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Recruiting Strategies to Jumpstart Success in the New Year

It’s a brand-new year – a time of resolutions and fresh starts. But don’t kick everything old to the curb just yet. Before rushing into uncharted territory and searching for the latest and greatest recruiting trends, take a moment to appreciate the tricks of the trade that got us through 2023.

Consider these tips spanning topics on job postings and pay transparency, structured interviews, veteran recruitment, and more.

Write More Effective Job Postings & Unlock the Power of Pay Transparency

Let’s face it, if you were on the other side of the hiring table scrolling through job postings, would your own listings grab your attention? There’s usually room for improvement and it’s a worthy undertaking, as many hiring journeys begin with a job posting.

Recycled job ads that are simply copied and pasted from the government contract award won’t cut it these days. While you can’t change the requirements of the job, you do have some flexibility in how you choose to advertise it.

When it comes to crafting effective job postings, every component counts – even your title. Aim for 60 or fewer characters to optimize mobile response rates. Use keywords that precisely describe the role, skip buzzwords that candidates won’t be searching for (like Linux Wizard), and try to ditch the Roman numerals and requisition numbers.

With the title taken care of, it’s time to work on a strong job summary and key selling points. It’s important to make it about the candidate, not just your company. Clearly outline responsibilities and duties with detailed bullet points, providing a realistic preview of what the job entails. And perhaps most importantly, exercise restraint when listing qualifications, distinguishing between must-haves and nice-to-haves. Lastly, highlight your company’s unique aspects and culture to give candidates insight into what makes your organization a great fit for them.

And don’t forget the salary information section. Posting salary ranges not only complies with legal requirements in certain locations, but it also fosters pay equity, enhances the candidate experience, and boosts your overall competitiveness in the recruitment game. In fact, candidates are five times more likely to click on a job posting featuring a clear pay range according to Lighthouse Research & Advisory.

Read here for more tips and tricks to take your job postings to the next level.

Use Structured Interviews for Next-Level Recruiting

Have you been on the hunt for an interview method that will help your team consistently deliver better hires? Structured interviews have been shown to bring increased productivity, reduced turnover, and consistent, high-quality results. Employers benefit from them, and many candidates actually prefer them!

If you’re ready to try structured interviews in your hiring process, explore these three key components:

1. Train Interviewers: To address the variability in interviewer performance, invest in effective training. Provide training content, shadowing opportunities, and personal feedback to ensure that your team is well-equipped to conduct effective interviews, a crucial step in enhancing hiring decisions.
2. Prepare Interview Questions: Structured interviews involve asking uniform, job-related questions, utilizing a rating scale for scoring responses. Many candidates appreciate this approach for its fairness and focus on job responsibilities. Invest time upfront to develop role-specific questions and scales.
3. Gather Post-Interview Feedback: Combat biases by gathering feedback from all interviewers separately and promptly. Structured interviews not only enhance fairness but also lead to faster turnaround times for candidate feedback scores, which contribute to keeping up your pace in a competitive hiring landscape.

Read more about making structured interviews work for you here.

Build a Positive Candidate Experience

The fight for top security-cleared talent is competitive, and candidates are empowered by choice in the current market. Their journey through your recruitment process is not just a path to a job—it’s a peek behind the curtain and a testament to your organization’s values. So it’s no surprise how much impact a positive candidate experience can have on your recruitment efforts.

To enhance the candidate experience, consider these actionable strategies:

• Streamline the Application Process: Simplify and optimize the application process for a seamless experience, eliminating unnecessary steps and ensuring mobile optimization.
• Set Clear Expectations: From the initial job posting to the final interview, ensure that candidates have a clear understanding of the job role, expectations, and the recruitment process. Transparency builds trust and reduces misunderstandings.
• Maintain Open Communication: Keep candidates informed at every stage. A well-managed communication process can mitigate candidate frustration.
• Personalize Interactions: Show genuine interest in candidates’ backgrounds and aspirations, tailoring communications to foster a deeper connection.
• Provide and Collect Feedback: Constructive feedback helps candidates understand their strengths and areas for improvement. This demonstrates respect for their efforts and contributes to a positive experience. It’s also beneficial to collect feedback from candidates to help you make necessary improvements.

Find more tips to embrace a candidate-centric recruiting strategy here.

Work Smarter Not Harder – Use ClearedJobs.Net Effectively

The process of sifting through resumes, posting jobs, and managing candidates can be time-consuming to say the least. That’s where ClearedJobs.Net comes in, providing you with a powerful set of tools designed to streamline the sourcing process and connect you with top-tier security-cleared professionals.

Are you taking advantage of our advanced resume search features? In addition to a keyword search, you’ll see various filters including security clearance level, location, requisition number, maximum salary, minimum education, military service, and the date the job seeker last logged into their account.

While filters like a zip code radius are pretty straightforward, you may not be familiar with Boolean search logic. It’s worth familiarizing yourself with some quick Boolean tips to help you find the security-cleared talent you’re searching for. Boiled down to the basics, Boolean involves putting your keyword phrases inside quotation marks, to narrow down your search results to exactly what you’re looking for. Register for our upcoming Boolean training on January 11.

If you’re happy with the search results your specific search query returned, you can save the search for future use. That way, you can rerun the search with a single click. You can also save the search as a resume agent, which automates the process. The system will run the same search every 24 hours and email you the results.

Read here for more ways to maximize your time on ClearedJobs.Net 

Connect with Transitioning Service Members and Leverage SkillBridge

You know the value of recruiting from the military talent pool. Helping transitioning veterans is good business. Consider these six tips to improve your interactions and relationships with transitioning military talent:

1. Let them know you’ve worked with veterans before. That’s going to help them feel like you’re an advocate for them, and you understand the process.

2. Instead of “yes/no” questions, proactively explain potential misunderstandings. When you say things like “we’re a sub on this contract,” proactively explain what that means and why it’s important to you. Don’t ask if they know what a subcontractor means. They might say yes even if they don’t, or they might believe they know when they actually don’t.

3. Lay out the hiring process – and do so early. Transitioning military job seekers don’t always understand the process. They might think a hiring manager is a specific position in the company. You could say, “I’m not trying to insult your intelligence. Since I’ve worked with veterans, I want to make sure you understand who these people are in the hiring process.”

4. Use existing employees to tell their transition story. Even if your company isn’t able to have a specific military liaison, have some employees in your back pocket that have made that transition. They can help facilitate a more comfortable conversation.

5. Explain your benefits and how they compare in the industry, even if they’re only average. If you don’t, you risk them assuming, that doesn’t sound as good as what I had in the military. Giving them the lay of the land helps them to make decisions.

6. Provide good contact info and encourage follow on questions. Sometimes veterans are afraid to follow up. Be very genuine in your conversations and say, “Please contact me, connect with me on LinkedIn, and send me an email as you’re going through this process.”

A great way to tap into the vast pool of talent within the military community is through the DoD SkillBridge program. Participating in SkillBridge is not just a recruitment tactic—it’s an investment in the future. And that investment pays off beyond the individual military participant.

Many employers have found the program to be a golden opportunity to bring transitioning military job seekers up to speed, ensuring they are well-prepared to enter the industry as civilians. This investment translates into a more skilled, adaptable, and capable workforce that is ready to tackle the challenges of the civilian cleared community.

Read here for additional information to help you connect with transitioning military and veterans.