CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE
A buzzword in 2016, it will be an action item in 2017.
Why?
In order to stay competitive for talent, companies will have to make the application process quicker, smoother and less like doing your taxes. I mean, if only a job seeker could upload their profile data from LinkedIn it would be less like a circle of hell. “Oh, we can do that?” And slap a manager next time they say well, no I’ve never tried to go through our own application process. Stop making it so damn hard! Unless that’s the first true test of a potential employee. “Well, they couldn’t even make it through the application process, so we don’t want their kind.”
As the labor market continues to tighten, companies have to make themselves more accessible, more personable, and less of an obstacle course to apply. How many times have you heard this: “What do you mean upload my resume? I just spent the better part of an hour filling out the same information in the application!!! Not to mention, I don’t own a desktop computer anymore and I had to stop by my parent’s house because your process doesn’t work on my mobile device!!!”
Candidate experience goes beyond the application process and includes onboarding, internal messaging, engagement and feedback.
WORK LIFE BALANCE
Let’s ask the French about the separation of work and personal time. There is loving your work and then there is “I wish I had time for something other than work.”
Work hard while at work, but take those short breaks to stay fresh and more productive. As an employer, give your employees permission and encouragement to have a passion beyond what they do for that paycheck, because being able to do that thing they love (run, travel, sew, volunteer at church, paint….) is why they come to work every day to earn that paycheck.
This also means being more flexible to remote working, flex time, etc.
Following our own advice, this year we will see a new and improved break room at our corporate office. We understand the need for employees to be able to break away for a few. You should be comfortable at work, since most of us spend way more time at the office than we do at our own homes.
MORE SOCIAL, MORE MOBILE
Along the same lines as Candidate Experience, this is more of how to make this happen. We spend more time on social and on our mobile devices more than ever. Let’s stop calling it social media. We get our news from social now. Even fake news. But it’s more than just another media source. We get pleasure from social. (You know you get excited when you receive likes, followers, retweets!) Studies have been done on the effects of social media.
I see companies more eager to accept that social media is a part of daily life and include that as a key part of employer messaging. Services like CareerArc, Glassdoor and Monster social ads will be necessary to remain competitive for getting job messaging out to potential talent.
And secondly, if a job seeker can’t apply on mobile, you will lose out to companies that have embraced mobile. Services like Job Alarm and Jobaline offer options to companies to bridge the gap – a bandaid – if obtaining a new mobile ATS platform or a new careers page is not an option.
What are your top 3 for 2017?