, the company strives to find employees who have an innate drive and desire to find long-term solutions for their customers’ needs.
Along these same lines, it’s essential that employees in the multifamily industry can adapt to unexpected situations and collaborate with others to solve problems. Other key transitional skills on candidates’ resumes may include customer service, strong communication, time management, and conflict resolution – all soft skills that can easily be transferable for success in multiple industries and job capacities. Identifying where and how candidates have put their abilities into action can help you determine if they’re qualified for the scope of the job.
As the hiring landscape keeps changing, HR pros have no choice but to embrace new recruiting and hiring trends. Implementing the practices outlined above can transform your organization in many ways. First, better hiring outcomes will pave the way for improved productivity and performance – factors that directly impact your company’s bottom line and financial well-being. Second, and perhaps most important, is that enhancing your hiring process can have incredibly positive effects on your organization’s culture and reputation. The experience candidates have – from their initial interactions with an employer to their first few days on the job – can make or break employee retention rates. When it comes to successfully developing your workforce, the only way to truly shape the future is through meaningful strategic planning and execution of an authentic and current hiring process.
