Recruitment – The balance of power has changed – you need to do better!

Recruitment – The balance of power has changed – you need to do better!

Article by Five on a Bike

I am sure you are aware recruitment is extremely tough across the care sector at the moment.

Over the last 24 months, having worked with around 25 different care providers on recruitment issues, I have observed some interesting changes in recruitment approaches, candidates’ attitudes to care companies, and care companies’ portrayal of themselves.

My main observation is that the balance of power has changed over time. Three years ago, people needed jobs, and the care sector had them. Now the care sector needs more people than ever, and unfortunately, there are not enough of them.

We as companies have to sell ourselves to the candidates as much as they need to sell
themselves to us. Long gone are the days where you pop an advert on Indeed, get 100
applications, and you get back to them when it suits you. Now, you have to fight for every single application, use multiple platforms, be lightning-quick at getting back to people, and look beyond a CV to find people who will be great at care.

Something we have noticed over the last few months is a change in recruitment strategy where employers in care are looking to ‘steal’ people from other sectors. To go up against the likes of retail, hospitality, and leisure employers, care companies, have to shout from the rooftops that they are great companies to work for, treat people well, are flexible and understand employees’ situations and honestly care about them. I think this is the way it should be in every career.

I think a great way of helping to tell your company’s story is with video content. Video is the only medium out there that can build trust in a matter of seconds, communicating in a quick and the engaging way that written content and photography can’t beat.

As an owner of a small company myself, I practise what I preach and use video content right through my recruitment process. At the top of the recruitment funnel, I advertise my
company culture. I then create a more detailed video explaining what the job entails to help people self-select for the role. Jumping quickly into a webinar post-application to keep engagement, I interview my team members (all done on Zoom, so it’s not expensive to make) who talk about what they love about working for Five on a Bike. This then continues right up to their induction process, which includes lots of video content to help people get started in their new role.

So, where do you start? Take a long hard look at your organisation. Is it truly a great employer, or can you do better? Then look at your recruitment process. Is it convenient for you and hard for your applicants? Are there parts of the process you could speed up? Are the right people who have the time to deal with this applied at the right parts of the process? Are you using rich media content to build trust and excitement? Are you being open and honest about the job and what it entails?

The care sector can be a fantastic place to work. We have interviewed hundreds of people who tell us so. Do your company and its recruitment process live up to what recruits are demanding of the sector? By taking stock of your recruitment process and with a bit of help from video content at each step, happy applicants could be headed your way in no time.

York Woodford-Smith – york@fiveonabike.com – fiveonabike.com
Care England Partners & Video Creators – https://www.careengland.org.uk/membership-information