CHICAGO, June 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Although 76
percent of full-time, employed workers are either actively looking
for a job or open to new opportunities, nearly half (48 percent) of
employers can't seem to find the workers they need to fill their
job vacancies. A new study from CareerBuilder highlights seven
important facts every employer and job seeker should know as
they're trying to connect with one another.
CareerBuilder's 2016 Candidate Behavior study, conducted by
Inavero between February 5 and March 1,
2016, included more than 4,505 workers ages 18 and over, and
1,505 hiring decision makers. View full results and the
executive summary here.
"Job seekers may have more of an edge in today's market as
employers grow increasingly competitive for labor – but need to
follow new rules of engagement," said Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources for
CareerBuilder. "For employers, it's important to remember that the
candidate experience starts from the very first click and can
impact how effectively a company is able to recruit quality
candidates, the popularity of its employer brand, the strength and
quality of its referrals, and even its bottom line."
Below are takeaways on what both job seekers and employers can
do to stand out from the competition.
Must Knows for Job Seekers
The seven facts every job seeker should know about job
hunting:
- It may take longer than you think to land the job. The
average time it takes to find a job – from the moment a job search
begins to the point of accepting an offer – is typically at least
two months. Depending on the field and location, it can take
even longer, so don't get frustrated if you don't get hired right
away.
- Companies aren't done with you if you don't get the job
offer. Fifty-four percent of employers re-engage with past
candidates who were not given job offers. Stay connected by joining
an employer's talent network or signing up to be automatically
alerted to new job openings through job sites.
- Your resume is not enough. More than half (53 percent)
of employers say a resume doesn't provide enough information for
them to assess whether someone is a good fit for the job. If you're
just providing a resume, you may lose out. They want to see a cover
letter, professional portfolio where applicable, recommendations
and links to social media profiles.
- Companies are looking for skills that may surprise you.
Yes, companies want to know your work history and the hard skills
associated with a particular job function. But, did you know that
63 percent of employers said one of the top questions they're
trying to answer when looking for candidates is "what are their
soft skills?" Make sure to highlight these less tangible skills
associated with personality such as having a positive attitude,
being dependable and working well under pressure.
- The competition may be putting in more hours than you.
On average, job seekers spend 11 hours a week searching for jobs.
Are you putting in more or less time than the competition?
- You may not work in your field of study. 1 in 3 people
(36 percent) don't work in a career related to their degree. Keep
an open mind. Employers focus on relevant skills and whether or not
you seem trainable enough for the job, so you likely have more
career options than you imagined.
- Employers will pay more. With competition heating up for
positions at all skill levels, two-thirds (66 percent) of employers
plan to offer higher starting salaries this
year1. Job seekers are in a better negotiating
position, so you want to avoid taking the first offer in most
cases.
Must Knows for Employers
The seven facts every employer should know about the candidate
job search experience:
- Candidates are less likely to jump through hoops. The
market has become more employee-centric and candidates are quicker
to drop off if the application seems too cumbersome. One in five
candidates said they are not willing to complete an application
that takes them 20 minutes or more, and 76 percent want to know how
long it will take them to finish an application before it starts.
However, the majority of job seekers said they would be willing to
endure a lengthy application process if the company is offering a
higher base salary.
- Candidates move on quickly. An inefficient, slow-moving
hiring process will kill your recruiting efforts. Sixty-six percent
of job seekers said they will wait less than two weeks to hear back
from the employer before considering the opportunity a lost cause
and moving on to another.
- If you're hard to find online, candidates will be too.
Most candidates (64 percent) said after reading a job posting, they
will spend time researching before applying. If they can't find the
info they need on the company, 37 percent of all candidates will
just move on to the next company or job listing. Your company
career site and social presence must be strong.
- Candidates expect more information in the job listing.
It's not enough to describe the company and job. The top things
candidates said they want to see in a job posting include:
• Salary – 74 percent
• Total benefits package – 61 percent
• Employee ratings – 46 percent
• Contact info of hiring manager – 40 percent
• Work from home options – 39 percent
• How the company provides work/life balance – 35
percent
• Photos/videos of the work environment – 31
percent
• Team structure and hierarchy of the role – 27
percent
• How many people applied – 25 percent
- Millennials may swipe left if your mobile capabilities are
weak. 1 in 10 millennials said they would drop a company out of
consideration if they couldn't apply to a job via their mobile
device. So if your site isn't mobile ready, your pages take too
long to load or you have poor navigation through mobile, you could
be losing fresh new talent.
- You may not be covering all your bases. Consumers
audiences are very fragmented. Job seekers use up to 16 sources in
their job search. Are you everywhere they are?
- You may not know how good or bad your process is in the eyes
of candidates. Only 31 percent of employers claim to have tried
applying to one of their company's open jobs to see what the
process is like. Put on that job seeker hat and go to one of your
jobs, and go to your career site, and interact with your company
through the eyes of the job seeker so you can make improvements
where needed.
Survey Methodology
In partnership with Inavero,
CareerBuilder surveyed 4,505 workers, ages 18 and over and 1,505
hiring decision makers, between February 5,
2016 and March 1, 2016 in
the United States, 505 workers in
Canada in an effort to understand
the factors that influence candidates' job search
behavior. With pure probability samples of 505 and 5,010, one
could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results
have sampling errors of +/- 4.01 and +/- 1.38 percentage points,
respectively. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher
and varies.
About CareerBuilder®
As the global leader in human
capital solutions, CareerBuilder specializes in cutting-edge HR
software as a service to help companies with every step of the
recruitment process from acquire to hire. CareerBuilder works with
top employers across industries, providing job distribution,
sourcing, workflow, CRM, data and analytics in one pre-hire
platform. It also operates leading job sites around the world.
Owned by TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA), Tribune Media (NYSE:TRCO) and The
McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries
operate in the United States,
Europe, South America, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit
www.careerbuilder.com.
1 CareerBuilder commissioned study of
2,338 hiring and human resource managers nationwide conducted
online by Harris Poll November-December, 2015
Media Contact
Ladan
Nikravan
312.698.0538 x70538
ladan.nikravan@careerbuilder.com
http://www.twitter.com/CareerBuilderPR
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SOURCE CareerBuilder