It’s Time to Start Thinking About Your 2022 Recruitment Strategy

December 11, 2021

With the new year right around the corner, there’s no better time to start planning your 2022 recruitment strategy. Over the last year, the pandemic has dramatically influenced the blue-collar job market. As the economy recovers, more businesses and other organizations are resuming operations—and more job openings are popping up across countless industries.

In the post-pandemic world, sticking to a “one-size-fits-all” approach to recruitment isn’t going to cut it. You need to revamp your strategy to address the need for hard-working, highly skilled new hires. Companies are scrambling for qualified workers to fill their ranks, and you need a strategy you can rely on to fill your job openings. So, what does that mean for your organization?

To survive and thrive in 2022 and beyond, your organization needs to commit to change. That means reinventing the way you recruit new talent. It also means shifting your mindset to value and respect blue-collar workers.

Here’s how you can stand out from the crowd when so many companies are competing for qualified candidates.

 

1. Put Your People First

One of the biggest changes since the beginning of the pandemic? The employer mindset. Today, employers are looking at jobs beyond mere transactions. They’re investing in their relationships with blue-collar workers, offering upskilling, higher pay, and other benefits. 

There’s no arguing that your people are your most valuable asset, and it’s time to start treating them that way. When you show your blue-collar workers how much you respect and value their hard work, they’ll work even harder. A great retention strategy can help you build loyalty, boost productivity, and reduce turnover. After all, it doesn’t make sense to focus on your recruitment strategy if you’re losing employees left and right.

The first step in your journey to becoming a top employer for blue-collar workers is to reinvent your employer brand. Blue-collar workers often feel like they’re dispensable. What’s more, countless workers feel unheard and lost in companies that don’t value them.

It’s time to change that. Here are some ways to start reaching out to your blue-collar workers:

  • Improve your work environment. Start by ensuring your organization’s working conditions are conducive to productivity and comfortable for your workers. If you’re not sure where to start, asking for employee input can go a long way in demonstrating your respect and building a worker-friendly culture.
  • Maintain an open line of communication. Communication is about so much more than just talking to your employees. To engage your employees, it’s necessary to understand their perspectives and how they feel about the organization. Ask your blue-collar workers what they need. Let them express their feelings—and actually listen to what they’re saying.
  • Offer job security. Offer opportunities to learn new skills. You might assign senior employees to learn new tasks. This not only helps fill work gaps but also gives workers a chance to broaden their skillset. In turn, you’ll provide a sense of job security by providing opportunities for future promotions.

 

2. Embrace Omnichannel Recruitment

Let’s face it: When so many companies are fighting for skilled workers, you can’t just post a job opening on Indeed or Glassdoor and wait for the applications to roll in. 

To drive top talent in today’s competitive job market, you need to meet candidates where they already are: online. Then, you need to captivate them and spark their curiosity with a worker-friendly employer brand and a standout job posting.

Enter omnichannel recruitment. Simply put, an omnichannel recruitment strategy helps you meet your ideal candidates exactly where they are, whether that’s on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram. Every marketing channel is in sync—talking with one another and delivering the same brand messaging. This creates a seamless experience for your candidates. 

When different channels in an omnichannel strategy “talk” to each other, you’re able to nurture candidates through the entire recruitment cycle—from the moment of brand awareness to the end of the application process.

So, how can you craft a calculated omnichannel strategy in 2022?

  • Evaluate your recruitment funnel. As with any effective marketing strategy, successful omni-recruiting requires data. Imagine how much more effective your candidate outreach could be if you knew whether they’ve applied for one of your open positions before. To gather this data, you’ll need to identify all the different channels through which candidates can enter your funnel, including referrals, social media, and PPC ads.
  • Establish a recruitment cadence. You need a powerful, curiosity-provoking cadence that highlights your organization’s unique benefits. For example, after identifying a prospective candidate, you might send them a message on Facebook, send email testimonials from current employees, or retarget them using Search Ads.
  • Finetune your strategy. Thinking of each step in the recruitment funnel as a piece of the puzzle can help you avoid inconsistent brand messaging. But your hard work isn’t finished yet. After your campaign starts driving results, it’s time to use data from your recruitment software to tweak your strategy and seal any leaks in the recruitment funnel.

 

3. Rethink Your Application Process

Ready to streamline your recruitment efforts in 2022? It’s not just enough to update the recruitment process. Believe it or not, the hiring process is just as important. 

Why? It’s simple: Your candidates can afford to be picky. They’re seeing job postings on social media, getting emails from interested employers, and finding openings on traditional job sites. With so many options at their fingertips, they’re not afraid to change course quickly. According to the Washington Post, 2018 saw a 20 percent increase in job seekers dropping out of the hiring process.

Once you’ve put in the time and effort to convince qualified candidates to apply, you don’t want to turn them away with an overcomplicated application.

Here are some steps you can take to avoid getting ghosted by your ideal candidates.

  • Minimize the risk of abandonment. Across all industries, a significant portion of candidates drop out during the middle of an application. Avoid asking too much from your applicants. Instead of requiring long, complex personality assessments, keep your application quick, simple, and easy. If you’re missing any information, you can always follow up in the interview or a short phone call.
  • Offer a mobile-friendly application. Today, over 90 percent of candidates use their phone to look for a job—and that number is only going to keep rising as we move into 2022. If you’re not offering a mobile-friendly experience for job seekers, you’re missing out on countless applications.
  • Test it out yourself. Really want to know what your application process is like? Apply. Go through the entire application process, step by step. Try applying on different devices, from different channels, on your smartphone and your laptop. We’re willing to bet that you’ll find some room for improvement.

 

4. Deliver Your Employer Brand Promise

Sometimes, candidates ghost employers because it’s easier (and less awkward) than having a conversation about a change of heart. Most of the time, candidates hesitate to move forward because the job or company didn’t live up to their expectations. How can you make sure your employer brand delivers on its promise?

You want to sell candidates on the job so they won’t take another offer. At the same time, you don’t want to oversell the position. According to Gartner, organizations that deliver on their employer value propositions can cut annual turnover by nearly 70 percent and boost new hire loyalty by almost 30 percent. With the pandemic reshaping the world of recruitment, delivering on your promise is more important than ever.

Here’s how to get new hires excited for their first day on the job without pulling the wool over their eyes.

  • Be honest about the position. Don’t hide the possible downsides of the job. Instead, tell candidates how your company is striving to improve. A transparent, accurate view of your company will go a long way. You want to make new hires excited for their first day—and for the days that follow.
  • Lead by example. You don’t have to deliver on every single promise at all times as long as you have a serious action plan to get there. Do what you say you’re going to do. Your workers value actions more than words, and leaders and managers can deliver the employer brand promise through the actions they take each day. 
  • Check in with your employees regularly. You’ve made a promise to your workers. Now, you need an action plan to monitor your company’s performance in keeping that promise. If employees are engaged in advancing your organization, promote and celebrate the team effort. If employees aren’t engaged, this is a valuable opportunity to identify any barriers and break them down.

 


 

Reinvent Your Recruitment Strategy

Want to hit the ground running in 2022? Start planning now.

You need to change the way your company recruits to drive results and reach qualified candidates—and that’s not going to happen overnight. Schedule a discovery call with our team to discuss your recruitment marketing strategy for 2022 and beyond.

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