Insights

In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, many companies are finding themselves switching to remote recruiting to fill their entry-level roles or internships. Campus career centers are cancelling in-person events and companies are temporarily closing their offices, which makes face-to-face interaction – and personalization in the hiring process – more difficult to manage.

It’s recruiting season for many companies, and they’re out to find unique talent at universities across the nation. For many, diversity is a key factor when choosing students to fill internship and entry-level roles. What better place to find diverse talent than at a diverse institution? Recruiting from Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) are the way to go. Many companies like Spotify and The Entertainment Industry College Outreach Program have HBCU-specific programs as a way to recruit diverse talent, while recruiters come with the goal of bringing potential applicants into their organizations.

One of the major recruitment trends to watch out for in 2020 is the recent phenomenon of “candidate ghosting.” “Ghosting” refers to suddenly losing contact with a candidate with whom you had been previously corresponding, and it can happen at any stage of the recruitment process. In fact, research from Randstad found that 43% of Gen Z candidates had accepted a job, but reneged on their offer before their first day. In other words, they “ghosted” their future employer in order to accept a different job or pursue a different path.

Each year, more than 200,000 servicemen and women separate from active duty in the U.S. military. These highly-trained individuals are a rich source of diversity and leadership as they enter the civilian workforce, and are a great asset to the companies they join following their service. To better recruit and retain military talent, keep these eight best practices in mind when forming your talent acquisition strategies.

In today’s hiring landscape, most companies have a plan to recruit diverse talent. A recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey showed 57% of companies claim to have plans to recruit diverse talent in 2019, and a survey of employers through the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) found that 88% of surveyed companies have formal diversity recruiting initiatives. However, even with good intentions and formalized initiatives, unconscious bias can creep into the process and hinder efforts to recruit a truly diverse workforce – especially if the existing team doing the hiring is mostly homogenous.

Hiring a new candidate is just as much about them getting to know your business as it is about finding a great asset to the team. Unless the candidate has been employed by your business before or is transferring internally, the hiring experience is your chance to make a good first impression with your potential new hire. Unfortunately, so many businesses jeopardize their chances of hiring a great candidate by having a stressful, lengthy, or otherwise unfriendly hiring practice.

When some people think of a company’s sense of “community,” they picture employees socializing at company happy hours, engaging in friendly tabletop games, or talking in swanky communal areas. Data from our recent State of the Gen Z Job Search report shows that company culture and community is important to Gen Z – and it’s especially important to Gen Z women. But community is about more than ping pong tables and kombucha on tap. It’s about facilitating genuine connections among employees. When bringing on new hires at the entry-level, try some of these ideas to foster a stronger sense of community and use community-building as a selling point in your recruitment outreach.

As colleges have welcomed students back to campus, graduating seniors are already gearing up for their job search. In fact, our recent State of the Gen Z Job Search report found that 51% of Gen Z students begin looking for entry-level jobs in or prior to the October before they graduate. With Gen Z candidates already job-hunting, employers who want to attract top talent will not only need to get started early, but also maintain a positive experience throughout every aspect of the candidate journey, from the information-gathering stage, the application process, the job interview and the final offer. While there are standard components of any great candidate experience, data collected for our report Understanding the Gen Z Candidate Experience reveals some important information about creating a positive hiring experience for today’s entry-level job seekers. Whether it’s your first time recruiting Gen Z candidates or you are looking to get ahead of your competition, here are some actionable steps you can take during this year’s hiring season to create a Gen Z -friendly candidate experience.

For companies located in a big city or companies that recruit from local colleges, hosting an onsite recruitment event can be a great way to get candidates excited about the office and offer the opportunity to meet potential future coworkers. A well-organized event can propel your company to the top of college graduates’ preferred list of employers. Conversely, a poorly-run event can backfire for an employer’s brand and keep the best candidates away. So how can your company put together a successful onsite recruitment event, from planning, to marketing, to execution? Follow these important steps.