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Visit pretty much any company careers site, and you'll likely read how wonderful they are to work for and how well they treat their staff.
But are companies living up to their words during this crisis? Let's take a look at this unprecedented shift in the jobs market, and how it is putting employer brands to the test.
The current pandemic has had a massive effect on the jobs market. From a period of candidate scarcity to one where specific industries have temporarily closed down, while others are seeing huge demand.
We see an upturn in demand for support and care workers, supermarket staff, delivery drivers, warehouse workers and contact centres for vital services. At the same time, there's a considerable call for volunteers, rightly recognising their value as essential pillars of our communities.
Take Mencap, the UK charity for people with a learning disability, who are experiencing an urgent need to recruit for both permanent and relief positions. They reacted quickly using their recruitment technology to manage this critical need by adapting their online application process to fast track candidates into roles, removing the need for high call volumes to register with them and speed up the process further. Mencap utilised their employer brand across their careers site and other social channels to reinforce their values and the roles they had on offer.
Not only is this delivering an improved candidate experience but also provides the means to get candidates into positions quicker,, easier and more efficiently.
We also see Morrisons making similar changes to recruit for roles to provide food and essential items for the nation. They have hired over 14,000 people across their stores in 14 days! How they have reacted quickly and made a positive effect with lasting impact is incredible. As well as recruiting for temporary positions through 'walk-ins' directly to store to speed up the process, permanent vacancies are listed on their careers site, searchable by business unit and location. This is supported by recruitment hints and tips, recruitment process journey – even examples of the type of right to work documentation required. In other words, candidate-centric content.
Does your employer brand stand up at this time of intense pressure?
Having a robust online recruitment process aligned to your employer brand will go a long way in keeping your brand and values alive in the eye of a candidate but does your careers site provide the optimal content?
We know from research that FAQ's and career pathways are not common topics on a careers/website (used by less than 25%), even job search and apply online is used by just 43% of the research participants. Yet leveraging your careers site by having 'peak performing' content can make a huge difference to the quality and quantity of candidates it attracts and how you are perceived as an employer.
Using candidate-centric content throughout your candidate journey, from attraction to onboarding, can make a difference to candidate engagement and maintaining your employer brand. But, above all, it needs truth at its heart. Your employer brand is being put to the test right now. Those companies that have looked after their staff through troubled times, as well as those that have kept the nation moving, will be the ones remembered when we finally turn the corner.
Useful free stuff!
Recruitment Metrics and how to get started reviewing recruitment activities. Free e-book.
Full careers site content research. Free 70+ page report of the latest UK Candidate Attraction Report.
