Learn from CareerBuilder’s Candidate Behavior Survey

Marcianne Kuethen

August 29, 2013

Do you ever feel that, just when you’ve mastered doing something a certain way, the rules change? With candidates’ increasingly heavy reliance on the Internet, hiring strategies are changing, and employers will have to adapt to stay competitive.  In a survey on candidate behavior, CareerBuilder revealed six areas in which today’s candidates are changing the rules of recruiting. The results can help you make smarter recruitment decisions. (For the complete survey results, click here.)

While all six trends are significant, below is a quick summary of 3 of them:

Today’s Candidate: Always Looking, Always Connected

On average, a candidate may consult nearly 15 online resources per job search, including recruiting firms, professional and personal networks, and company career sites. So you may assume that today’s candidate is applying because he or she has already invested quite a bit of time in researching your company’s job opportunity and is highly interested.

This emphasizes the importance of marketing your organization’s employment brand and job opportunities, especially taking advantage of social media and candidates’ use of mobile devices to connect with candidates.

The Myth of the Passive Candidate

The survey, which solicited input from 1,078 full-time workers, revealed that 74% claimed to be what recruiters call active candidates—either actively searching for a new job or open to new opportunities. 35% admitted that they begin preparing for their next job within weeks of starting a new job.

As employers, realizing that most employees are actively searching, you must shift your thinking and focus on ways to re-energize your current employees.

Good Applicant Experiences Go a Long Way with IT and Health Care Talent

IT and health care workers are increasingly in demand, and the percentage of those actively job searching is in the 80-86% range.  Employers, you should know that they want to be recruited, but you must differentiate your company from others to gain a competitive edge. You can stand out by providing a positive application experience and offering interesting assignments and advancement opportunities. On the flip side, you could actually repel candidates with a lengthy, tedious, difficult application process and by poorly communicating with applicants! The important message in these results is to keep your current IT and health care workers engaged and happy or you may lose them to your competition.

The CareerBuilder survey also covered valuable insights into Candidate Relationship Management, Millennial candidates, and the benefits of employment branding. Within each trend, CareerBuilder likened candidates to consumers who research before they purchase a product. The survey results emphasized that if candidates are consumers, then employers are marketers who need to find ways to connect with and make a good impression on candidates.(To read the full report, click here.)

While the idea of change can be frustrating, the key purpose of these results is to educate us all about the need to creatively implement new strategies that will attract candidates and engage employees for retention. If you’re wondering where to start, please search tags such as “employee engagement” or “retaining employees” to access the numerous resources provided on our blog. Having been the leader of strategic staffing solutions for 54 years, Amtec has pioneered new processes and grown fresh strategies with every bend in the recruitment road. For expert hiring help, call us at (714) 993-1900. We’re ready to help with your job search, whether it’s direct (regular full-time), contract, or pay-by-the-hour or monthly (RPO).

By Marcianne Kuethen