Chris Bogh |
With recent recruitment news articles highlighting companies' fears of an impending skills gap in the job market due to young people being put off by today's recruitment processes, Eploy clients such as Matalan began addressing this issue long before it became newsworthy.
In 2012 Matalan selected the feature-rich Eploy recruitment software to revamp their recruitment process, introducing a branded career portal to improve the candidate experience as well as assist their recruitment team to meet the company's recruitment KPIs.
Integrate Social Media into your recruitment process
When implementing the system the Matalan recruitment team identified the need to nurture young talent and introduced a number of industrial placement opportunities. In addition the social media integration that the Eploy system offered the team meant that Matalan could be more proactive in seeking new talent using social media channels and maintaining a consistent employer brand. The team have implemented a facebook and twitter account to engage with non-passive candidates and the branded Career Portal allows candidates to share vacancies via these social media channels, which has proved particularly successful with students.
Interview workshops can help unsuccessful candidates learn and improve
The CIPD report also highlights that employer feedback for unsuccessful candidates is crucial, and yet many young applicants are not receiving constructive comments when falling out at any stage of the recruitment process. Matalan take this very seriously and unsuccessful candidates that choose to can attend interview workshops where they will have an informal chat with the team, deliver their presentation in a mock interview and receive hints and tips on where to improve.
Make your recruitment process available to candidates however they access the web
Companies looking to address a potential ageing workforce or fears over a future skills gap need to ensure they have practices in place to attract the technology savvy job market newcomers. Employer brand and social media are key tools to establish who you are as a company and communicate that to potential candidates, but the use of appropriate technology is also important. With over 30% of candidates applying for jobs via smartphones in 2013, Matalan can be confident that Eploy's mobile-enabled career portal will enhance the candidate experience from the very first stage of the recruitment process.
Further reading
Matalan online recruitmemt software case study
Jobseekers' confidence crushed by recruitment process (via HR Review)
Employers are from Mars, young people are from Venus: addressing the young people/jobs mismatch (via CIPD)