The New Normal: Rethinking Staffing Communications

Written By

The Pollack Group

This insight post is a summary of the original blog post published by Stefan Pollack, of  The Pollack Group.  View the original post: The New Normal: Rethinking Staffing Communications – How To Effectively Recruit And Retain Staff

It’s no secret that recruiting and retention have become a major challenge for employers across multiple industries. In this post, our partners at The Pollack Group share some insight that should be considered for overcoming this.

Hiring Is Hard‍

Let’s admit it: hiring has become more challenging during pandemic times. For one thing, remote working has been made possible and remains widely popular. For another, people’s increased awareness of social distancing has heightened to a new normal. Better job opportunities may have arisen elsewhere, and unemployment benefits have kept some people less concerned about joblessness.

No one can eliminate the pandemic overnight, and few companies can drastically raise salary budgets to attract candidates. However, despite all these social-economic difficulties, there is one thing organizations can always do to facilitate the hiring process: communicate better.

The Problems In Communication

Today, although the internet and social media have made communication more effortless, many problems keep haunting companies, that still need to be solved, especially during recruiting seasons. To fix them, we need to first understand what these problems are.

Which Channels?

The first problem lies in the choice of channels for posting a job. Think of your latest job post. If you’re unhappy with the number of applications you’ve received, ask yourself: is it in the right place?

Over the years, young people have been changing their favorite channels to communicate and connect with the world. From live streaming and influencers, to forums and social media, you need to have heightened alertness. Also, don’t forget Google Reviews, Yelp, Blind, and Glassdoor, where digital natives do their due diligence. Is your company present or absent on these platforms? Are you active enough, updating your pages with new, helpful information? If you hesitated, it’s time to conduct a quick audit to pinpoint the exact issues.

Based on what I’ve seen, the harsh reality is that few organizations are fully catching up with the ever-changing digital world:

• Absence on social media (especially the emerging ones)

• Zero response to reviews and questions

• Outdated contact information on profile pages

When hiring, they keep using outdated tactics that cause confusion and even disconnection with potential employees.

What’s In The Message?

The second problem is about content. Think like a job seeker, specifically a Gen Z jobseeker: what matters in a job post? Obvious, evergreen answers include salary levels, benefits, and growth opportunities, but what’s new?

Through decades of teaching at USC, I’ve had the privilege of staying connected with young people who are about to enter the job market. Here’s one observation: they are paying increasing attention to company culture. To further break it down, they prefer companies where employees are respected and trusted, feel confident due to good feedback and mentorship; and where coworkers form a supportive community that cares much more beyond getting tasks done. Sometimes, these factors are even more important than financial compensation.

Now, let’s return to your case – have you sufficiently highlighted your unique strengths to your target audience? If you haven’t, you can do better.

Learn more about best practices you can use in the full-length article: The New Normal: Rethinking Staffing Communications – How To Effectively Recruit And Retain Staff. 

You can also view all of the job openings for our partners.

The Pollack Group is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA and has offices in New York, NY. Pollack is a mid-sized, multi-specialty agency that develops communication platforms and programs, manages corporate reputations, launches new products and services and promotes consumer brand engagement for clients ranging from innovative start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, with a focus on consumer products, technologies and services.