Candidates Have Choices

If you’ve attempted to hire someone in the last few years, you’ve likely noticed a shift in candidate attitudes. Perhaps you’ve been ghosted, or someone declined your generous job offer, or you couldn’t even figure out how to entice candidates to apply to your open role. A common refrain we hear at Arrowhead goes something like, “Where have all the candidates gone? We can’t get anyone to apply to our job!”

There are of course exceptions, but the rules of hiring have changed, for a variety of reasons which we don’t have time to discuss in detail: demographic shifts, a strong preference for remote or hybrid work, inflationary pressures, the list goes on. 

So, when faced with this new reality, what can you do to attract top talent to your organization? 

I’ve found the simplest (but not easiest) thing to do is to understand you need to sell as if your life depends on it, even if you work for a company that is a recognized brand. 

Your company may not have the best pay, workspace, or benefits, but if you can sell your opportunity to candidates, you have a tremendous advantage over your competition. Why? Because everyone, candidates included, want to be wanted. 

Help your candidates understand why they are important to your organization. Paint a picture on how they’ll make an impact. And most importantly, tell a candidate you want him to join the team. This tactic costs you nothing but will necessitate that you possibly change your perspective on the candidate/employer dynamic. 

If you’ve worked long enough, you’ll easily recall the days when interviewees were made to prove themselves worthy of working at your company. The onus was on the applicant to sell herself to you, because the employer had plenty of choices to fill that job. But, as we’ve discussed, the world of work has changed, and this old-school perspective will largely prove ineffective now. By and large, the onus is on the employer to sell the opportunity to candidates, because candidates (especially the best ones) have many choices. 

Again, this paradigm shift is simple, but it may not be easy. In some cases, it will be almost impossible for entrenched employees to sell a job opportunity to candidates because the thought of asking for someone to join the company is an affront to their egos. 

Unfortunately for employers, the labor supply is likely to continue shrinking relative to the number of open jobs. And, if you don’t start selling your company to candidates, your company will not be an employer of choice.