The January Hiring Surge: How to set your business apart

Historically, January and February have been the biggest months for hiring, and this year looks set to continue the trend. The start of 2024 brings with it businesses who are focused on finding new talent, making offers, and onboarding new staff members.  

This sudden, dramatic increase in opportunities for job seekers means they not only have more choice when it comes to the roles they apply for, but they can be more selective about the offer they go on to accept.  

So, how can you prepare for the hiring surge to ensure you secure the top talent that you need? We’ve outlined our top tips on how to set your business apart during this tougher, candidate-led market: 

Prepare your people 

Ensuring your internal team are prepped and ready to handle new hires is essential. Developing a full hiring plan, that goes right from the initial application, through to the interviews, offers, inductions and onboarding will help everybody involved in the process to understand what’s expected of them. This will help to ensure a positive experience for applicants, without any delays or blockers that could deter them from completing the process and accepting your offer.  

Update your job adverts 

Spend some time reflecting on your current job adverts and thinking about how these could be enhanced. Are they detailed enough? Do they do enough to ‘sell’ your company as a top employer? Do they stand out from the crowd?  

If ever there was a time to reevaluate your job ads, January is the time to do it. If you don’t already have an Employee Value Proposition (EVP), then it’s worth considering one. This can help to elevate your company’s position and create a highly compelling message for the top candidates you’re trying to appeal to. Our recently published EVP Guide will help you to get started.  

Tighten up processes 

You’ll need to get to work quickly to make sure you secure that top candidate. So, review your processes and consider whether they’re consistent every time. Do you have a set interview process? Are the same people involved each time? Do you have a consistent way of evaluating candidates? Is the interview process too long or drawn out? Saving time at these stages, whilst still being thorough, will result in a faster turnaround time for both you and your candidates.  

Complete background checks 

The last thing you need once you’ve gone through the process, is to secure a bad hire. Make sure you complete thorough background checks on your new employee before they start working for you. This can be a time-consuming process, but by using an online platform like VettingGateway, you’ll speed things up by managing all of your required checks in one place, with high levels of automation, whilst providing a great candidate experience.  

You’ll notice from our tips, that efficiency is a theme that runs consistently throughout. That’s because it’s so critical in a challenging and competitive marketplace. Reevaluating your processes and using platforms that can help relieve your hiring painpoints, is essential to your hiring success.

At VettingGateway, we can help to streamline and smoothen the essential task of background checking your applicants, alleviating one element of the ever-lengthening hiring process. Ready to find out more? Simply book a demo with one of our vetting team members to find out how we can help you.  

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