New Ways to Attract Candidates

Marcianne Kuethen

July 29, 2019

As the skills gap and low unemployment make it harder to hire, are you looking for new ways to attract candidates? Some employers are getting creative to draw in top talent that otherwise might not give their organizations a second glance!

A Shorter Work Week

In what is being called the tightest labor market in half a century, some employers are shifting to a four-day work week in an effort to gain a competitive edge in hiring. Citing the results of a survey from Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), USA Today says that 15% of organizations are offering a four-day work week of 32 hours or less to at least some employees. Employers are using this as one of the new ways to attract candidates, also hoping to boost productivity and morale since employees’ energy tends to flag by the end of the week. Companies also are turning to a shortened week to reduce employee burnout and promote work-life balance.

Not all are cutting the number of hours, however. 17% of companies are squeezing the forty-hour work week into fewer days. Employers advertising the four-day schedule are experiencing an increase of 13% in applications. It’s no wonder that job postings that include a four-day week are up 67% so far this year!

Looser Requirements

Another survey by Adecco found that 37% of employers have lowered the bar on their requirements in order to recruit top talent. The majority of those have done so within the last year. Another 15% plan to loosen requirements, and an additional 17% are considering doing so.

What does lowering the bar look like? Some have decreased the required years of experience (62%), reduced education requirements (50%), sped up the hiring process (52%), stopped drug testing of candidates (21%), and even stopped background checks (16%). 35% of decision makers also said they’d be willing to hire a temp worker with a criminal conviction if the person’s skill set applies to the job.

Other New Ways to Attract Candidates

Other creative methods of drawing in qualified job seekers are offering flexible schedules (70%), offering more shift options (62%), allowing team members the option of choosing their own shift schedule (39%), increasing the number of personal days an employee can take (38%), and offering remote work options (33%). Recent research also shows that many employers are increasingly willing to train employees who are a culture fit and have the necessary qualities that will make them good team members.

You may not be able to offer a 32-hour, four- day work week. You also might not be willing to hire a convicted criminal, or offer multiple shifts for your team members. But the spirit behind all these new ways to attract candidates is to be creative, flexible, and candidate- or employee-centric in your hiring. The current labor market demands extra effort if you want to attract and retain the best professional talent.