We often think of the relationship between companies and job applicants as a pretty one-sided one. Companies are often fielding more applications than they can handle, while applicants are scraping and clawing to find a good job. But that’s not always the case, and even if it applies, there’s no guarantee that a strong applicant will choose your company just because he or she needs a job. For that reason, it’s still important for companies to take specific steps to make themselves as appealing as possible so that job applicants actually want to work there (rather than just wanting the résumé boost and paycheck!).
Keeping that in mind, here are five ways to go about making your place of business more appealing to candidates.
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Make Your Website Sharper
There are a lot of different ways to improve your website, and it’s more important than ever to explore them. Particularly if you’re trying to appeal to younger candidates – those fresh out of college or even on the upper end of the “millennial” generation – your site should be one of your strongest assets. Applicants know to clean up their social media profiles because the first thing a lot of hiring managers will do is look them up. Well, the flip-side of that is that the first thing most applicants will do when determining whether or not to pursue employment with you is check out your website. Make sure it’s sleek, intuitive, and filled with the right features and content.
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Make The Office Comfortable
This is probably something you want to focus on anyway if you’re running a successful company, but it’s worth considering the first impression you make when a candidate comes in for a visit or an interview. It might mean something as simple as making sure there’s good lighting throughout the office, or something as involved as exploring custom equipment to cultivate ergonomics throughout the workplace. It might even mean stocking the office kitchen a little bit more to give off a friendly, comfortable vibe. The specific needs depend on your office, but they’re part of your overall impression.
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Make The Application Process Simple
Too many companies make candidates jump through hoops to submit applications. By streamlining the process a little bit, you can quite frankly make your company seem like less of a pain in the neck. That doesn’t mean you can’t ask tricky questions, or even weird ones, and it doesn’t mean you should require any less information from applicants. But by putting it all on one page, or simply listing what should be included in a email, or some similar effort, you can keep the process from getting more complicated and convoluted than it needs to be.
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Assure Candidates Of Financial Stability
A lot of people looking for new jobs have experienced some workplace headaches related to finances. Maybe it was a complicated timesheet process, maybe it was a budgeting issue resulting in a pay cut, or maybe it was even a company getting into some financial trouble. Whatever the case, it’s always a nice touch to demonstrate if your company has access to professional financial services and quality accounting and bookkeeping. This isn’t something that will necessarily come up in the average interview, but even if it’s a note on your website, it’s something that will make a lot of candidates feel more secure about working with you.
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Keep Employees Happy (Even After They Leave)
This isn’t something you can do overnight, but if you’re running a company you should always be concerned with being appealing to potential new candidates. And therefore you should also always prioritize keeping your existing and former employees happy. A lot of businesses boast good culture, family atmosphere, etc., but people looking for jobs are used to seeing that kind of talk everywhere. So, make sure it’s not just talk. Keep employees happy so that applicants can feel the culture when they visit for an interview, and don’t give any ex-employees a good reason to trash the company on review sites like Glassdoor. This is a long, tricky process, but it might just go further than anything else in helping to make an impression on candidates.