Strategies to Fill Your Job FASTER in Today’s Candidate Driven Market

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In case you have been living under a rock, or just have not been doing any hiring lately, let me provide you with an update on the current employment market. It’s a candidate driven market these days and companies, managers, and HR just aren’t getting it. In this article, we will review the signs that clearly indicate that it’s a candidate market and what you as a leader can do about it.

Signs that it’s a candidate driven market:

#1 – Candidates are being bombarded with opportunities. Phones are ringing, e-mails are chirping, and those darn inMails keep coming from recruiters you have never heard of talking about the “amazing, fantastic, outstanding career opportunity.”

#2 – Offer declines are up. When I speak to companies and other recruiters, they are all saying the same thing. More candidates are declining offers for better ones.

#3 – Check out your LinkedIn feed. Plenty of desperate managers and under skilled recruiters are posting their jobs on their LinkedIn feed. Honestly, my opinion only, but this is like writing your name and number on the bathroom stall and saying, “for a good time call…” but that’s just my view. Seriously, if you have you ever done this, the worst of the worst candidates crawl out to contact you.

#4 – Less Candidates for Your Job. Many managers are reporting that they are getting less candidates now for their jobs than they did in the last few years. With more jobs and less candidates, this spreads the candidate pool thinner and there are less candidates.

Things You can Do to Win in this Candidate Driven Market

With almost twenty years in the Headhunting game, I have come up with a few time proven strategies that will help you to compete and WIN in this candidate driven market.

#1 Change your sourcing strategy – Job Posting and LinkedIn Sourcing Don’t Work. Relationships and networks are king; consider using a headhunter who already has relationships with the best candidates so your job can stand out. The is not substitute for the time invested in building reputation and experience in a market. The key is to identify candidates who are not looking for a job but are open to something better than what they are doing today.

#2 Move Faster – You Must Move Quick. There is a saying in special forces;speed killsYou can overcome your enemy with overwhelming force and speed of movement. The same goes for hiring. If you move quickly on a good candidate you can overwhelm the candidate and sweep them off their feet. Slow hiring processes allow competition to come in and make an offer and allow candidate’s interest levels to decline.

#3 Make People Want Your Job – Provide a WIFM for CandidatesFor some reason, this is the hardest one for most managers to get their head around. Just because you like your company and job does not mean people will want your job and to work for your company. You need to invest time understanding what’s important to candidates and selling them on your opportunity and company.

#4 Interview More People – If You’re Stuck, the Best Thing You can do is Pick the Best One or Two Candidates You Have and Meet ThemMany leaders wait until “the perfect” candidate comes along. Unfortunately, life is imperfect. You need to get over it and move on. I can tell you that sometimes the people who look the best on paper and sound great on the phone bomb the interview and the middle candidate on paper becomes the all-star. If you have lots of candidates, feel free to hold out and only interview the one that is “perfect.” However, if you’re struggling and time is ticking, invest some time in interviewing. You will be surprised by what happens.

#5 Make Fast Decisions – Stop Shopping Around. This one might sound a bit like #2, but it’s okay because this really is something that is CRITICAL. In a candidate driven market, it’s especially important to not keep candidates in limbo while you “shop around.” If you find yourself saying things like “this candidate is really strong, but I need to meet a few more people to be sure she is the right one,” then you are guilty of this. Get over it, call HR and make the offer. Shopping around will lead to more jobs staying open longer than they should more than anything else.

As you can see, a candidate driven market requires special tactics to allow you to compete and win. For more ideas on how you can optimize your hiring strategy check out my book “Radical Hiring Success.”

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