Getting lots of applicants—but not finding “The One?” Consider this…

Thousands of candidates viewed your most recent job post – and plenty applied. As you wade through the seemingly endless resumes and profiles, it’s clear you’re getting a tremendous applicant response. The problem? They aren’t the right candidates for the role.

Whether applicants lack the training or years of experience or simply miss the mark qualification-wise, many organisations are struggling with engaging and activating candidates who fit with specific job requirements. For many HR and recruiting leaders, it’s a surprise. 

In 2020, Australian unemployment rose to 6.2% , and job seekers flooded the market. Now, though, we’re experiencing the opposite – with considerably more job openings than there are candidates, and so finding and hiring top talent is increasingly a challenge.  

If your business is seeing abundant job-post traffic and applicants but still isn’t attracting the right talent, it’s important to pause and identify your specific challenges. Often, this imbalance – getting a solid number of resumes but still not finding the right talent for the role – is easily remedied in a few steps:

1. Defining your ‘must-haves’ and ensuring they are strictly what’s needed for the job.
   
2. Ensuring your benefits and perks are well aligned with current industry norms.
   
3. Promoting your job posts to the right audiences. 

By reviewing each of these potential pitfalls, your teams can identify what could be keeping the right talent from engaging with your posts and ensure you’re finding high-performance candidates every time. To get started, ask yourself: 

1. What is required vs. what is desired?

Many industries and roles require significant, specific education, training and on-the-job experiences. A good example: registered nurses (RNs). RNs require a three-year degree such as a Bachelor of Nursing, or if already holding previous tertiary qualifications, a two-year postgraduate Master of Nursing program.

Minimally, it takes two to four years of higher education – and, depending on a facility’s needs, roles may require several years of on-the-ground experience or work in a specific department. To be a critical care nurse for example, an employer usually requires a specialist graduate certificate or a masters degree program specialising in intensive or critical care. Both pathways involve on-the-job training in critical care departments, and require you to be already registered as a nurse with the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and the Nursing and Midwifery Board Australia (NMBA).

Requiring this level of training and certification already limits a candidate pool. In the case of nursing, though, add on a critical nurse shortage and it’s clear why finding this type of candidate could be a significant challenge. But if hiring managers pile on additional ‘nice-to-haves’ such as optional training, additional certifications and specific scheduling requirements, it limits the potential applicant pool even more. 

Medical hiring managers, though, aren’t the only ones experiencing a lack of qualified candidates. Engineering, high-tech, education, marketing and other key industries can have significant qualifications tied to even mid and entry-level roles.

While it’s important to outline the experience, background, certifications and training required to successfully perform a role, too many must-haves may keep even qualified candidates from applying. To overcome this, consider listing only the skills, education, certifications and experiences that are non-negotiable. Additional preferences – an MBA, for example, or training on more intuitive software and platforms – can be listed as preferred qualifications.

Many companies are following this approach. Apple, Google and IBM don’t require four-year degrees, citing successful tech workers who lacked this common qualification. Others have indicated that demonstrating hard skills is more important than having college degrees – coding, for example, as well as emerging technologies like AI and machine learning.  

2. Can high-potential talent be trained on certain aspects of the job?

If there are ideal qualifications that aren’t required on day one, consider benefits like on-the-job training or paid upskilling and professional certifications, as needed. With Indeed searches for hiring incentives up 134% since the beginning of 2021, adding these benefits can drive increased attention to your posts. 

3. Are you offering what candidates are looking for right now?

It’s also important to consider the ‘new norms’ in your industry and among specific roles or talent pools. For example, while requiring restaurant staff to return to their core workplaces, designers, marketers, developers and operations teams may be able to work from home or adopt flexible work schedules going forward.

When looking at roles you’re struggling to fill, consider benefits like flexibility or even an entirely remote schedule, if it’s appropriate. Now more than ever, flexibility is a top priority. Offering a flexible work environment ­– whereby employees can work from home when they need to be productive and in the office when they need to collaborate — will be more attractive to job seekers. If you have an open role that doesn’t truly require the employee to be in the office, or in the office full time, mandating it will likely reduce your candidate pool.

‘A flexible working arrangement removes the need for employees to endure regular, long commutes to the office – a major source of stress and a potential deal-breaker for the candidate, since more remote employees want to keep working from home.’

Flexibility, though, is just one example. Different industries and job types have different norms or pervasive priorities that hiring managers should be leaning into so as to best engage top candidates. Paid sabbaticals, childcare benefits and even paid training and development can entice top-tier candidates.    

4. Are there other benefits that could be appealing?Granted, training benefits aren’t the only sought-after benefits right now, but benefits, in general, are key to getting top talent to consider your organisation. 

---

Enhanced benefits and perks to consider

More and more, companies are offering creative benefits to current and incoming employees. Some enhanced benefits to consider – and promote – to attract and retain top talent:

• Gym memberships
• Extended long service leave 
• Pet-friendly workplaces 
• Childcare discounts

---

All of this said, it’s not enough to just have expanded or creative benefits – it’s equally important to promote them. A positive employer brand that is open and flexible about benefits and opportunities for job seekers will attract candidates and boost their reputation, attracting more talent.  Even if you can’t boost your benefits right now, be sure that what you do offer is front and center in every job post.

5. Are you optimising your job posts?

Taking a ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ approach with your job posts may mean the right candidates aren’t seeing your message. Using optimisation technology like Indeed’s objective-based campaigns can ensure posts align to your goals, including who’s seeing your opportunities.

Using objective-based campaigns, employers can target specific, relevant job seekers, delivering ad placements on and off Indeed. This ensures job posts reach the right candidates with the right skills, even if those candidates don’t initially engage on Indeed. 

Revisit job posts and eliminate any skills, qualifications or certifications that aren’t 100% essential on day one – and consider on-the-job training to bridge any gaps. At the same time, review your benefits to ensure you’re in step with – or competitive with – other businesses in your industry. From there, consider introducing a short candidate pre screen and better optimising your posts to get to the right applicants faster. 

After evaluating your performance against each of these key questions, you’ll likely spot areas to optimise and enhance. From there, you will be better positioned to engage the right talent every time.