We often hear from job seekers that they are constantly getting conflicting job search advice and given that there are tons of resources out there, we’re not surprised. One of the most common complaints we hear is, “How am I supposed to know what employers want?” And we have to hand it to ‘em, it’s an excellent question.

With the ever-changing landscape of recruitment, emerging industries (start-ups), the stressed importance of corporate culture, and work-life-balance, we decided to let candidates hear it directly from the HR Pros themselves--What REALLY Matters to Employers?

We asked everything from what makes you dismiss a resume, if a candidate’s style helps or hurts their chances of landing the job, and if their caliber of education matters.  Here’s what they had to say, let us know if you agree.

If you found a stellar candidate the same day your job was posted, would you hire them?

Probably not, according to our recent survey of HR pros. When asked what they would do if they interviewed a candidate and got a great feeling about them, only 23% said they would jump at the opportunity to hire them. The rest would continue to go through the hiring process to ensure that they are in fact the best candidate.

It’s an understandable decision, especially given that the costs of making a bad hire can be high, in terms of both time and dollars.

But at what point do you put decisiveness ahead of procedure and trust your ability to recognize the right candidate when you see them?

If you've had exposure to current events over the past few months, it's no shock that equality is a major topic of conversation. I recently read an article by @KatrinaKibben which raised some interesting and insightful points about how the decision of the Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriages will impact HR departments across the nation. It is events and articles such as these that transform the way companies hire – and, ultimately determine if candidates do or do not apply to those companies.

That being said, more and more companies are focused on developing a diversity hiring initiative as a tool to encourage candidates to apply. But that's not all there is to it. Nationally, we're seeing an increase in racial diversity among high school graduates, indicating that the 2025 public high school class will likely be only 51% Caucasian. Most of these graduates will undoubtedly be heading into the workforce shortly thereafter. Which begs the question, what really makes someone a 'diversity hire'?

While the stock market has been on a roller-coaster ride this year, the employment market has maintained a healthy trajectory. On average, 246,000 jobs are being created each month. While there’s a surge in hiring, recruiters aren’t any less discriminating than they’ve been in the past. As a matter of fact, a recent survey by Nexxt shows that HR pros are just as thorough as ever when it comes to which candidates they hire.

We live in an age where digital relationships flourish perhaps more frequently than those IRL. (That's code for "in real life" for those of you who may not be fluent in text speak.) Coming from the generation that bridges social media and the desire to communicate face-to-face, I find it hard to believe that more companies don't try harder to relate to their candidates online. Sure, you use a job board and you post job listings on Facebook and Twitter, but are you really connecting to your future employees? Are you even trying?

It's crucial to ensure you extend your candidate experience beyond your career site. While I was at B2B LeadsCon last week, a key take-away from the session on using video as part of your content strategy, is that it has to be relatable.  What makes a video relatable? You do. The people you are proud enough to say you employ. The people you may even call "family". 

With that in mind, I set out to find some examples of corporate recruitment videos that give candidates a true sense of who they will be working for and with. The videos I selected highlight company values and the type of drive you need to be successful at each organization.