6 Tips to Improve Recruitment and Retention in a Tight Labor Market

Mitigating the challenges of recruitment and retention in a tight labor market requires an agile mindset. 

After the great resignation and quiet quitting movements, organizations must offer more than just fancy-sounding job titles and free gym memberships if they’re serious about recruiting and retaining top-talent employees.

With so many opportunities opening up for job seekers and aspiring entrepreneurs, the power dynamics have shifted as we move into a more employee-centric, people-first environment.

But how can you keep up in a market where top talent gets snatched up faster than ice cream on a hot summer day? The answer is simple: leverage the power of technology. A tool like Recruit ATS can give you that competitive edge to score ideal candidates before they’re gone. 

If you’re ready to support this change, harness the power of cutting-edge technology, and create promising jobs for new and current employees, stick around to discover six simple practices you can implement immediately.

1. Send polls and surveys to new hires and existing employees to uncover crucial insights 

To get a deeper understanding of your company's recruitment and retention challenges, go straight to the source by polling and surveying your new and existing employees.

(Employee Survey Tool)

Send polls and surveys to candidates and new hires to uncover what they enjoyed most about your recruitment process.

Ask them specific questions, such as: 

• How did you know we had a job opening?

• What did you align with most in our posted job description?

• What intrigued you about this role more than similar job offers? 

Send polls and surveys to established employees to learn what keeps them loyal to your company. 

Ask them specific questions, such as: 

• What keeps you happy and engaged at work? If you’re unhappy and disengaged, please explain how we can help. 

• Are you pleased with your career growth plan and the opportunities you have for future roles within the company? If not, please tell us how we can serve you better.

• Do you feel motivated and fulfilled in your role? If not, please let us know how we can better support you.

• Are you happy with your pay rate, perks, and employee benefits? If not, please tell us what you’d prefer.

PS: Need a simple way to take advantage of this tip? HR Cloud’s Polls and Surveys make it easy to quickly develop and send employee polls and surveys to produce real-time visibility into what’s needed to generate business success. Book a free demo to learn more today.

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2. Make the recruitment process less burdensome with remote onboarding tools 

In a post-pandemic world, streamlining the hiring process is crucial to eliminating unnecessary barriers to entry and retaining top talent. 

Whether you’re looking to fill an in-person role, a hybrid role, or hiring for a fully-remote position, make it as simple as possible for new workers to complete the onboarding process. 

Run video interviews with jobseekers. The video format allows HR specialists to interview several candidates for a vacancy quickly. It is also possible to view recorded video interviews at any convenient time, or share the recording with management to approve or deny a jobseeker. 

When posting your job openings, add a short application description that outlines how the recruitment and onboarding process works and that most tasks (if not all) will be conducted remotely. Think hard about the need to bring candidates into the workplace prematurely. If they’re not starting yet or if they’re filling a remote role, save them an unnecessary trip to the office whenever possible.

With HR Cloud’s digital workflows and touchless tools, you can onboard new hires safely from a distance. 

(Onboard Workflow)

Simply add your tasks, automate repetitive to-dos, and keep track of your hiring and onboarding processes from one central location.

3. Boost employee retention and become attractive to job seekers by offering benefits they care about 

A strategic way to reduce employee turnover and align with your ideal job seeker is to offer them benefits they actually want! Sounds simple, yet many companies offer the status quo instead of digging deeper to discover what top-talent employees truly value. 

Refer to the results you pulled from your polls and surveys, or by AI content analysis, and conduct further market research.

What did you learn? For instance, are job candidates looking for higher salaries and scheduled pay increases? Do current employees expect a change in the family planning benefits you offer? 

What about perks? Do candidates and team members really care about that free bike and gym reimbursement? Or are they looking for more specialty perks, such as monthly massages and chiropractic care stipends?

If it’s feasible and enough people demand it, why not consider offering the perks they want?

Another crucial factor in attracting and retaining employees in a tight labor market is offering comprehensive healthcare packages. For instance, offering telehealth benefits to employees, such as online doctor consultations and teletherapy, can be beneficial to both employees and employers.

Telehealth services mean employees no longer need to sacrifice essential care due to conflicting work responsibilities. Additionally, from a financial standpoint, it helps employers manage the growing cost of healthcare health insurance premiums.

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4. Set employees up for success by equipping them with the latest, state-of-the-art software tools 

In a tight job market, it’s essential that employers equip their team members with the latest industry tools. Setting your staff up for success means giving them the resources they need to perform their jobs to the best of their abilities.

By using cloud-based software tools with high ratings, you can help employees do their jobs quicker and better. 

Pro-Tip: When extending a job offer, make sure the hiring manager lets the potential employee know which tools they’ll have access to if they accept the position. For example, that might include a list of software systems, bonus training, and tickets to career development seminars.

If you’re convinced the tools you’re using are working just fine, consider conducting software comparison research to make sure you’re not missing out on better options. You should also consider whether your work structure has changed over recent years and whether you should be implementing tools for remote or hybrid working. 

Carve out time in your schedule to conduct research and verify that you’re offering your current and future employees the best tools, training, and resources. You can also sign up for free trials and demos to test-drive various tools before finalizing your new tech stack. 

5. Hire for roles that are not at risk of dying out any time soon 

Create job positions that are grounded in the future. In other words, don’t hire for roles that have a risk of expiring any time soon. 

For instance, as demand for content creation increases, many businesses are looking to hire AI freelancers to fill in the gap. These writers use prompt engineering via artificial intelligence tools to generate engaging and relevant content for various niches and audiences.

If you don’t have the need for AI freelancers, consider filling other roles that have promising futures that can help you advance or protect your company. For instance, if you run a big tech firm, consider hiring cybersecurity specialists to help keep your data safe. Or, if you run an online academy, consider looking into virtual reality programs to help elevate your company’s value. 

Other roles you might consider hiring for include:

• Financial planners

• Content strategists 

• Marketing strategists

• Social media experts

• Growth hackers 

• SEO strategists 

• Operations directors 

• Sales directors 

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6. Stay grounded in your core values and work toward building a promising company culture 

Show job candidates and current employees how much you care about building a strong, people-first organization. 

In other words, act, don’t talk. Demonstrate your core values and the unique details that make up your company culture. 

For instance, if you’re a sustainable company, prove it. Show how your products are ethically sourced, made, packaged, and mailed off. If you care about donating part of your profits to local food kitchens, do it — and be consistent. Show your team members how much you value giving back to your community.

Set a time to get with your team to discuss your core values and check in to make sure your actions are lining up. Invite your employees to help you expand your values and refine your company culture. 

Wrap up 

And there you have it! Today we covered six simple strategies you can use to navigate recruitment and retention challenges in an employee-centric world.

Your next step? Start putting these tips to good use. Gather up your leadership team, hiring team, and HR personnel, and decide which new practices you’ll begin employing. 

Brainstorm together and continue looking for ways to improve your organization as a whole. 

Continue doing this every three months to stay as relevant as possible for as long as possible. 

That’s it for now. Best of luck!

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Author Bio

Guillaume is a digital marketer focused on handling content management at Wordable. Outside of work, he enjoys his expat life in sunny Mexico, reading books, wandering around and catching the latest shows on TV.