It’s not easy to recruit hard-working people. The blue-collar sector has a high rate of turnover, making recruitment a particularly difficult task. Here are three ways to attract a larger pool of qualified applicants and make more hires.
1. Make Your Candidate Pool Bigger
Interested applicants are a good starting point for finding qualified new hires. More people will apply if they hear about your opening and see your company’s name in the news. The following are some suggestions for expanding your audience.
Create a Support System
Recruiters benefit from networking as much as anyone else. Although it may not be visible, it is possible to network in the blue-collar sector. I can think of a few ways:
- Make contact with recruitment agencies
- Make sure you stay in touch with talented employees who have moved on (follow them on LinkedIn).
- Maintain a roster of reliable temporary staff.
- Boost your profile’s visibility on sites like Glassdoor and LinkedIn, or test out sites tailored to the blue-collar community.
You Should Think About Hiring From Within
Seek advice from the contacts of your finest employees. Also, you can give them bonuses if they bring on new employees. If your staff is happy in their roles, they will spread the word about your company to their friends and family.
If you need to fill a position, don’t overlook your own organization’s resources. If you’re looking to fill a managerial position in the blue-collar sector, consider promoting from within if possible. If internal promotions are a possibility, they will also serve to inspire your team.
Be Wary of Requesting Too Much Experience
Reducing the number of potential candidates by listing too many requirements in a job advertisement is common. Rather than looking for applicants with specific experience, you could choose to focus on enhancing your in-house training program and putting together a team of entry-level employees.
Do not turn down applicants who are overqualified for the position
Similarly, you shouldn’t dismiss applicants who have too much experience too quickly. A CV or application cannot tell you everything you need to know about a person. For example, they may be looking to make a long-awaited shift in careers or have experienced unusual hardships that make them ideally suited to the role.
Try Different Job Sites Until You Find the One That Works
Put up your ad in places where potential employees could look. One of the most underutilized channels for advertising job openings is social media, Facebook in particular. Since its launch, it has attracted so many users that it has been compared to LinkedIn for workers in the blue-collar industry.
Grow Your Company’s Name Recognition
Creating a positive image of your organization as an employer is what “employer branding” is all about. It’s the act of broadcasting to the world the many virtues of your firm, from the culture of the organization to the rewards of working there. Employer branding strategies that are successful make the company seem like a desirable place to work. To do this, you should promote the aforementioned factors via social media and a careers page on your website. In order to hone in on your messaging, consider your company’s mission and values. Share several images and don’t be modest about your accomplishments.
2. Hone Your Sales Pitch
Make sure your job ad is compelling now that so many people are looking at it. In addition to attracting a better-qualified candidate pool, a well-written job description can help you hone your offer letter before you ever extend an offer of employment.
Include and emphasize the following in order to strengthen your job description.
Get in Touch with Employees Currently Working There
If you want to fill a position, it’s a good idea to conduct interviews with the present staff. They can provide you with great advice on what to highlight in the job posting, based on the candidate’s priorities.
Emphasize Learning and Growth Opportunities
Many people in the labor market aren’t only after a paycheck, but rather want to advance their careers. Attracting and keeping hardworking employees in the blue-collar sector requires an innovative employee development program.
Remember the Basics
Important details are required for every job description. Here is a rundown of such, along with some optimization suggestions for the World Wide Web.
- Include search-engine-optimized keywords in the job title.
- Provide a call to action for filling out an application and make it simple to do so on a computer or mobile device.
- The wage must be accounted for, and this is especially true of traditionally open and competitive blue-collar fields.
- Duties need to be itemized. Use concrete language and avoid jargon.
- Overly stringent requirements can make qualified candidates feel disqualified, so they shouldn’t be.
- Maintain brevity and ease of understanding. Don’t use buzzwords or industry jargon.
3. Modify How You Recruit New Employees
Reviewing the blue-collar jobs hiring procedure is crucial if you want to see real results from your recruitment campaigns. You don’t want a qualified prospect to back out because of a drawn-out, confusing hiring process.
Make It Convenient To Use
To craft the ideal job description is one thing… only to lose out on the perfect prospect because the application link didn’t work on their phone.
- Reduce the time spent applying. Many potential employees quit in the middle of an application process, and this is true across all sectors of the economy. The petitioner should not be subjected to unreasonable demands. You can always ask more questions during the interview or give them a quick call afterward if you realize you need more details.
- Don’t make them create an account only to apply. This merely adds another hurdle where none was needed.
- Create a mobile version of your application. Ninety-plus percent of job seekers do so via mobile devices.
- Care to learn more about the application procedure? Apply. Take us step-by-step through the application procedure. Experiment with it on a phone and a computer, and from a variety of various channels. You will most likely discover some areas for enhancement.
Be Swift
Someone who is actively seeking employment is probably not applying solely to your firm. Whichever organization can fill open positions more quickly will benefit. The onboarding and hiring of new employees should follow a well-defined procedure.
Purchase a Reliable Job-Seeker Information System
Many businesses in the service sector and blue-collar industry hire frequently and in large numbers, therefore it may be worthwhile to invest in an application monitoring system (ATS). Applications for jobs can be managed quickly and effectively with the use of applicant tracking systems (ATS). You may use this to keep track of applicants, where they are in the recruiting process, and what happens to them after they apply.
