Prior to the extraordinary circumstances of 2020 – much of what we deemed “recruitment marketing” could reflect much of the same tactics we use to promote our brands. We wanted both consumers and job seekers alike to want to be a part of our brand – either through their pocketbooks or their desire to work for us.

How we spend our time and money has drastically changed since March 2020, but how we market to those consumers and potential employees needs little changing to make a big impact. With a little compassion, a little finesse, and lot of marketing ingenuity, we can utilize these time-tested strategies that get the attention of consumers to recruit potential employees and not miss a step in the results we’re after.

An open-hiring strategy is the process of hiring anyone regardless of their background and this strategy benefits people from all walks of life. It is also incredibly beneficial to employers who need to hire a lot of people who can be trained to get the job done. The Body Shop announced their plan for open-hiring in an effort to reduce bias as they gave people retail jobs on a first come, first serve basis. Now, in the wake of COVID-19, the process may be helpful to quickly fill entry level roles that do not require a long on-boarding process. And the process seems to have benefits for both the company and their potential employees.

Companies that recognize the significant role talent acquisition plays in their organization have a better chance of withstanding ongoing economic climate changes.

At Nexxt we surveyed our job seeker audience in May 2020 to understand how they were initiating or continuing on their job search journey and we have recently polled our job seeker audience again to understand how the job search job continues to change.

With the priorities of companies, employees, and job seekers changing so rapidly, we wanted to go back to the source to understand how job seekers are searching for jobs at the moment.

Nobody was quite prepared to scale down on the fly in March, and our HR and infrastructure teams did a great job quickly reacting when the world went home for a few months. While we are all waiting for us to get back to a {new} normal, we have an opportunity to be thoughtfully preparing to bravely re-enter this ever-changing world. When the switch gets flipped, and all systems are go—will your recruitment tools have a pipeline of candidates waiting for you? How can you make sure your tools are working for you in the background so when the time is here, you’re ready?

Everyone’s Invited! Talent communities are key for companies looking to build a talent pipeline to make hires now and in the future. Download the pdf.

Nexxt’s Talent Communities service helps companies build their talent pipelines. According to a recent survey, 53% of job seekers said talent communities are a great way to submit information to a company without committing to a specific opportunity and 77% of job seekers said they are interested in becoming members. Accordingly, Nexxt’s Talent Communities offering can make that happen.

If your company is such a great place to work, then why does talent sourcing continue to be an ongoing challenge? In a job market that was just flipped upside down—went from hard to source talent to not so much, but it could easily change again, and regardless of the job market, sourcing talent should never end. Technology and generational factors all play a part in attracting—and retaining—talent at your organization. Here are some possible recruiting blind spots your team may not be aware of.

Once upon a time, employees and employers mated for life. Anything less would have been seen as disloyal - perhaps even traitorous. But with Millennials comprising such a large portion of the workforce, the shift from job to job has become far more commonplace. Additionally, the exit of Baby Boomer employees has the potential to create 10,000 jobs per day. Factor in the thousands of dollars it takes to recruit, hire, and train a new employee and the future of the workforce starts to look bleak.

Fortunately for hiring managers and cost-cutters everywhere, there is a relatively untapped market and I’m not talking about the incoming Gen Z. Behold the Boomerang. A boomerang employee is one who left amicably in the past and now is considering, or being considered for, a rehire. In the bygone times of eternal loyalty, many companies actually implemented policies that prohibited boomeranging. But the fact is, acquiring a brand-new employee is both time-consuming and expensive. It might be time to consider the value of the former employee.

To hire a smoker or not to hire a smoker? That is the question! But is it discrimination not to? The answer is surprisingly yes and no, and primarily depends on where you happen to live. It’s a debate that has been recently reignited as U-Haul—the company best known for renting you a truck to help you move—has implemented a nicotine-free hiring policy. As of February 1^st of this year, if you a candidate submits an application to work for U-Haul and they smoke cigarettes; they may be in for an unpleasant surprise. While this isn’t the first time a policy like this has been implemented, U-Haul (with its 30,000 employees) is the first major company in its field to do so. Let’s take a closer look at what’s really going on here, shall we?