How to recruit high-calibre candidates for your retail shop clients
Nowadays, it is quite a straightforward process for retail shop candidates to find relevant information about their potential employers. For example, they can go online to research the company, using:
- Reviews and ratings from both current and former employees
- The shop’s culture videos
- Published details about salaries and benefits
Once armed with this knowledge, they can afford to be selective, especially with the numerous job vacancies available today.
As a retail shop recruiter, it is vital that you attract and engage the best candidates through proactive and innovative means. Accordingly, you need to carefully plan your campaign and aim it towards highly skilled and passionate jobseekers.
However, you need to think and act like a marketer. Posting jobs online and waiting for the right person to apply will not suffice. You need to expand your recruitment marketing options.
What do you need to know about recruitment marketing?
This is the strategic process of finding, attracting and persuading passive but talented candidates to apply for a position. There are multiple ways of achieving your objectives, including the use of:
- Your shop’s brand
- A persuasive career page
- Targeted messages
There are also several marketing strategies that will support your efforts to recruit talent for your retail business.
1. Stand out from the crowd
With more retail job openings than qualified candidates, the competition is tough. As a result, you need to utilise a tailored marketing approach to attract jobseekers and communicate your brand.
2. Manage jobseekers’ expectations
A 2018 survey revealed that more than 30% of applicants expect employers to reach out to them about job openings. For this reason, you need to plan a personalised outreach campaign.
3. Be aware that candidates conduct their own research
A LinkedIn study revealed that 75% of jobseekers in the retail industry evaluate a potential employer’s brand before applying for a role. In today’s market, people want to learn about an organisation’s work values and environment before clicking on the “Apply” button.
4. Create attractive job descriptions
You need to write job descriptions that are both informative and exciting. Although it is important to mention the expectations and responsibilities, don’t forget to highlight the appeal and perks. Also, remember to outline the benefits, including the allowances, training opportunities and potential for career advancement. According to Recruitment Traffic, you can present your job opportunities through Google. You can even incorporate the most popular keywords used by your target applicants. Consider using Google AdWords or other keyword tools to identify industry-specific phrases.
5. Collect and publish positive employee testimonials
Positive reviews about your company posted by current employees can be extremely persuasive for potential applicants. You should include these testimonials on your company website or third-party pages.
Now, what type of marketing promotion will help convince qualified candidates?
Your recruitment strategy should use a marketing tool known as the funnel.
The funnel framework
The funnel represents your potential employees’ journey. Each stage should guide the best applicants to your organisation.
1. Create awareness
It is your responsibility to build brand awareness and trust. At least a third of retail jobseekers prefer to visit a website or social media page before completing a job application.
Use content marketing
Use your career page, emails, newsletters and job boards to advertise your retail job offers.
Your current employees can also act as brand ambassadors. They can tell their friends about your vacancies through their social networks.
2. Spark interest from potential employees
People who have reached the second stage of the funnel are now aware of your brand and company. This is your opportunity to provide them with more information through:
Targeted social marketing
Even if they are aware of your brand, some applicants may still be reluctant to consider you as a future employer. For this reason, you need to use targeted marketing to encourage them to regard you as an employer rather than as a brand. By using social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn, you will be able to engage with qualified candidates and persuade them to visit your career pages and job boards.
Impress candidates with your job board pages
Once jobseekers have some information about your company, it is time to impress them. You can do this with powerful messages and appealing visuals.
3. Provide comprehensive information about your retail positions
In the final stage of the funnel, potential employees are almost ready to submit their application. However, they will now be comparing your job offer with other openings. For this reason, it is imperative that you present them with sufficient content to help them make an informed decision.
Conclusion
The current labour market has more available openings than there are jobseekers. As a consequence, people have more freedom to pursue the job they want. As they can now make use of online resources to find out about your brand, you need to implement creative strategies to attract future employees. One excellent marketing tool is the funnel as its various stages will enable you to attract and guide candidates to your brand
