#BlueMonday - How to Hire More Candidates

There isn’t anything to back up Blue Monday (17th Jan 2022), it was just a holiday company trying to sell holidays 15 years ago who coined the phrase. But, whether Blue Monday exists or not, one thing is certain; Mondays that fall in the first half of the year do remain blue for many people, job searches increase and sickness rates on a Monday are double those on a Friday. Dark mornings, harsh weather conditions, failed new year resolutions, debt and post-Christmas blues (not to mention COVID) all add to our feelings of low over this tougher period.  As such, many of us will look to make positive changes to compensate and one of the substantial changes we can make is our job.   This could be why we see a 20% increase in applications in the months of January, year on year. Considering how tough the market has been recently for candidates, if you are looking to hire then now is the time to do it.  However, as you will also be competing with lots of other employers as job numbers keep rising, here are some top tips to help you:

1. Nail your Advert

Just throwing your job description on the internet is not going to cut it anymore.  Think about what your ideal candidate would want to know & how they want to know it!  The attention span of an applicant is minimal (especially when they are looking at hundreds of jobs circa 4 seconds!).  Your goal is to get your advert at the top of the job board listings and get the best applicants to read, get excited and apply for your job – quickly!  Think benefits, videos, social, punchy, generic and popular job titles! We spend all our days writing adverts, understanding the job board algorithms and analysing our own metrics to ensure that every advert stands the best chance of succeeding.  Feel free to send us your Job Description and see what we do with it or check out this article that lists some of our most popular blogs on the advert writing.

2. Create Efficient Processes

If you are still using your inbox and excel spreadsheets to manage your candidate process, then it’s probably time to have a bit of a re-think, especially as candidates demand more from your recruitment processes. Recruitment systems are no longer expensive IT solutions for the big corporate companies.  Systems like our Flat Fee Applicant Tracking System (FFATS) have been designed for the SME.  Allowing organisations like yours to store, manage, measure and engage with your candidates at the click of a button.  Get in touch for a quick demo and see how much time you could save for less than the cost of an advert.

3. Interview Great Candidates Quickly

Just because your advert is live for 28 days, the good candidates who apply for your job at the beginning of a campaign may not be around at the end. Check your responses daily, pick up the phone to the really good ones and start the recruitment process now.  Qualify where they are in their job hunt, arrange first interviews as fast as possible and get them out of the jobs market.  For more tips on interviewing check out interviewing and selecting candidates.

4. Don’t Lose the Good Ones

Many recruitment campaigns fall at the end once all the hard work has been done.  In many cases this is due to poor communication.  Keeping candidates warm whilst you make your ultimate decision is no easy feat and does require a bit of effort on your part, especially if you have more applicants to interview over a 2-3 week timescale. It is important to establish with your candidates how often they would expect to be kept in touch with, and work out the frequency and type of communication candidate by candidate.   It should only be for a couple of weeks as you finish your interviewing but a combination of phone calls, emails, cards, texts, letters etc will help to build that relationship with the applicant and also encourage them to contact you should they get an offer from another company in the meantime. Whatever time of year you hire, there are always challenges, but we hope that these four pieces of advice will give you the best chance to succeed in your recruitment campaign for January.  Good luck! If you liked this, you may also like these recruitment hints and tips:

• How to Lose an Applicant in 10 Days
• Debunking Six Myths of the Application Process
• 10 Tips to Hiring the Best Person for the Job