How To Attract Talent in a Hot Job Market

With the unemployment rate at record lows, the battle for talent is on. Big or small, every company has to fight to win the attention of today’s savvy job seeker.

Of course, there is no single way to attract talent. That said, in my experience, certain attributes are attractive to many. These include meaningful or innovative work, high wages, flexible conditions and career growth potential. Offering a mix or all of these is a good start.

Who is catching the eye of job seekers in 2018? Indeed’s analytics team recently compared average job-seeker interest across job titles and companies to the actual level of interest received by each firm, based on clicks through to posted jobs.

Hottest companies for job seekers

The results revealed that the top 20 hottest companies for job seekers represent a wide variety of industries. This diverse set of companies has at least one thing in common: job seekers are searching for them in droves.

Many on the list benefit from widespread name recognition and powerful brands, including Tesla, PepsiCo, and Enterprise. Most use mega-marketing dollars to promote new products, executive hires, social causes and more.

Of course, not all companies have the money or clout of these firms. But, as an HR professional looking to attract talent to our organization, I’ve found the following tactics helpful:

Four tips for attracting talent

1. Respond to all applicant inquiries. You’ll reject far more people than you’ll hire — and people talk. Word gets around, and good word of mouth matters.

2. Write like a human, for humans. Omit acronyms, and leave out jargon when possible. Unfamiliar terms like “fulfillment,” “outward facing” and “CRO” may scare off otherwise qualified people.

3. Be transparent. We find employees make good brand ambassadors, so let them help tell the stories of what’s happening in your company. Create content featuring employees in advertising or internal campaigns. Consider including employee testimonials in blogs and on social media.

4. Get creative with benefits. While pool tables and free snacks are fun, promote benefits that truly make a difference in people’s lives: flexibility, paid time off (PTO), extended parental leave, health cost reimbursement and savings plans.

Taking deliberate steps like these to attract the right candidates can deliver you a diverse set of qualified new hires. Here’s to your successful new-hire search!