It’s the holiday season. Yes, THAT time of the year! How’d you create a concrete hiring pipeline to beat the competition? Let’s find out.
Conventional recruitment channels fall off like autumn leaves during winter’s pre-arrival. Tried and tested hiring methods seldom get to say Merry Christmas when holidays are fast approaching. The departure of Thanksgiving has the competition soaring while every company strives to take the chequered flag! The talent shortage poses severe challenges for recruiters, and organizations are quick on their feet to improvise.
The Holiday Season and its Impact on Hiring Shift
Talent acquisition specialists are in a fix with top-notch talents unwilling to switch jobs during the holidays. What if candidates aren’t aspiring to stay for the long haul? As a result, hiring and onboarding processes slow down through the holiday season. Usually, recruiters aren’t willing to risk it and end up not utilizing this phase for recruitments. If that’s the case, what’s new this year?
Opportunity!
Why Consider Extensive Hiring During the Holidays?
There’s something entirely different about 2021 regarding a hiring shift. An upward graph has begun its course as companies look to defy the past and strike the iron when it’s hot.
Reasons:
- A greater probability of job seekers’ availability for interviews during the holidays.
- Companies can contribute sufficiently & dedicatedly towards training sessions.
- Holidays necessitate hiring the best talents and beating the competition.
- It’s the best time to tackle & deal with high employee turnover ratios.
Trust CNBC’s word as it reports that employers were responsible for a 4.9% increase in wages compared to last year. Moreover, employment rose by a staggering 531,000 in October itself!
So, enroute to the holiday season, what should your hiring spree look like?
The Best Hiring Practices ft. The Festive Times
First and foremost, it’s imperative not to compromise with quality. Losing focus is easy when tremendous mediocrity is up for grabs amid the rising state of hiring affairs. Asking candidates about their long-term goals and clarifying employee growth prospects in the Job Descriptions (JD) is the right way to go. As icing on the cake, show the bright sides to the candidates to up your game as recruitment professionals.
For instance, job applicants are often left wondering what the companies bring to the table. Talking about your positive work culture and conveying what candidates will be signing up for can make you stand out from the rest.
Yes, of course!
Here are 5 ways to up your hiring practice during the holidays:
1. Leverage Social Media
Spread the word about your job openings all across the digital mediums. But, more importantly, start initiating and implementing consistent employer branding strategies to provide value to your company’s hiring agendas. Social media platforms do wonders for job seekers and companies looking to fill immediate positions.
You can coordinate with your design and marketing teams to create attractive social media posts. Ensure that innovative content copies are circulated among the top-performing public platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. Optimized content can go viral in seconds, and that’s how social media marketing can help you beat the competition. Social media platforms can play the role of the best intermediary between the supply and demand phenomena of job opportunities.
2. Turn to In-House Referrals
It’s the holiday season, and everyone’s more engaged than ever with their relatives and close circles. You can enquire among your workforce and clientele if anyone around them is looking for a job change. Also, during holidays, job seekers tend to spread the word between other acquaintances. It would be best if you jumped right into this linkage by asking for referrals within your in-house teams – a unique solution that your competitors might not think of.
3. Be Generous with the Perks & Perquisites
Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) are a formal way of what we call enticing and alluring. So how’d you attract candidates and convince them to accept the job offer? Why’ll they choose your company over a zillion other options at their disposal? You guessed it right – let’s give them a reason.
It goes without saying – offering an irresistible salary package does half the job for recruiters. But, to make the cut beyond a doubt, make an offer they can’t refuse! For example, you can:
- Facilitate them with a hybrid mode of working.
- Assure them of a collaborative work environment.
- Include exclusive healthcare benefits in their package.
- Introduce flexible working hours in your company policy.
- Promise a steady and sequential career growth trajectory during their tenure.
Execute even a few of these tactics, and you’d have an edge over other industry experts.
4. Let a Swift Onboarding Process Do the Talking
Don’t make the applicants wait for the joining date. Let’s firmly consider that they’re applying during the holiday times. Hence, it’s safe to presume that most of them are leaving their current jobs for a better tomorrow, as quickly as possible! It’d benefit your company if it can manage to complete the onboarding process swiftly and serve a warm welcome to the new recruits. It’d be a New Year gift for both the joiners and your company in case an immediate joining is on the cards. If that happens, congratulations, you already beat the competition!
5. Personalize the Job Description (Hint: Resonate)
Food for thought: You enjoy reading creative and outspoken CVs, and similarly, candidates feel touched when they come across interactive JDs. Your JD should resonate with the needs and expectations of the candidates to cast a positive influence on them.
There’s a sense of calm and comfort looming when JDs aren’t just huge chunks of corporate texts ready to judge hopeful individuals. From qualifications and skill requirements to the experience preferred, every mention should invite good vibes for the candidates. Making them step foot into your office premises is half the battle won, and JDs have the power to do so.
Before we sign off for the holiday season
Your company’s hiring shift relies on what you do and offer. So finding and persuading exceptional talents to join your company during holidays is directly linked to bringing efficiency to your recruitment strategies. To do that, start accepting changing hiring trends and leveraging innovative ideas that were once conference table banter.