With global unemployment of advanced markets dropping to 5%, according to statistics from the International Monetary Fund, it's no wonder businesses across industries are looking for creative recruitment strategies to attract and retain top talent. If you have a robust training program, you're already ahead of the game. Lack of employers' support for career development is a major concern among millennials, according to the Deloitte Millennial Survey. That same study also found that 70% of millennials expect to work as full-time freelancers "at some point" and projected they'll make up 75% of the global workforce by 2025. Now's the time to promote your culture of learning. Here are three creative recruitment strategies to help you begin.
1. Promote your learning culture
In our job seeker's market, the most qualified candidates are looking for more than great pay and benefits. They're after a partner who's invested in their careers—an organization that will help them grow, advance their skills and make meaningful contributions. This is where having a learning-centric culture, backed by the latest learning technology, can give you a huge competitive advantage for recruitment. Across your advertising, website and social media, share testimonials of how employees have used your learning programs or on-the-job training to advance their careers. Highlight how the trainings helped them stay challenged in their current roles, while pursuing their professional goals. And if you have a learning management system (LMS), post videos of how easy it is for your team to use and the vast educational resources they have access to.
2. Sell your investment in experiential learning
Experiential learning is the process of learning through experience. It's become increasingly important in corporate training, and beats traditional classroom-based, instructor-led approaches by enabling learners to:
- Immediately apply knowledge
- Receive real-time coaching and feedback
- Easily recognize their accomplishments
- Build teamwork and communication skills
- Support reflective practice habits
So, how can you capitalize on experiential learning as part of your creative recruitment strategies? Sell it as another essential part of your culture of learning. Talk about how your employees use role-playing to speed their success in new jobs and activities. Or, how they can quickly and easily demonstrate their skills through LMS-based observation checklists, versus having to take online assessments. Today's employees want to own their careers, instead of looking to managers for a road map. That's why they value experiential learning—and an intuitive LMS that can visualize, direct and document their training path.
3. Engage candidates with learning technology
Ever heard the expression "walk the walk"? Using your LMS for pre-employment skills assessments, personality tests, foundational exams, etc., proves your commitment to learning. It backs up all of the great things you've been saying about your learning culture. And it gives candidates a chance to experience (and fall in love with!) your learning technology. When it comes to interviews, use these questions to steer your conversations toward your organization's commitment to learning:
- How important is it to feel challenged and like you're making a difference?
- Have you ever used experiential learning?
- What learning resources, programs or collaboration do you want for career progression?
Again, tie responses back to your learning programs/technology, and use employee success stories to add more value.
Creative recruiting strategies that actually work
These are just a few ways you can leverage your learning culture to attract the market's best talent. For a competitive edge, you must prove your investment in your employees' ongoing growth. So, get creative in your messaging ... and reap the rewards.
Get the most out of your recruitment program by using ADP Workforce Now® and ADP Vantage HCM® with Absorb LMS. Visit ADP Marketplace to learn more.
