Candidates live in a world of permanent noise and information overload. Do your candidates a favor: Simplify their choices. In this article, based on Potentialpark studies, I will give you three reasons to do it and three tips to achieve it.
For years, the market has believed that offering more choices was the key to happiness. But, is being drowned into so many choices the best from a consumer point of view? More and more companies realize it’s not. For example, music streaming leader Spotify has focused lately not on offering more choices but to guide users and help them find music they might like.
At Potentialpark, we survey every year thousands of students around the world and ask them how they look for a job online and what information they expect to find. And it is key to understand that candidates are exposed to abundant content everywhere, all the time. Think of Facebook: The new normal is to see TV shows, sporting events, and career related content alongside updates from friends and family. If, on top of that, you make them to go through irrelevant content on your recruitment digital channels, you expose yourself to three risks:
1. Paralysis
If your candidates have to choose from too many options on your digital channels, they are more likely to get overwhelmed and do nothing on your career website
2. Wrong choice
If your candidates don’t know how to find the right job for them, they might apply for the wrong job instead In the end, you’ll be the one processing irrelevant applications.
3. Drop out
As our studies show, candidates are not afraid to discard you as a potential employer if they can’t find (or don’t know how to find what they look for). In 2018, we found that 56% of candidates have already decided not to apply after visiting the career website of a company.
Ok, you say, I get it. Offering too many choices to my candidates is risky. But how do I show all the important content that we have? Relax, it's nothing insurmountable.
Here are three ways to simplify which you can use already today.
1. Segment
Candidates need to know where to find the relevant information for them. Include a student section in your career website, or be sure to have a clear organization around your business units or your job openings. On social media, most candidates prefer to have a career page rather than a corporate one to find information relevant to their job search (63,87% in the USA, for instance, and 67,30% in Italy).
2. Guide
Candidates expect you to guide and help them find the job ads that suit them. A smart way of doing this is a career matcher based on skills, or use social media which most candidates visit several times a day and walk them towards a relevant landing page. A quick and easy fix, is to make sure that you link your social media channels with your career website.
3. Show
Candidates have a real need to imagine themselves doing a certain job in a certain company. How to fix that? One way is through testimonials of your employees in different departments, as requested by 49,11% of candidates in France, and by 48,89% of candidates in Germany. You can also host Instagram takeovers and let your employees showcase a day in their jobs. By helping them do this, you will help them to choose you and to choose the right job.
Do you want to know more about the global and national trends spotted by Potentialpark in 2018 about candidates’ expectations and companies’ practices? Don’t hesitate to contact us at info@potentialpark.com
Or reach out to me directly if you’re interested in our data for France: victor.herman@potentialpark.com