Why Is Finding Blue-Collar Workers Hard in 2024?

Finding Blue-Collar Workers in 2024

The pandemic had a dramatic impact on employment across every industry—an impact we’re still feeling four years later.

The last few years have seen drastic changes in how, when, and even why we work. But as the pandemic-era volatility begins to ease, we’re seeing some changes. On the last business day in January 2024, there were 8.9 million job openings. This is down from a high 12.2 million openings in March 2022. According to SHRM, employment growth in 2024 will be positive, but at a slower pace. 42 percent of employers interviewed for the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey anticipated an increase in hiring in the first quarter of 2024.

“While employee hiring confidence has moderated slightly amid global economic concerns, labor markets remain tight and demand for skilled talent is still strong across multiple sectors.”
– Jonas Prising, Chairman and CEO of ManpowerGroup

Major blue-collar talent acquisition trends will continue to shake up the job market in 2024. How? Well, with more jobs and fewer workers than in previous years, it’s harder than ever to cut through the digital noise and reach the right candidates. Between recruitment marketing, employer branding, and candidate outreach, recruiters need to take a proactive approach to capture the attention of their dream candidates and hire top talent.

As you brainstorm your hiring strategy for 2024, we recommend preparing for another year of recruitment opportunities. Between the ongoing shortage of talent, evolving candidate mindsets, and the need for new hiring strategies to thrive, companies need to be more flexible than ever.

To navigate the ongoing war for talent, you need to understand exactly what’s happening and why it’s happening in the first place. So, why is it so hard to find talent in 2024—and how can you adapt your strategy to gain an edge over the competition?

The “New” Normal: The War for Talent

Whether you’re a seasoned recruiter, business owner, or marketer, it’s no secret that today’s job market looks much different from how it did back in 2019. Even though the pandemic seems to be waning, countless recruiters are still struggling to navigate post-pandemic hiring challenges and adjust to the “new normal” of work. The biggest challenge on every recruiter’s mind? The war for talent.

 

What exactly is the war for talent? It might seem like a post-pandemic concept, but it stems back to a 1997 McKinsey & Company study. The phrase was coined by Steven Hankin, who predicted an upcoming talent shortage that would have major impacts on performance. The report encouraged companies to revamp their strategies for attracting, retaining, and developing skilled employees. As the economy slowed down, most employers assumed that the war for talent was over. But today, the war rages on.

 

With most industries dealing with an entrenched labor shortage, finding blue-collar talent is harder than ever. And the numbers back this up: In the 2021 Creating People Advantage Report, the Boston Consulting Group identified talent as one of the top three areas that required the most urgent action. The competition for talent requires a strategic approach to finding, managing, and cultivating high-potential employees—and employers can’t afford to leave their recruitment strategy on the back burner. At the same time, HR needs to identify skills that the company will need moving forward, along with developmental approaches to close any existing gaps.

 

The labor shortage isn’t the only factor contributing to the war for talent. With more people spending time at home during the pandemic, your candidates are rethinking what work means to them and whether your company seems like the right match for their goals. They’re disrupting the status quo, and you need to meet their expectations to position yourself as an employer of choice.

 

Let’s face it: Businesses have never faced a more challenging job market. With historically low unemployment, record-level employee turnover, and job openings soaring over 10 million, it’s not easy to cut through the digital noise and hire your top picks. To thrive in today’s fierce recruitment environment, you need resilience, determination, and adaptability. That means accepting the uncertainty of the labor market and searching for ways to become more flexible with your talent acquisition strategy.

 

Maybe you’re scrambling to attract applicants to your open positions or you’re settling for less-than-perfect hires to avoid wasted productivity. No matter what your recruitment struggles look like right now, there’s no denying that a shortage of skilled workers can take a toll on your company. After all, your people are the #1 asset of your organization—and the wrong hires can lead to lower productivity, reduced employee satisfaction, and increased turnover.

 

So, what’s the solution? You need to find your weapons in the war for talent. In the post-pandemic world, there are countless battles to be fought, and HR is on the front lines. Without the right weapons, you’re going to have a hard time keeping up with the competition. That’s where recruitment marketing comes into play.

Top 10 Challenges to Recruiting Blue-Collar Workers

You’re competing with countless organizations to win the attention of your ideal candidates, so what’s the best path forward? To win the war for talent, you need to get creative when hiring and find effective ways to retain your existing employees. Today’s workforce isn’t homogenous—it’s made up of traditional workers, temporary workers, contractors, and more. And if you want to fuel your company with the right people, you’ll need innovative strategies to pique their interest and show them why you’re worth working for.

So, what challenges should you expect heading into 2024? Here are the bumps you should plan for when building your 2024 recruitment marketing strategy, along with some tips and tricks to help you streamline the recruiting process.

In Northeast Ohio alone, over 400,000 workers quit their job in 2022, and over 330,000 were planning to quit in 2023.

1. Today’s Workers Expect Flexibility

You’ve probably already noticed, but your workers’ mindsets are changing. The pandemic didn’t just shed light on the obstacles of working blue-collar jobs in a high-risk environment. It also impacted the structure of the workforce as we know it. And with more workers rethinking their personal and professional goals, it’s no surprise that employees are quitting their jobs in record numbers.

 

In Northeast Ohio alone, over 400,000 workers quit their job in the past year, and over 330,000 are planning to quit this year. Your candidates want to work, but they’re looking for employers who think differently. They’re looking for a living wage, flexibility, and investment in their career. And for the first time, they’re asking whether giving up life to take a job is really worth it. When asked whether the pandemic changed how workers prioritize work, nearly 12 percent of people in the workforce said it’s less important now.

 

How do changing worker mindsets affect talent acquisition? Well, a competitive wage and great benefits package probably won’t seal the deal. They might help you grab the attention of your ideal job candidates, but they probably won’t be enough to convert those candidates into new hires. According to post-pandemic labor trends, workers’ expectations for their work life have evolved.

 

Now more than ever, your candidates are prioritizing work/life balance. That means they’re searching for employers who can support them with flexibility, professional development, and a positive workplace culture. To hire your dream team, you need to factor empathy into your recruitment strategy.

 

What can you do about it? We hate to break it to you, but the traditional 9-to-5 work week isn’t the only option anymore. Neither is a daily commute to and from the workplace. Your employees want more options, whether that looks like part-time work, flexible hours, or better scheduling arrangements. Instead of keeping your head down, you need to meet their expectations to make your organization worth working for.

 

Even if you’ve already increased wages, it’s important to remember that money isn’t everything. Sure, it can help you win more applicants, but it’s not going to do anything for your retention rates or employer brand. While 81 percent of workers think good wages are important, more and more workers are starting to value meaningful work and flexibility over good wages.

 

And no, you don’t have to go fully remote to stay competitive. Although many workers are shifting to remote work, a significant number still want to work from the workplace. Maybe your workers are interested in the benefits of working from home—whether that’s a better work/life balance or shorter commutes—but you can take steps to incorporate these benefits into their daily work life.

 

How can you give employees the flexibility they deserve? Put yourself in their shoes. Have you gone to work when you were sick so you wouldn’t miss a rent payment? For some, missing a shift means missing rent, and unpredictable hours can make it hard to find childcare. At the same time, common challenges that are easy for upper-level workers to overcome—like paying for groceries—can send blue-collar workers into a crisis.

 

As a result, empathy can make all the difference for candidates and employees. To create a more people-friendly culture, you’ll want to implement workplace programs that make life easier for your blue-collar workers, such as:

 

• Reasonable attendance policies
• Earned paid time off (PTO) policies
• Shift flexibility programs
• Transportation subsidies

 

If you’re not sure how to make life easier for your blue-collar workers, there’s a simple solution: just ask. When you provide flexibility for your candidates, you’ll show your blue-collar workers how much you respect them. Plus, you’ll take one step closer to turning your company into an employer of choice. After all, skilled workers aren’t going to stick with employers who are behind the learning curve and ignoring current hiring trends, especially in today’s candidate-driven market.

1. Navigating Post-Pandemic Skills Gaps

The post-pandemic talent shortage is real. Despite some major disruptions throughout the pandemic, the job market has bounced back with a clear uptick in the amount of new vacant roles. Companies are starting to fall back into the same position they found themselves in before the pandemic started, where the number of open positions outnumbers the number of qualified candidates on the job market.

 

With a major surge in new job postings from 2021 and a shrinking labor market, HR teams are bracing themselves for the inevitable talent shortage—and, consequently, post-pandemic skills gaps. Amid a growing population, labor force participation is down. According to Lightcast, the labor force remains below pre-COVID levels, with over 3.2 million workers missing from the workforce. Especially in people-starved industries like manufacturing and construction, employers are struggling to hire enough employees to fill their open positions.

 

What does that mean for your recruitment strategy? In a tight job market, businesses are radically rethinking their approaches to hiring talent. The pandemic has forced companies to respond to chaotic change, manage fixed costs, and innovate more quickly than ever before. Now, many organizations are seeking critical skills and experience to help them evolve and stay agile.

 

With rapid advances in digital transformation and automation, companies need highly skilled workers to carve the path forward. According to Gartner research, companies listed 33 percent more skills on job postings in 2020 than they did in 2017. While 64 percent of managers don’t think their employees can keep up the pace with future skill needs, 70 percent of employees say they haven’t mastered the skills they need for their current positions. Ultimately, organizations are struggling to reskill their existing workforce and hire fast enough to meet their changing needs.

 

What can you do about it? Over the next few years, experts predict that the labor shortage will only get worse. It’s inevitable, but there’s good news: You’re going to take a different approach. You’re going to survive the labor shortage and grow your company with loyal employees. How? When most organizations find themselves being confronted with a skills gap, they try to recruit new workers to fill those gaps. Instead of scrambling to post new job listings and fill up your talent pool, you’re going to turn your attention to your employees.

 

When you’re fighting the war for talent, focus on the employees you already have. Invest in your workers by developing their talent through upskilling programs, professional mentorships, and certifications. The most successful employers thrive by creating a culture of learning—where every employee has opportunities to develop new skills and the resources to do so.

 

The truth is, it’s nearly impossible to overcome skill shifts by recruiting alone. You need to rethink your approach to professional development across multiple fronts, including skills identification, employee engagement, and learning solutions. To effectively support your employees, you need strategic development programs to guide them through future changes and equip them with the skills they need for tomorrow. Here’s how.

 

• Use analytics to identify in-demand skills. It’s time to stop working with individual leaders to determine what new skills are needed. With organizational needs constantly evolving, HR teams need to adopt market-driven approaches to uncover trends. Instead of relying on individual perspectives to guide your hiring decisions, marketing data and analytics can help you find highly relevant, in-demand market skills to fuel your company.
• Keep your employees engaged. Traditionally, companies tell their current employees what skills are needed for organizational success. Rather than guiding them through the process of professional development, companies expect employees to upskill when and where needed. To keep your employees engaged and motivated, align the organization’s success with their personal success. Show your workers the benefits of upskilling and how new skills can help them reach their unique professional goals.
• Provide effective learning solutions. For many companies, upskilling programs fail to provide the desired results due to unfocused learning opportunities and unmotivated employees. The good news? When you connect workers to skill-building opportunities beyond their current roles and help them develop on a personal level, you’ll drive up engagement rates—and that can make all the difference when it comes to retention.

 

When you build connected learners by identifying in-demand skills, fostering employee motivation, and providing learning opportunities, you’ll prepare your workforce to overcome any talent shortages that come your way. According to Gartner’s Reskilling the Workforce analysis, connected learners are eight times more likely to be high performers and are 66 percent more likely to stay with their company. Sounds like a win-win, right?

 

If you need a quick solution to resolve skills gaps, outsourcing might be the answer. Outsourcing solutions have evolved significantly over the last decade, empowering HR teams to efficiently scale teams based on market opportunity. This way, you can make rapid changes to your staff size and skill set to accommodate the changing needs of your organization.

 

With that said, outsourcing isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for every company. Over time, hiring outsourced talent can become cumbersome and difficult to manage. Modern professionals want to negotiate custom employment agreements, leading to different job policies and compliance guidelines. To save time, money, and resources, you’ll want to deliver a uniform approach to effectively manage outsourced talent.

1. The Rise of the Personalized Candidate Experience

In the world of recruitment marketing, personalization isn’t just a nice-to-have anymore. Your main goal is to create a seamless candidate experience from start to finish. And with more and more candidates expecting personalization from brands, you can’t afford to miss the mark.

 

Let’s take a step back. Why is personalization so important in recruitment marketing? The lines between HR and marketing are blurring, and modern candidates want to be valued, respected, and treated the same way you treat consumers. Now more than ever before, you need to pay attention to your employer brand in the same way you invest in your company brand.

 

As a result, recruiters need to work with marketers to upgrade their employer brand and follow the latest marketing trends. One of the most important lessons HR can learn from marketers? Personalization is a major factor in marketing (and recruitment marketing) success. Marketing is all about personal connection, and recruitment marketing is no different.

 

Just like consumers expect personalized marketing messages, your job candidates expect an increasingly personalized recruitment experience—and they’re not going to settle for any less. And with more employer brands using social media to fuel their recruitment strategy, modern recruiters have access to a vast pool of intel about potential candidates. To stand out from the competition and use personalization to your advantage, you need to understand your audience.

 

What can you do about it? How can you integrate personalized marketing into your talent acquisition strategy? First, you’ll need to take a deep dive into your ideal candidates. Instead of asking what they can do for your company, ask what your company can offer them. To find a conversion-worthy answer, you’ll need to know their interests, preferences, and motivations.

 

Not sure who your ideal candidates are? Do your homework. Start by creating candidate personas to understand your target audience and what they’re looking for in a new job. To paint a clearer picture of your ideal job candidate, take a look at your past candidates and best hires. You want to figure out which marketing strategies will resonate with different segments so you can pique their interest with relevant messaging and meet them where they’re already spending time online.

 

When it comes to recruitment, you need to offer a high-touch experience to differentiate yourself from the competition. Take time to search for information about your ideal candidates, check out their social media profiles, and create candidate personas to guide your strategy. Start thinking of your candidates as customers. You want them to have a unique experience with your brand, and that means offering them something the competition can’t. Some tips to personalize your recruiting experience include:

 

• Focus on your employer brand. When you’re building your employer brand, think about your messaging. What kind of job candidates do you want to attract? What do they expect from an employer? Carefully consider your employer value proposition and focus on why your ideal candidates would want to work for you over the competition. Then, incorporate that messaging into your careers website, job postings, and recruitment marketing efforts.
• Analyze candidate data. Take advantage of data and predictive analytics to learn more about candidates. Where do your top picks spend time online? What kind of job boards do they look at? What are they looking for in a new position?
• Segment your audience. Chances are, your marketing team already segments consumers based on demographics, interests, and other factors. Now, it’s time to segment your candidates for more granular targeting. For example, you might target prospective candidates in your city with location-specific messaging about working close to home, while you might target prospects in an adjacent city with messaging about your transportation subsidies. You should also develop different messages for different segments at different stages of the candidate journey.
• Launch targeted campaigns. Want to take your personalization strategy to the next level? Launch targeted marketing campaigns to reach different kinds of candidates, such as veterans and recent trade school graduates. You can connect with these audiences through in-person networking opportunities, social media channels, and niche job boards. Even if your prospects aren’t actively seeking a new job, it never hurts to reach out.
• Stay connected. Once you’ve made the initial connection, keep the conversation going. Reach out to prospective candidates regularly through social media, email, or SMS/text messages. You can also send out key information through your job newsletter, social media channels, and careers website to update candidates when new job positions are available.

 

Personalization takes time, energy, and resources to get right, but trust us—it’s well worth the effort. When you provide a positive candidate experience from the first touchpoint, candidates will keep you in mind for future opportunities. Not only that, but they’ll help build up your brand with glowing recommendations to family and friends.

 

Remember: Your marketing strategy and candidate experience don’t just affect your talent pool. They impact your employer brand, too. Before considering a job with a company, 91 percent of candidates research an employer’s brand. In addition, 69 percent of candidates are more likely to apply when an organization actively manages its employer brand. In other words, when you take control over your candidate experience and employer branding strategy, you’ll be one step closer to hiring your dream team.

1. Speed Is Vital for Hiring Top Talent

You’ve probably heard it before, but we’re going to say it again: Time kills all deals. When you’re recruiting job candidates, you need to move with urgency to guide them through the recruiting and hiring process. At the same time, you don’t want to move too fast or make any moves that might jeopardize their interest in your company. Finding the right pace can be a delicate tightrope balance, but it’s integral to your overall hiring strategy.

 

Why is hiring speed so important? Just like your consumers, your candidates expect immediate gratification. From downloads and deliveries to communications with hiring managers, your top picks don’t want to wait around to hear back from you. Most of what your consumers (and job candidates) want is available instantly, so it’s no surprise that the on-demand economy has turned speed into a competitive advantage.

 

The job market is moving faster than ever before, and organizations are scrambling to fill open positions to keep productivity high. And if you take too long to get back to your job candidates, you’ll only end up losing them to the competition. According to Jazz HR, the median hire time ranges between 33 and 49 days, and you need to expedite your hiring process to lock in top talent before it’s too late.

 

Before you rush to review job applications and respond to emails, you need to understand how speed can transform your recruitment strategy. Accelerating your hiring process can have wide-ranging benefits, including:

 

• Lower drop-out rates. If you’re ghosting candidates or taking too long to schedule interviews, your job candidates are going to drop out of the process. Most candidates are already fielding multiple job offers, and a poor candidate experience is only going to fuel their interest in the competition.
• Higher-quality candidates. After your dream candidates drop out, you’ll have a lower-performing talent pool to choose from. Instead of hiring high-value candidates, you’ll be left with average candidates, which can lead to lower productivity and higher churn rates.
• Stronger employer brand. When you create a positive candidate experience from the first touchpoint to onboarding, you’ll strengthen your employer brand. This way, you’ll build an employee-centric company culture and encourage other qualified candidates to work with your company.
• No more candidate bidding. If you make an offer before the competition, you’ll reduce the risk of back-and-forth negotiations. Instead of taking even longer to hire applicants, you can lock them in without any costly bidding wars.

 

What can you do about it? Don’t confuse “recruitment speed” with “haste.” The last thing you want to do is make hasty hiring decisions that lead to lost productivity and profits. Remember: Rushed decisions lead to poor choices, and the mistakes that result from ineffective processes won’t help you build a solid recruitment strategy.

 

Recruitment speed, on the other hand, definitely has a place in the hiring process. It’s all about delivering the right results by streamlining your process. Everybody wants results, from your job candidates to your hiring managers, and they want those results as quickly as possible. How can you make it happen?

 

You need automation to speed up the process. A single open position can attract hundreds of applicants, giving you tons of applications to sort through. Between scheduling interviews, vetting applicants, and recruiting qualified candidates, the process can feel overwhelming, leading to rushed choices and low-quality hires. That’s where recruitment platforms can make life easier for your team.

 

In a nutshell, recruitment automation software helps HR teams automate different recruiting workflows and tasks, from vetting applicants to sending emails to prospective candidates. In turn, you can increase productivity, lower your cost per hire, and streamline the recruitment process. According to a study by Business Wire, recruiters using automation filled 64 percent more job vacancies and were 55 percent more likely to report major revenue gains in 2021.

 

Of course, there are countless automation tools out there, and you’ll need to choose the right platform to match your organizational needs. Some common automation workflows for recruiters include:

 

• Candidate sourcing: Candidate sourcing tools save time by sorting through candidate profiles and filtering them by experience, education, and skills. Then, you can easily match potential candidates to open job positions that fit their profiles. Plus, AI algorithms can narrow down applications and resumes by keywords, such as the necessary skills and qualifications for the job.
• Job posting: With automated job posting software, you can automatically post open positions across multiple channels.
• Candidate outreach: Candidate outreach tools automate communication with candidates so you won’t have to spend hours responding to emails and Facebook messages. This way, you can communicate with candidates throughout every stage of the candidate journey, from initial engagement and follow-ups to onboarding.
• Interview scheduling: Interview scheduling allows candidates to quickly schedule interviews based on the availability of the recruiter and/or hiring manager. Instead of playing phone tag and waiting for email responses, you can instantly schedule interviews with your top picks.
• Candidate assessment: Candidate assessment tools automatically vet and screen candidates to see if they’re a good fit for your open job position. Some assessment tools evaluate candidates based on both hard and soft skills.
• Applicant tracking systems (ATS): With ATS, you won’t have to worry about tracking your applicants on an Excel spreadsheet. You’ll be able to quickly organize, search, and communicate with applicants for a smooth hiring process and positive candidate experience.
• Candidate relationship management (CRM): CRM software keeps track of your candidates, from their marketing touchpoints with your company to their contact information. In turn, you’ll be able to easily manage candidate relationships and guide them to the next stage of the talent funnel.

 

In today’s age of automation, recruiters need to find new opportunities to improve their hiring processes. If you’re behind the curve, your candidates will notice—and you’ll have a hard time hiring your dream team, cutting your hiring times, and finding long-term hires. At the end of the day, recruitment tools can help you recruit more intelligently and efficiently.

1. Omnichannel Recruitment Marketing Is Taking Over

That’s right: Omnichannel recruiting (AKA omni-recruiting) is here to stay. Your candidates are connected across different devices and channels, and omnichannel marketing is a must-have if you want to stay on top of your recruitment game. In a world where we all use smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and laptops, you need to create a seamless marketing experience across every channel to win the war for talent.

 

First, let’s talk about the difference between omnichannel and multichannel marketing. While multichannel involves marketing across multiple channels, omnichannel recruiting blends all of these methods of engagement to create a unified experience. Instead of treating different channels as separate entities, omnichannel allows candidates to engage across multiple devices and platforms without missing a beat.

 

Think of omnichannel as the evolution of multichannel. When you harness the power of omnichannel, you’ll optimize marketing recruiting channels—and they’ll all be integrated with and respond to one another. For example, you might run a branded ad on Facebook that links to your careers website, seamlessly guiding your candidate from one platform to another.

 

The main advantage of omnichannel marketing? Credibility. A multichannel approach to recruitment can help you establish a strong employer brand across all channels, but those channels still act as silos. If you want to showcase your employer brand and build trust with potential candidates, you need a cohesive presence across every channel. If your careers website shouldn’t be completely out of touch with your Facebook page, you’ll only leave your candidates feeling confused.

 

On the other hand, an omnichannel strategy eliminates silos to keep your marketing channels in sync (see: talking with each other while sending the same messages about your brand identity). With omnichannel in your recruitment toolbox, you’ll deliver a holistic experience for every candidate no matter what channel or device they’re using.

 

When you create a cohesive recruitment experience, you’ll eliminate the risk of disjointed messages about your brand. Plus, you’ll be able to easily nurture candidates through the entire recruiting cycle, from awareness to action. So, what’s the catch? To create an omnichannel experience for your candidates, you need to use every single tool at your disposal: your careers website, social media channels, job descriptions, automation tools…the list goes on.

 

What can you do about it? Instead of hoping that your job ads will magically reach the eyes of your perfect candidate, you’re going to take a proactive approach to recruitment. Relying on traditional job boards, hoops to jump through, and limited transparency is a thing of the past. In 2023, omnirecruiting will become the most effective hiring strategy for organizations that rely on a skilled labor force.

 

Ready to transform your recruitment strategy with omnichannel? Start by diving into your candidate personas. Where do they spend time online? When you figure out where they live and breathe, you can create a targeted omnichannel strategy to reach the right people. Once you’ve pinpointed the right channels, use omnichannel software to cut costs and save time while marketing across multiple digital channels.

 

Feeling overwhelmed? We’re here to help you carve the path forward with targeted outreach. At Main Street Recruitment, we’ve developed an innovative candidate experience that delivers the right messages to your candidates when they’re digitally engaged. After all, blue-collar workers are busy working in the field and getting their hands dirty. They’re not spending their time scrolling through career boards. So, it’s your job to reach candidates where they already are, whether that’s looking for new opportunities, casually exploring their network, or just building their personal brand.

 

Our cutting-edge technology stack is developed on a mobile-responsive platform, so when potential candidates visit the career microsite, their view is optimized for the device they’re using. Plus, the customized microsite delivers tailored messaging based on their interests, the ability to explore opportunities before applying, and a micro-application process where minimal (but necessary) information is gathered.

 

While white-collar workers typically rely on resumes or LinkedIn profiles to apply for new positions, blue-collar workers are less likely to have an updated resume or professional profile. That means you need a different strategy to hire qualified candidates. When you leverage social and programmatic advertising strategies to reach audiences across different channels, you can send the right message, to the right people, at the right time to drive awareness and keep your candidates engaged.

1. Building a Standout Employer Brand

In such a tight job market, you need a competitive advantage to set yourself apart from your rivals. The solution? Employer branding. According to Glassdoor, 75 percent of active job seekers are likely to apply for a job if the employer actively manages its employer brand. At the same time, 50 percent of candidates wouldn’t work for a company with a negative reputation, even if it came with a pay increase. So, it only makes sense that cultivating a standout employer brand should be a priority on your 2023 recruitment marketing checklist.

 

We’ve mentioned it before, but your candidates are looking for more than new roles. Modern candidates value flexibility and purpose, and they’re going to search for an employer who will deliver on their expectations. You need to position yourself as an employer of choice to win over your top picks, and employer branding can show your prospects exactly what to expect from your company.

 

The benefits of having a strong employer brand can’t be understated. A positive brand image helps you attract qualified candidates, but it also keeps your existing employees engaged, which translates to higher productivity and more loyal employees. In general, engaged workers are more motivated to work harder because they want to maintain a strong position within their roles.

 

Ultimately, a strategic approach to employer branding can boost your company’s bottom line and deliver a substantial return on investment (ROI). Think about it: Replacing an employee requires significant time and resources, and it typically costs a company between six and nine months of an employee’s salary to replace them. For an employee earning $50,000 annually, that comes out to more than $25,000 in recruiting and training costs. With a positive brand, you’ll position yourself as an employer of choice—and your employees will be less likely to leave since they value their place of work.

 

Of course, employer branding comes with its own set of unique challenges. You can’t just build an amazing employer brand overnight; it takes time, effort, and resources to transform your brand image. For smaller companies with limited marketing budgets, a lack of resources is the biggest challenge to branding. However, it’s possible to promote your employer brand with free and low-cost marketing strategies, like social media marketing and search engine optimization (SEO).

 

What can you do about it? The first step to a strong employer brand? Perform an internal audit. Take a look at your social media engagement and Glassdoor reviews. What are people saying about your employer brand? Even if you haven’t put any time or effort into building your brand, you already have one—and there’s a good chance it’s impacting your recruitment efforts.

 

Once you have a clear idea of where you currently stand, you need to define your brand identity. What does your company stand for? What’s your mission? How can you show candidates that they’re making a real-world impact? Before moving forward, take some time to pin down your core values and aspirational values. Here’s a quick summary to help you get started.

 

• Core values are deeply ingrained values that guide your company’s actions. They’re your cornerstones. They should reflect the values of your company’s founders, highlight your unique value proposition, and differentiate your company from your biggest competitors in the industry.
• Aspirational values are values that your company needs to succeed in the future. In other words, your company is working toward them. Maybe your organization is trying to recruit a more diverse workforce, provide more convenient solutions for customers, or increase your social impact. Here, you want to keep it authentic and let candidates know what they’re working toward.

 

Let’s say you’ve identified the right values. Now what? If they’re going to take hold in your employer brand strategy, you need to integrate those values into every process, from hiring methods to employee incentives. From the first interview to the last day of work, you need to remind employees that your core values form the basis of every decision your company makes.

 

Next, take some time to check in with your employees. If you want to attract and retain skilled candidates, you need to provide an amazing employee experience. Employee listening can help maintain the well-being of employees, provide a positive work/life balance, and encourage your employees to promote your company to other people in their network.

 

If you’re already taking steps to create a people-centric culture, it’s time to ask your employees for a helping hand. They’re your biggest brand advocates, and their support can go a long way in building your brand. Encourage your employees to share their journey with your company on their social media accounts, post pictures of company events, or tell colleagues about upcoming networking opportunities. To take your employer brand to the next level, conduct interviews with your top employees and share their testimonials on your careers page and social media channels. When you show candidates how satisfied your employees are, you’ll spark their interest and motivate them to learn more about your company’s culture.

 

After getting your employees involved, turn your attention inward. You need to maintain a regular posting cadence on social media to boost your company’s online presence. According to a 2022 survey of over 150 in-house HR teams, 96 percent of teams currently use social media for recruitment. Of those teams, 64 percent have dedicated social recruiting and employer branding accounts. When it comes to recruitment, social media can play an important role in your strategy by extending your reach without blowing your budget.

1. Social Media Marketing Is a Must-Have

To survive and thrive in 2024, recruiters need to find creative ways to reach top talent, and that’s where social media comes into play. As a generation of digital natives enters the workforce, it’s no surprise that social media is taking over the recruitment process. Not only that, but billions of people are already using social media. Between prospective candidates passively scrolling through their feeds and those actively searching for new job opportunities, your recruitment marketing efforts are bound to get in front of the right people.

 

How does social media work in the recruitment landscape? Let’s start with a definition. Social media recruiting, or “social recruiting,” is the process of using social media platforms to share job postings, grow your talent pool, and drive awareness of your employer brand. Social media is already so ingrained in our personal and professional lives, so creating a well-planned social media recruitment strategy should be a top priority for HR teams this year.

 

Love it or hate it, social media can be an incredibly powerful tool for blue-collar talent acquisition. Job board usage by job seekers has declined since 2020, and social media ranks third in places to find new jobs, according to CareerArc. When you establish a regular posting cadence across your social media channels, you’ll show prospective job candidates that you’re credible, open to interaction, and ready to hire.

 

The main advantage of social media recruiting? Reaching passive job candidates. According to Workable, 37 percent of U.S. workers are passive candidates. They might not be searching for a new position, but they’re open to a conversation. And sometimes, passive candidates don’t even know they want to work for you until a recruiter reaches out to them.

 

Of course, the benefits of social media marketing don’t end there. Social media is a great tool for interacting with interested candidates throughout their candidate journey. These candidates might follow you on Facebook or engage with your Instagram posts, but they’re not ready to apply just yet. That’s where you can come in, nurture their interest, and give them the extra push they need to take action.

 

For example, some interested candidates might have questions about an open position. With social media, they can easily reach out to your company through direct messages or posts. When you answer their questions, you’ll start the conversation and open the door to a new professional relationship before you even get an application.

 

What can you do about it? Unlike your traditional cold call, social recruiting isn’t about a hard sales pitch. It’s subtle, it takes time, and it requires patience. You need to establish a strong social media presence by posting relevant, engaging, and informative content about your employer brand, and that’s not going to happen overnight.

 

Before you dive into social media, you’ll need to figure out which channels your ideal candidates are using—whether that’s TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, or something else. Over time, you should expand your strategy across multiple channels, but you’ll want to start with the most effective options. If you’re not sure where to start, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are all viable options for social recruiting since they allow you to boost posts using demographic information to target your audience. And because these platforms are more casual than LinkedIn, you’ll boost your chances of finding blue-collar talent.

 

Remember: You’ll need to fine-tune your social media strategy if you want to reach passive candidates. Most of the time, passive candidates want more background on your company than you’d typically provide in an email. To spark their interest, you need to make research as easy as possible by providing relevant information about your company culture, compensation, and benefits. Keep your message personal, and make sure to mention aspects of the position that will appeal to the specific candidate. You’re competing against their current employer, and you want to show them why you’re the best choice.

 

After you’ve defined your target audience and social media platforms, it’s time to start planning your content. If you’re already using social media to promote your recruitment efforts, then you probably already have a decent audience—and that audience is an essential resource. They’re constantly providing new information, creating new content, and experiencing new problems.

 

To fill your content calendar with fresh ideas, take some time to research your audience, offer solutions to their problems, and highlight your employer value proposition. How can you make their lives better, and what kind of value do you offer as an employer that the competition doesn’t? Most importantly, why should prospective candidates work with you?

 

To set yourself apart from the competition, create engaging content that features your current employees. If you already have a people-centric culture, your people will be your most valuable asset. When you encourage employees to tell their stories and talk about their day-to-day life with your company, you’ll give prospects an inside glimpse of what it’s like to work for you.

1. Location-Based Recruitment Marketing

Want to stop throwing away valuable recruitment dollars on dead-end ad campaigns and poor targeting? Location-based marketing is the answer. Chances are, your marketing team relies on strategic targeting methods to reach the right consumers. Maybe they’re using geofencing to serve hyper-targeted ads or they’re using location-based keywords to improve their local search engine rankings. Location-based marketing comes in many forms, but it’s all about using your physical location to send relevant marketing content to your target audience.

 

With location-based marketing, brands send alerts to current or potential consumers using location data from their mobile devices. In the world of recruitment, location-based marketing can help you slash hiring times and fill empty job positions by targeting prospective candidates in your area. For example, when you build a geofence, you can target prospects around a specific geographic area (i.e., within 10 miles of your physical location).

 

Location-based marketing is one of the most powerful recruitment strategies heading into 2023—and for good reason. Whether you’re recruiting for a small business or enterprise-level organization, it’s a cost-effective tool that can help you nail audience targeting. And with the number of smartphone users predicted to reach 7,690 million by 2027, there’s no better time to start building your strategy. Some of the main benefits of location-based marketing include:

 

• Personalized messaging. When you create location-based campaigns, you can better understand your candidates, segment them into different audiences, and send highly personalized messages to them. This way, your candidates can avoid filtering through irrelevant content and better resonate with your messaging. Sending relevant info to your prospects can go a long way in driving awareness and lasting impressions.
• Reach new audiences with minimal effort. Trying to target prospects in a nearby city? Want to narrow your targeting down to the area code? With targeted campaigns, you can easily tap into new audiences with minimal effort. You can even reach prospective job candidates in specific areas, like neighborhoods. One area might have different demographics than the next, and you can use location data to craft highly relevant messaging for different audiences.
• Gain a competitive advantage. To gain an advantage over the competition, try geofencing around their physical locations to reach their employees. Your messaging might include a call-to-action to check out your open positions, sign up for your email newsletter, or follow you on social media. By targeting your competition’s workforce, you can captivate passive candidates who are thinking about a new position.
• Boost your local relevance. Local awareness is important. Your candidates want to work somewhere close to home, and consistent communication can help pull in local prospects by targeting them with relevant messaging around company culture, benefits programs, and other perks. You can also highlight your upskilling programs and professional development opportunities to generate more interest.

 

What can you do about it? To make location-based targeting work, you’ll need to choose the right strategy based on your recruitment needs. There are a few different types of location-based marketing for recruiters, but the most popular include:

 

• Geofencing: Geofencing draws a virtual boundary (AKA geofence) around a specific area. When a target candidate enters your geofence, they’ll receive a pre-programmed notification with offers, content, or other marketing incentives. This way, you can target candidates when they’re close to your physical location or when it’s already convenient for them to check out your business.
• Geotargeting: Geotargeting is similar to geofencing, but there’s one main caveat: You don’t have to wait until candidates have to travel to specific areas to target them. With geotargeting, data identifies the location of the device to send hyper-relevant content to prospective job candidates. In turn, you can improve the candidate experience by tailoring ads to their hometown and work location.
• Beaconing: A beacon is a device that gathers location data through mobile phones through WiFi or Bluetooth. Once the beacon connects with the mobile device, it can send prompts through digital channels like email, push notifications, and other apps. You can program a beacon to cover a targeted range of areas near your workplace or the homes of your target job candidates.
• Geoconquesting: If you want to target your competitors’ employees, geoconquesting is the best tool for the job. Simply put, geoconquesting determines a candidate’s location and then prompts them with promotional notifications—but only if the data shows they’ve previously visited a competitor’s location. You can create a geofence around their location to target your rival’s employees with personalized messaging about your employer value proposition.
• Mobile targeting: Just as its name suggests, mobile targeting sends promotional ads through mobile calls and messages. With an effective mobile targeting strategy, you can use mobile data like location services to learn more about your candidates. Then, you’ll be on the right track to creating laser-targeted ads for your audience. Mobile targeting is ideal for specialization since you’re typically only targeting one audience at a time.

 

Next, it’s time to captivate your prospects with targeted content. Successful location-based marketing typically utilizes content that users can view easily from smaller screens (think: smartphones and tablets) or while multitasking. In other words, you’ll want to keep your content short and sweet with brief descriptions. Be as precise as possible—and top off your ads with scroll-stopping visuals—to share key information with your target candidates.

 

If you already have contact information from warm candidates, you can use that information to deliver timely messaging based on their location. For example, SMS messages and emails can be an effective strategy for implementing location-based marketing, especially if you’re targeting candidates who are constantly on the go (which is most of them—over 90 percent of candidates use their phones to search for jobs). Plus, if you have a mobile-friendly application, you can include a clickable link in your text/email to make it easier for those candidates to apply.

 

You can also blend location-based marketing with your social media strategy to boost traffic and awareness. Through social media advertising platforms like Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads, you can target particular groups of users based on their previous locations and other information the channels track. For a more cost-effective workaround, try tagging relevant location-specific hashtags and posting in local groups to spread the word about your employer brand.

1. Your Competitors Are Using Recruitment Videos

Now more than ever, you need to differentiate yourself from your rivals, and that means developing new and dynamic recruitment strategies to get ahead. And if you’re not using video recruitment marketing to your advantage yet, here’s your sign to start.

 

Considering the increase in demand for video content, it’s no surprise that more HR teams are using video marketing as part of their recruitment strategy. In 2021, 86 percent of marketers used video as a marketing tool—and that number is only going to keep growing. At the same time, 3.37 billion internet users consumed video content in 2022, reaching an audience of 92 percent of internet users worldwide. Chances are, your biggest competitors are already using video marketing to win qualified job candidates. Now, you need to swoop in and capture their attention with standout content.

 

How can you blend video marketing with your recruitment strategy? Two words: Recruitment videos. They showcase your company’s values, employees, benefits, and other elements to drive candidates to apply. When it comes to video content, your goal is to target jobseekers with talented skill sets who will naturally fit into your company culture.

 

These videos help potential candidates learn what your company is, what you do, and what you’re all about. Videos come with unrivaled engagement potential compared to static media, so you can create authentic employee stories and testimonials featuring genuine accounts of what it’s like to work for your company. You can also encourage loyal employees to talk about the experiences they’ve had with your organization and how they’ve grown over the years.

 

What can you do about it? Video marketing might sound intimidating, but it’s easier than you might think. Thanks to new technology and beginner-friendly video editing software, producing videos isn’t the cost-prohibitive marketing strategy that it used to be. This has also helped to slash the costs of video production, even if you decide to hire a production company, making expenses far less likely to be an obstacle to video production.

 

The catch? You’ll need to dedicate time to plan your recruitment videos, and it’s important to think strategically through every phase of your video campaign to create impactful content for your target audience. When you’re filming recruitment videos, focus on the highlights of working at your company, placing your employees front and center. You want to make it as easy as possible for prospective job candidates to visualize what it’s like to work for your organization, and that’s where your employees can be your marketing MVPs.

 

Ready to fuel your recruitment marketing strategy and strengthen your employer brand with engaging video content? Some popular types of recruitment videos include:

 

• Employee interviews. Try planning one-on-one interviews with your best employees. Ask them to share their real-life experiences, from their day-to-day responsibilities to obstacles on the job. If you’re already taking steps to build a people-centric culture, your workers’ honest opinions will go a long way in encouraging top talent to apply.
• Story-based videos. Once you’ve found out what kind of message to send, it’s time to tap into your storytelling skills. Story-based videos can help you create a memorable first impression and tell your company story directly to candidates. Plus, you’ll give them proof that your company is innovative in everything it does. To master the art of storytelling, check out our guide here.
• Employee-generated content. Want to bring your employees in on the fun? Encourage them to create video content for your recruitment strategy. Then, you can reward the best creators with features on your social media channels, company merch, or gift cards. Alternatively, you might offer incentives for unique ideas or participation in videos. By launching content plans like quarterly updates and new hire introductions, you can create a steady stream of video content for your careers website, social media channels, and other digital channels.

 

When you’re done filming your new video content, you’ll need to make some adjustments before sharing it online. For the best results, keep your content shorter than 90 seconds. The best-performing Facebook videos range from 20 to 90 seconds long, while Instagram videos typically achieve the highest engagement at around 30 seconds. According to video marketing statistics, nearly 60 percent of users wouldn’t watch a video if it’s too long, so you’ll want to keep your message concise.

 

Don’t forget about branding, either. Be sure to mention your brand, show your brand logo, or incorporate some type of branding within the first few seconds of your video. When possible, keep all of the visual elements of your video consistent with your brand, from your font choices to your color palette, to reinforce your brand image. You might not see dramatic results from video marketing overnight, but your persistence and creativity will pay off.

1. Quiet Quitting Is Here to Stay

That’s right: Quiet quitting is real, and it’s not going away anytime soon. It might not be a recent phenomenon, but it’s calling attention to widespread dissatisfaction among American workers that employers need to address moving forward. Driven by the same underlying factors of the Great Resignation, quiet quitting involves opting out of tasks beyond one’s job responsibilities. Quiet quitters continue to fulfill their primary responsibilities, but they’re less willing to stay late, show up early, or go the extra mile for their employers.

 

How common is quiet quitting? More common than you might think. According to a June 2022 Gallup survey of workers over the age of 18, quiet quitters make up at least 50 percent of U.S. workers. In the survey, only 32 percent of workers came across as engaged, while another 18 percent were disengaged and dissatisfied with their current position.

 

Gallup theorized that the remaining 50 percent could be classified as quiet quitters: people who weren’t especially engaged in their current job position but didn’t broadcast the fact. So, what’s the main motivation behind quiet quitting? It’s simple: Your employees want a better work/life balance. Instead of checking emails around the clock and feeling guilty about taking personal days, they want to draw a clear line between their professional and work lives.

 

At its core, quiet quitting is about doing what’s required and then getting on with your life. Today, younger generations of workers are placing more value on flexibility and meaningful work—but quiet quitting isn’t only affecting younger workers. According to workforce data from 2022, 40 percent of the global workforce is looking to quit their job in the next three to six months.

 

What does that mean for your business? There’s no better time to rethink your recruitment strategy to prioritize work/life balance and keep your workers engaged. Even if you don’t realize it, there’s a good chance that your employees are quietly quitting. Now, you need to act fast to manage the quiet quitting crisis before it takes a major toll on your recruitment efforts.

 

What can you do about it? Before you address employee engagement, take a step back and look at your managers. Only one in three managers are engaged at work, according to Gallup data. To keep employees engaged and motivated on the floor, start with manager engagement and reskilling programs.

 

Your managers should know how to have conversations to reduce disengagement. Whether it’s about performance issues, denied promotions, or policy violations, it’s essential to prepare your managers to have tough conversations with employees. Sure, it can be tempting to sweep these issues under the rug, but ignorance can make things even worse—and underlying issues can have a major impact on productivity.

 

Your managers are in the best position to provide empathy for employees, their life situations, and their career goals. To train your managers for success, encourage them to start small with one meaningful conversation per week with each employee. Your managers need to create accountability for individual performance and team collaboration, and workers must see how their work contributes to your company’s overall mission. Most importantly, your company needs to cultivate a culture where people feel like they belong.

 

At the end of the day, empathy should build the foundation of how you engage workers, satisfy clients, and recruit new candidates. From decreased absenteeism and safety incidents to increased productivity and profitability, employee engagement can have wide-ranging benefits for your company. Not only that, but it’s the tool you need to close the door on quiet quitting in 2024.

Finding Blue-Collar Workers in 2024

Welcome to the era of people-first recruitment. The recruitment landscape is ever-evolving, but the importance of hiring top talent isn’t going to change. You need to fill your recruitment toolbox with the right tools to win the war for talent, and that starts with a powerful marketing strategy to promote your employer brand, build brand awareness, and spread the word about your open job positions.

 

But first, let’s get one thing straight: Recruitment marketing isn’t just a one-time ad. It’s a long-term strategy that takes time and effort—but it’s worth it. You need to keep evolving to keep those top-notch candidates out of the reach of your rivals. With that in mind, here’s everything you need to start brainstorming your 2024 recruitment marketing strategy.

1. Know Your Ideal Candidates

Ready to fill your open positions? Your organization needs skilled talent to flourish, but it’s not always easy to find the best matches for your company culture. In today’s super-connected digital recruiting landscape, you’re not just competing with other companies in your area. You’re also competing with national brands that can afford to spend more money on advertising and branding.

 

But that doesn’t mean you don’t have a chance at the top candidates in your industry. Even if you’re working with a limited budget, we’re willing to bet you still have plenty of tools and strategies in your recruitment toolbox. The best part? You won’t have to worry about flushing thousands of dollars down the drain with ineffective campaigns or bad targeting choices.

 

To win at recruitment marketing, you’ll need to aim your efforts at the right audience. That means you’ll need to develop detailed candidate personas so your job titles, descriptions, posts, and ads will attract the candidates most likely to convert into new hires. Here’s how to get started with candidate personas.

 

• Don’t be afraid to dig deep. Candidate personas are essential for any successful recruitment plan. Just like buyer personas help your marketing team refine their targeting efforts, candidate personas give you an inside glimpse into specific audience segments. They dig deeper than basic demographics by evaluating your candidates depending on their interests, behaviors, and other information. When you dig deep into your candidate data and create detailed personas, you’ll have a much easier time developing hyper-personalized messaging for specific segments.
• Tap into your candidate data. Where do you find all the information you need to create detailed candidate personas? First, talk to your top performers. What do they have in common? Do they come from similar backgrounds? Do they share similar interests? Next, check out your hiring data. Where do those top performers come from? How do you connect with them? If you’re using a CRM system for recruitment, you can pull information on active candidates, passive candidates, and former candidates.
• Document your research. Once you’ve done your homework, it’s time to start creating your segments. Give a name to each candidate persona to help you think of them as real people. For the best results, you’ll want to be as detailed as possible. When done well, candidate personas can paint a clear picture into the minds of your target audience—and that can make all the difference in the next steps of your strategy.

 

When you get a better idea of what your top job candidates want from an employer, you can create tailored messaging based on their pain points, values, and interests. As you think about your dream candidates, ask yourself what kind of job seekers would want to work for your business. Here, you’ll want to consider your employer value proposition and what type of person it’ll resonate with.

 

Even if you don’t offer the best pay, you can create targeted marketing campaigns focused on unique benefits (think: mentorships, social investment, child care support…) to highlight your value. With younger generations rating compensation as less important than factors like growth opportunities, there’s no better time to show prospective candidates what you have to offer.

1. Take Care of Your Current Employees

Once you’ve done your homework, it’s time to make some changes within your organization. To successfully attract and retain skilled job candidates, you need to provide an amazing employee experience from day one. Where should you start? Prioritizing your existing employees. When you build an employee-centric culture—complete with open communication, development opportunities, and empathy—you’ll foster employee engagement, productivity, and loyalty.

 

When employees feel like their company acts in their best interests and creates a positive experience, they’ll be more productive, engaged, and positive at work. In a people-centric work environment, everyone can voice their ideas, suggestions, and feedback without the fear of being reprimanded.

 

Your blue-collar workers are the face of your company, so encouraging them to be innovative is essential to growing your business. You need to show prospective candidates why they should be interested in working for you, and that starts from within. Here’s how to embrace the values of an employee-centric company culture to keep your employees happy.

 

• Treat employees like customers. Just like your customers, your employees have needs and expectations that need to be met, from the need to grow professionally to fair compensation. HR teams need to empathize with employees to understand their needs and pains, define the problem, and brainstorm ideas to find the best solutions. When you prioritize and address your workers’ needs, you’ll show them how much you respect and value their contributions to your organization.
• Work on your digital experience. Even if you’re not shifting to a hybrid or remote workforce, your digital experience still matters. Make sure it’s easy for employees to find the resources they need online, view their schedules, and request time off. Everyone should have access to the same tools to communicate with teams. If needed, schedule one-on-one meetings with workers to help them understand your digital HR system.
• Ask for feedback. The best way to learn what’s working for your organization? Ask your employees. From exit interviews to employee focus groups, it’s important to listen to what your workers have to say about their employee experience. After you’ve collected and reviewed their feedback, it’s time to create a game plan to address their issues.
• Prioritize employee well-being. Maybe you’re already taking steps to cultivate a people-centric culture, but what do your well-being initiatives look like? If you’re not prioritizing your workers’ physical, psychological, and emotional well-being, you risk falling behind the competition. If you’re not sure where to start, ensure your workspaces promote health and wellness. They should be well-lit, with good air quality and safe equipment. You should also review your company’s safety policies to make sure they adhere to up-to-date industry standards.
• Empower employees to grow. We’ve said it before, but professional development opportunities are essential for engagement. According to a 2020 survey, 58 percent of millennials and 52 percent of Gen Z believe that successful careers depend on frequent upskilling and reskilling. Peer mentoring, targeted training, and upskilling programs can help employees across generations feel more fulfilled, accomplished, and motivated in their work. Of course, upskilling benefits your company, too. Not only will you retain top talent, but you’ll make your organization more resilient to unexpected changes in the market.

 

Your older employees matter, too. Although many older workers are retiring and leaving the workforce, many either want to continue working or need to do so. Unfortunately, many older employees are overlooked for professional training and development opportunities because of misperceptions that they’re stuck in their ways. They’re also among the first to be laid off, and they’re often forced into retirement before they’re ready.

 

The workforce is also aging rapidly, but it’s possible to turn this crisis into a fresh opportunity for your business. To take full advantage of your existing talent, you need to meet the expectations and demands of your older workers. Otherwise, you’ll end up losing them to competitors who see their value.

1. Don’t Fall Behind on 2024 Recruitment Trends

To fuel your organization with top talent in 2024 and beyond, you need to keep up with the latest recruitment trends. Not only that, but you need to stop gritting your teeth and waiting for these trends to pass—you need to embrace them. Over the past few years, we’ve seen the drastic effects of the pandemic in labor shortages, the Great Resignation, and signs of a looming recession. You can’t afford to stick to your tried-and-true hiring strategy and wait for recruitment to return to “normal.”

 

Despite the uncertainty of 2024, HR managers can adapt their recruitment marketing strategies to find the right people for their open positions. When you craft a flexible strategy, you’ll be able to amplify your talent search and fill your talent pool with qualified candidates. As the industry changes, you can be sure you’re hiring the best talent for your organization and keeping your existing employees motivated and engaged.

 

The biggest trend in 2024 recruitment marketing? Marketing and human resources teams will need to collaborate to attract, hire, and retain employees. From reimagining the employer brand to targeting passive candidates, you need a comprehensive recruitment marketing strategy to hire your dream team. Skills-driven recruiting will take a front seat, and streamlined onboarding and training will become must-have processes for every company.

 

If you’re feeling intimidated by the changes and challenges to come in 2024, don’t worry. At Main Street Recruitment, we’ve identified the biggest trends in blue-collar talent acquisition that we’ve seen emerging at the tail end of 2023 so you can prepare for the future of recruitment. Download our 2024 Recruitment Trends Report to take a new approach to recruitment marketing.

1. Run an Internal HR Recruitment Audit

You already know that outdated recruitment strategies can hurt your company. From long hiring times to candidate dropouts, leaks in your talent funnel cost you money—but they also take a toll on productivity. Without a strategic recruitment plan at your disposal, you risk losing top trade talent to the competition.

 

Even if you’re already following the latest recruitment trends, it’s worth reviewing your strategy. When you run an internal audit, you’ll paint a clear picture of what your current processes look like, where your bottlenecks are, and your reputation as an employer. From there, you can refine your strategy to attract skilled job candidates and gain an edge over the competition.

 

Still on the fence about auditing your campaigns? If you’re not sure what your performance looks like, performing an audit can help you drive tangible results for your business, including revenue. When you take a deep dive into your marketing plan, you’ll gain important insights into the candidate experience and your employer brand. To get started, check out our quick and easy self-audit checklist to see how you’re doing right now.

 

Ideally, you should schedule regular audits to check in with your performance and optimize your strategy. That said, if you’re having a hard time finding blue-collar talent, don’t wait to conduct an audit. Our clients see the best results when they perform internal HR audits at regular intervals.

1. Invest in the Candidate Onboarding Process

If you’re like most recruiters, you’re probably not spending enough on onboarding. It’s the first experience your new hires go through, so creating a seamless onboarding process can help you create a long-lasting impression with your employees. Think of onboarding as an opportunity to set the tone for their time with your company. In fact, new hires who have a negative onboarding experience are twice as likely to search for new job opportunities.

 

Believe it or not, onboarding can have a major impact on turnover, but most employers still aren’t investing in their new hires. According to Gallup, 88 percent of employees feel like their employer did a poor job with onboarding. Research shows that poor onboarding can take a toll on your employer brand, too: One in five new hires is unlikely to recommend your company to a friend or family member after a bad onboarding experience. On the other hand, companies with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by a whopping 82 percent and productivity by over 70 percent. So, what are you waiting for?

 

If you’re already spending thousands of dollars on recruitment, you don’t want to throw those marketing dollars away as soon as your new hire signs on. You’ve worked hard to find the best people for your company, and you don’t want them to leave just a few months after they start. You need to equip your new hires with the tools and resources necessary for them to succeed. This way, you’ll ensure a smooth transition from candidate to new hire—all while creating more engaged employees and reducing your churn rates.

 

How can you improve your onboarding process? Start by making onboarding a priority. It might seem like an afterthought, but it’s just as important to the hiring process as the application and interview. When you make new hires feel confident during their first day on the job, you’ll take one step closer to transforming them into high-value employees. Here’s how to kick your onboarding process into high gear.

 

• Start the onboarding process early. Don’t wait until your new hire walks into their first day of work to start with onboarding. You need to create a smooth transition into working for your company, and your onboarding strategy should be tailored to different teams, job roles, and departments as needed. The process should start as soon as your new hire accepts the job offer until the end of their induction period (which might be in line with your organization’s probation period). Between accepting your offer and working their first day, encourage new hires to check out online resources—from your office sitemap to internal channels like Slack group chats. If you have a self-service HR portal, you can easily give new hires access to key company information.
• Keep the employee experience top of mind. Once the candidate journey is over, the employee experience begins. Instead of addressing issues like employee engagement and company culture in individual silos, you need to create an integrated experience that supports your employees’ well-being. In other words, you need to create a holistic end-to-end recruitment experience to drive engagement from day one. To get started, encourage your employees to share their success stories, arrange meetings between new hires and senior leaders, and take the time to introduce your new employee to their team. Your new hires should feel like they’re a part of the family from their first day on the job.
• Avoid overwhelming new hires. The most important aspect of onboarding? It needs to be simple. Every new hire settles into their new position in a different way, but adjusting to a new company can feel overwhelming. Instead of rushing your new hires through the process, take things slowly. Your onboarding process should only include essential info, and it should help improve your employee experience and reduce the administrative burden on your HR team. If you overwhelm new hires with too much information at once, you’ll leave them feeling stressed to take on their new job.
• Make it personal. While you’ll want to create a consistent process for every new hire—covering orientation, company values, culture, and training—the most important elements of your onboarding strategy should be tailored to the department or team the new hire will be working in. Depending on the team, your onboarding process might include specific objectives for performance, benefits information, and safety procedures. When you personalize the onboarding experience, you’ll help new hires feel supported and confident in their new role.
• Review your onboarding process. Each time you onboard a new hire, you have an opportunity to learn what works in your onboarding process and identify potential areas for improvement. The more data you collect from your new hires, the better you can refine your processes to meet their expectations. For the best results, try asking for feedback early on in the employee experience through anonymous surveys or at the end of the induction period. This way, you’ll establish yourself as a transparent employer and show employees how much you value their feedback.

 

Stay on Top of the Latest Recruitment Trends

The definition of what it means to be a blue-collar worker is changing—and your candidates know it. Over the next few years, we’ll continue to see dramatic changes in the recruitment landscape like we’ve never seen before. The good news? There are mountains of opportunities for organizations out there who are willing to adapt their strategy and face modern recruitment challenges head-on.

If revamping your recruitment strategy sounds like a lot of work, don’t worry. You don’t have to implement every single idea at once, and building a well-oiled recruitment marketing strategy isn’t going to happen overnight. Our advice? Choose one area to work on and take small steps toward your full-blown strategy. And if you’re not sure how to stay on top of the latest 2024 trends, don’t be afraid to ask for help.

At Main Street Recruitment, we help HR professionals and hiring managers connect with the digital channels they need to reach prospective blue-collar candidates. We’ve helped countless organizations fuel their workforce with high-value candidates and personalized recruitment plans. Our innovative recruitment program can help you gain clarity on this year’s upcoming trends and what marketing strategies work in today’s market.

So, what are you waiting for? The clock is ticking—and you can’t afford to fall behind on your 2024 talent acquisition strategy. Check out our 2024 Recruitment Trends Report to overcome today’s recruitment challenges.