From education to employment

Is Recruitment destroying your brand?

Sak Awan Director of Employability and Skills, S Knights Recuitment
“What’s recruitment got to do with branding?… I’m just looking for a trainer?!”
The industry is currently going through a state of flux. There’s definitely uncertainty but also an abundance of opportunities. Where we have seen organisations making redundancies there are twice as many providers growing … which is all great, but again where is the link to branding and marketing?
 
Interesting fact: We found that the 3rd most popular reason for candidates not wanting to be submitted against a certain vacancy they were suitable for, was “I’ve already applied to that company and didn’t hear anything back, I wouldn’t want to work for them” when you consider the vulnerability and anxiety associated with job searching … now your destroying your brand!
 
Candidate Journey
It is a common misconception that the on-boarding for a candidate is day one of employment. Your next employees first impression of you actually starts at the beginning of their “candidate journey”. The first time they see your advert, the first time they hear of your company and the first time they click “Apply” to your vacancy. (For providers who engage with recruitment agencies – there will be a separate article about how to get the most of your agency). We invest heavily in keeping candidates “in the loop” it goes a long way in candidate commitment, their confidence in you as an employer and most importantly is an insight to what they can expect when they start their job with you. With a candidate lead market, you want to ensure that you are the employer of choice, you want your unparalleled, superior candidate journey to mitigate the risks of potential counter offers from other providers. Make sure you stick to the deadlines you set, be that for submission, feedback or interviews. We’ve all been there, we’ve all sat by our emails or phones waiting for that feedback or interview request call where every hour feels like days, every day – weeks and every week –months which is pure agony. You don’t want your next hire to go through that.
 
Promote yourselves to potential employees just as vigorously as you would to employers
As a sector, we are great at employer engagement. We can take a consultative approach, provide training needs analysis and embed ourselves within organisations we want to train. We need to see the same level of investment into attracting and securing talent within the sector. In a limited pool off training providers and colleges across the UK, it is becoming harder for providers to compete for staff that are so sought after. As an employer you should be celebrating your successes both to prospective employers you want to train, as well as to the passive candidate who isn’t actively looking for work, but would say yes to that perfect position with the perfect company… which is you.  
 
A few quick tips:
1.       Write detailed, interesting and attractive adverts (Not just a copy of the JD)
2.       Promote what makes you, the employer, a provider a candidate would want to work for
3.       Stick to deadlines
4.       Keep candidates in the loop with any delays or changes in recruitment
5.       Give timely and constructive feedback.
 
Food for thought
“Exit interviews” are common practice; addressing any issues and reasons for leaving. Have you ever conducted an “Entrance interview” ?
 
Sak Awan, Director of Employability and Skills, S Knights Recruitment

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