Navigating a Candidate-Driven Market

“Candidate-driven”, “candidate-favouring”, “candidate-short”, “employee’s market”, “labour shortage”, a “candidate’s market” … it doesn’t matter how you’re referring to it – if you’re trying to hire for your organization, you’ve most likely experienced the recent challenges in doing so. There is no doubt – candidates are in the driver’s seat, so what can you do to get in the shotgun seat?

Let’s take a look at ways you can ensure success when searching for candidates.

Know that your candidate has choices

Candidates are currently entertaining multiple opportunities and offers so when the interview stage is over those potential employees are most likely lined up for more. Do your groundwork beforehand and make sure the decision-makers are on board and ready to commit when interviews are completed. Be prepared to let your candidate of choice know you will be extending an offer and do so as soon as possible. Why wait? If you do, you will most likely find yourself at ground zero.  

Act quickly during the interview stage

It is more important than ever to ensure your hiring process is swift, thorough, and efficient. If your candidate vetting has historically involved multiple steps, it’s now time to re-evaluate and streamline your process to help make your decisions quickly in the interview stage. This can not only ensure a positive candidate experience but also ensures you don’t miss out.

Nurture unsuccessful candidates for future conversations

I love the old saying “treat people as you would like to be treated” – no one wants to wait for that phone to ring after an interview, people want to know they are valued, so why not be the first one to call and let them know what your intentions are? Conversely, hiring managers need to connect as soon as possible with the unsuccessful candidates and nurture those relationships for future conversations.

Establish proactive recruitment efforts

Now more than ever, you need to be proactive in your recruitment efforts.  Your talent acquisition team cannot be reactive when they are sourcing for vacancies within your organization, they must look ahead of time. You don’t want your candidate pool to consist of just who is searching at the same time you’re looking, and remember, candidates aren’t having to look too hard in this market, so they might not even be responding to your advertising efforts.

Develop relationships and engage with passive candidates

Your team needs to be continuously developing and nurturing key relationships with passive candidates and promoting your company even when there aren’t roles that need to be filled. If you don’t know who those people are, you might be settling for second best. Understanding who the top talent is in the marketplace in real-time is essential to ensuring the perfect hire.

Legacy Bowes Can Help

While it can be difficult to find the perfect hire, that doesn’t mean it is an impossible task. These tips can help you attract the right person for your vacant position. Remember, let prospective candidates know they’re valued and act quickly when interested. Ensure their experience in your organization’s hiring process is not only a positive and swift one, but one that is adding value, even if they don’t sign on the dotted line. And finally – forge strong relationships with potential candidates who aren’t actively seeking new employment and understand what their career needs are. You’ll find you aren’t needing to call shotgun – instead, you’ll just get an invitation to enjoy the ride.

If you don’t have the time, use a recruiter. Involve us in your plans and let us help you find and keep that perfect hire.

If you’re looking for extra support with your recruitment efforts, Legacy Bowes can help find you the perfect hire through our recruitment services. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit https://www.legacybowes.com/our-services/search-recruitment/recruitment for more information.