Advertisers advice
How to attract candidates who aren’t looking for a job
We talk to Trade Me Head of Talent, Carrie O’Meara-Malcolm, and share some top tips.
Job hunters are more active and engaged than ever and there's a huge demand for quality candidates - but for a number of reasons they aren’t following through to the application stage, with uncertainty in market and border closures playing a part.
Trade Me Head of Talent, Carrie O’Meara-Malcolm, says her team saw a notable decrease in the number of job applications to jobs within Trade Me over the first quarter of 2021 compared with the same period last year. She puts the decrease down to people being more hesitant about leaving their current roles in an unstable market and a decrease in international applicants.
“Companies were expecting to see an increased flow of highly skilled Kiwis coming back from overseas due to Covid, but unfortunately that hasn’t happened,” she says.
With border closures in place for the foreseeable future, and limited expats coming home, it places a stronger focus on the existing talent pool in New Zealand. All of which creates a more competitive environment for employers and recruiters. Particularly, when many people feel secure in their current jobs, they’re less likely to be active job hunters and more apt to be passive candidates.
Carrie says: “Here at Trade Me, we’re encouraging our employees to network and share referrals. We’re doing more searching ourselves and reaching out to candidates we’ve met previously.”
“We’re also challenging our hiring managers and coaching them to think differently. In the past a role may have been Wellington-based, but could someone do the role working remotely?” she says.
Here are some other things you can do to help attract that passive talent pool:
1. Really put yourself in their shoes
Think about why a candidate would want to move? What’s the value-add for them? As job security has become a major factor in what people value, they’re less likely to move from a job they feel is stable to one that isn’t. To convince job hunters to apply, highlight job security and stability or demonstrate some of the values that Covid has reinforced, for example, a good work/life balance and a focus on employee wellbeing.
2. Optimise your job ads
In a passive market, you need to sell the opportunity to a candidate. Really carefully consider your formatting, language and calling out the benefits of the role that may differ from other ads in your category. What can you offer that others can’t?
3. Maximise your reach
Display advertising can be a great way to increase brand presence in your target markets. Speak to your Trade Me Jobs Account Manager about how you can build target display campaigns to reach that passive audience. It may make all the difference!
4. Search, search, search!
Instead of waiting for candidates to come to you, approach people who you think would be a good fit. The candidate search database* on Trade Me Jobs currently features over 244,000 active profiles and is searchable based on location, specific skills and recent activity. Depending on what the role is, focusing on transferable soft skills may help widen your options too.
*Available to Silver and Gold listings.
