Written by raisa - 4 Minutes reading time

Attracting talent in 2022: Tactics that won’t break your budget

Share this article

Hiring right now is no picnic. Employees are leaving their jobs in droves, looking for higher-paying positions or reconsidering their priorities altogether.

Workers are at their wits end, and there’s no telling when they’ll reach their breaking point. A recent survey conducted by Skynova found that of those who “rage quit,” 69% simply walked out during work one day and never came back.

This leaves little to no room for employers to step in and prevent this. And unfortunately, HR pros and hiring managers are the ones who have to deal with the fallout and come up with some creative solutions.

Making things even more difficult is the fact that budgets and resources are tight. In the past, a quick and easy way to attract more talent was to bump up salary offers — but what happens when you can’t do that?

What your peers say …

This question was posed to fellow HR Morning readers, and they shared creative strategies they’re using right now to attract talent.

Linda Pappajohn, HR director of Santora CPA Group made several changes — and she made sure the company’s job ads were tweaked to reflect these.

While Pappajohn’s company didn’t have the budget to increase salaries, there was a little wiggle room, which allowed them to offer candidates a hiring bonus. Pappajohn knew this would help grab job seekers’ attention, but she didn’t stop there.

The company also offered remote work and flex schedules, so Pappajohn highlighted that in the job postings. By stating all this information clearly up front, candidates knew exactly what to expect. The number of applicants increased after making these job ad tweaks, and Pappajohn says they now have many qualified candidates to choose from.

Patti Beane, HR manager of Special Event Production Inc., turned to her current employees for help. She invited workers to “recruit” people they knew — friends, family, neighbors — who might be good fits for open positions.

As an incentive, employees would get a small cash reward for successful hires. Not only were workers happy to suggest people for the jobs, but these hires worked out very well because they’d been “vetted” by trusted employees already.

Loosen restrictions

HR expert and author of Evil HR Lady blog Suzanne Lucas tackled this question recently as well.

Lucas’s first tip was to help ensure applicants weren’t ruling themselves out. The quickest way to get job seekers not to apply is by requiring more experience than necessary. Many people see the required education level or years of experience and walk away.

Ask yourself if these requirements are actually necessary to do the job. What if you had a candidate with experience who seemed like a great fit, but they didn’t have a college degree? By reevaluating a job’s “requirements,” you can open the door for a lot more candidates.

Lucas also suggested targeting those workers who might’ve been “out of the game” for a bit. Maybe someone got laid off at the beginning of the pandemic, and hasn’t worked since. Maybe someone has been raising their children, but wants to go back to work.

These types of workers often have trouble getting back into the workforce because of the resume gaps — make it clear gaps won’t be a problem for you. You’ll likely see an increase in the number of applications you receive.

Another type of worker you can target — the working parent/the college student. Attract these people by offering to work around child care arrangements and class schedules.

4 more tips

Still looking for some more recruiting ideas? Here are additional ways to attract talent, according to Marc Emmer, president of Optimise Inc., as shared on Forbes.com:

Use employee testimonials, and make sure the message can connect with a diverse array of candidates. It’s wise to focus on the good your company does, too, to help give prospective employees a sense of purpose.
Explore using different social media platforms. A lot companies recruit on LinkedIn and Twitter … but have you ever thought of using SnapChat? Maybe YouTube, or even Slack? Bringing recruiting efforts to platforms you haven’t used before will only expand your candidate pool.
Host an open house. By opening your doors to candidates, they’ll be able to get a peek inside and get a feel for whether they might like to work there. Having execs participate as well will make new talent feel valued.
Go to the candidates. You don’t have to sit around waiting for candidates to come to you. Get your name out there — it can be as simple as branding vehicles for all on the roads to see, or taking a trip to hiring fairs.

HR professionals and recruiting managers, regrettably, are the ones who must deal with the consequences of employees leaving and as a result have to come up with creative solutions. Are you having difficulties finding (the right) professional? QTC Recruitment provides expert and tailored guidance to your Life Science organisation’s needs. We strive to find the best matching professionals that fit your organisation’s culture, expectations and qualification requirements, among other factors. Find out what we can offer here!