Comprehensive candidate attraction strategies have gone from being a ‘nice to have’ to a necessity – here’s why.

In a candidate driven market, finding and securing the best talent for your business is an ongoing challenge and frustration for many Australian organisations.

Gone are the days when placing one ad on a job board was enough to get results. Savvy businesses are now diving into a variety of attraction channels to secure their next superstars.

Why use multiple channels to attract candidates when you can simply place a single job ad? The answer lies in the makeup of today’s talent market. What used to be black and white (i.e. you were either looking for a job or not) has now become an ever-increasing grey area – something we refer to as a scale of continuous candidates.

These days, most candidates can be considered continuous; that is, they’re either actively applying for new jobs, or are at the very least open to the idea of a career change. To ensure you find your ideal next hire, you need to consider who you’re targeting and where they sit in the continuous candidate continuum (say that 5 times fast!). Further to this, it’s crucial to understand which attraction channels are going to get you the recruitment results you need.

Below is a high-level breakdown of the advantages and disadvantages of using job boards vs. proactive attraction strategies – keep these in mind when designing your next recruitment strategy.

The advantages of using job boards:

• Your vacancy is visible to an audience who are both engaged and open to discussion about new opportunities.
• Candidates searching for work regularly online are generally either immediately available or ready to commence within a reasonably short timeframe.
• You don’t have to work as hard to get in front of a high volume of job seekers – post a few well-placed job ads, some great copy and candidates will come!

The disadvantages of job board advertising:

• You’re competing for the attention of candidates actively looking for a new role. It’s rare the buck will stop with your vacancy. As such, if they have applied for your position, chances are they’ve applied for multiple others as well (meaning you need to move quickly with your recruitment process if you have a chance of securing them).
• Candidates actively searching for work have generally already left their previous job, or are looking to leave their current role with some sense of urgency. This can potentially create a situation in which candidates are accepting new positions that are not necessarily the best fit (for them OR your organisation), but rather a means to get them out of their current role. This is not good for either party and can lead to problems with performance and retention.

The advantages of proactive attraction methods: 

• Making an effort to proactively seek potential candidates through means other than job board advertising ensures you have less competition from other organisations or recruitment agencies trying to secure them.
• You’re likely going to find a higher calibre of candidates by getting in touch with people who are currently employed. They have no trouble landing and keeping a role, so it’s all about presenting them with an enticing new career opportunity to consider.
• Singling out someone you’re reaching out to as THE PERSON you need for your role means they are more likely to feel a stronger sense of being truly needed and wanted by your organisation. This often leads to increased employee loyalty, a strong work ethic and stronger retention.
• Motivations for joining your organisation from these types of candidates are more honest. You found them, not the other way around – they have no reason to lie on their resume and if they do move it is more likely to be for genuine career reasons rather than a need to leave a current situation.

The disadvantages of using proactive attraction methods:

• As mentioned above, most of these people already hold positions (and are likely great at them since you’ve sought them out!), which means you will need to work harder to get them to make the move to your organisation.
• It can be tricky to find who you’re after. You know who you want, but where do you look for them?
• Searching for passive candidates is time consuming. For many Hiring Managers and HR professionals, recruitment is only a small component of their larger role. Finding the time to scroll through databases and online channels to find people can be quite overwhelming.

So – with all this in mind, what type of attraction channels should you focus on for your next job opening? The answer is BOTH.

Covering your bases and having an advertising strategy that is targeted to reach candidates from different talent pools within the continuous market will give you the best possible chance of success for your next vacancy.

The Recruitment Advertising team at Employment Office are experts in candidate attraction. Our specialists will partner with you to put together a comprehensive strategy to give your next vacancy the best chance of being seen by the right people, across multiple candidate pools.

Want to know more? Give us a call today on 1300 366 573 or email info@employmentoffice.com.au to see how we can help.