Around 15 to 20 years ago, the first millennials entered the workforce – frustrating and sometimes frightening the baby boomers and Gen Xers who hired and managed them. Since then, the world of work changed, and millennials grew up and advanced in their careers. In that same time, Kathryn Minshew moved from her roles at McKinsey & Company and the Clinton Health Access Initiative and founded The Muse, a career platform headquartered in New York City and used by more than 75 million people to research companies and careers.

Kathryn also authored “The New Rules of Work,” which made it to The Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) national bestseller list. She has spoken at MIT and Harvard, contributed to the WSJ and Harvard Business Review, and appeared on TODAY and CNN. She has been named to SmartCEO’s Future50 Visionary CEOs and Inc.’s 35 Under 35. Additionally, The Muse was named one of Fast Company’s 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World in 2018.

Kathryn is an expert on the workforce transformation she observed and helped drive as a millennial herself. But now, the process is beginning all over again as Gen Z starts entering the workforce. We talked with Kathryn about how these new workers will influence the way companies attract and retain the best talent.

What are the biggest similarities and differences you see between current workers and those who are just now entering the workforce?

It’s a really interesting time right now because the workplace is in flux. While I’m not a big believer in the idea that the millennial generation is fundamentally different, there are a few trends I’m seeing in The Muse’s community and the employers we work with.

First, there‘s a strong interest in flexibility and work-life balance. The younger generations are pushing employers to recognize their work based on output and not the number of hours sitting at a desk. I actually think that change benefits us all.

Secondly, a lot of younger workers are willing to relocate for the right job. We surveyed The Muse community, which is very young and diverse with two thirds under age 35, 55% women, and 50% nonwhite. We asked them, “Would you relocate and consider moving for the right company and role?” An overwhelming number – 89% – said yes.

As millennials went from entry-level workers to the biggest cohort in the labor market and now into leadership roles, we saw the conversation change. How do you expect the conversation about Gen Z at work to change?

There’s one pattern I’m very confident will play out, which is that we’ll see a bunch of people predicting the end of the workplace as we know it. Then, over time, some of the hysteria will quiet down, and people will realize that we’re all fundamentally more similar than we are different. A few years ago, there was a lot of, let’s just say, pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth about millennials. Now, many of those same millennials are managers and some of them are becoming executives.

The workplace has changed. Companies are forced to compete for talent. There is a bigger emphasis on connecting the overall purpose and mission of a company with the individual roles of workers.

When I look at the changes that I believe we’ll see with Gen Z, there’s the classic one – which is that Gen Z is very mobile first. So, I think we’ll see less and less tolerance for legacy technology products and more of a push for the adoption of consumer-grade products. Gen Z is starting to look for workplace tools that are built on data and personalized for their needs.

How will employer branding change?

I think we’ve evolved through a number of phases of employer branding, starting with what I call phase zero, where companies just posted jobs online without any marketing or information. Then, phase one was stock photos and companies trying to pretend they were perfect, using jargon like, “we’re a team of innovators committed to excellence.”

Now, we’re in phase two, in which companies are realizing the need to be more authentic. With Gen Z, we’re going to see an increasing trend toward personalization. Platforms and tools that can provide a more personalized experience are going to win. That’s something I’m very focused on at The Muse.

I think there are platforms out there today that deliver volume, but give you very few opportunities to really build a relationship with talent and explain your company, your values and your opportunity. My money is on the platforms that are allowing different channels for candidates and job seekers to research companies and for employers to build relationships – and, of course, I count The Muse among them.

Employer brand is ultimately just brand, right? It’s not like you get to have a consumer brand and employer brand that don’t interact with each other. Employer brand has the potential to be powerful, but only if you recognize that it’s a piece of your larger brand and the lines between your applicants, candidates, employees, customers and users are blurring in the modern world.

Ultimately, I think the holy grail for employer brand is going to be giving candidates more information and a better experience up front. That leads to tangible business results through better and longer-retained hires.

How will employers change their retention strategies for Gen Z?

Retention is directly linked to how much information people receive and how accurate that information is before they come through the door. We’ve seen companies that work with The Muse increase retention when they’re more transparent about what it’s like to work there.

Many people earlier in their careers are looking for clarity and guidance around what the future holds. Companies that are successful in retaining millennial and Gen Z employees often lay out very explicit career paths. Employees can see what milestones they need to hit to get promoted to the next level and what those steps look like. By documenting a clear career path, younger employees can understand what the future will look like if they invest in your company.

If you had to boil this entire conversation down to one piece of advice for employers, what would that advice be?

When I started The Muse, I had this deep belief that both job seekers and employers would be better off if they found matches based on fit. Even the same person might look for different things at different points in their career. I want The Muse to help create fit – to help individuals research companies and careers, and help employers hire great people on the strength of their employee experience and employer brand.

If I had to pick just one piece of advice on how to do that, I would say focus on storytelling. Humans love stories; we can connect with them. So, think about employee storytelling – whether that’s telling stories on your career site, through The Muse or through another channel. The more you can communicate the uniqueness of your opportunities and your organization through the real human stories of people who work there, the more successful I believe you’re going to be.

Talent acquisition teams and hiring managers are always on the hunt for candidates who check all of the boxes: the five-star talent with all of the right skills and experience to excel in a role, but who also fits the culture of the employer. When these candidates are screened, interviewed and assessed, they pass each phase of the process with flying colors, leaving hiring managers eager to extend an offer of employment. However, there is one catch: will the candidate accept?

When you make an offer to a candidate, you hope they want the position as much as you want to hire them. But, sometimes, you nurture a great candidate through the entire recruitment process only for them have a change of heart. Candidates declining job offers can be disheartening for recruiting teams – and costly for organizations trying to fill vital open positions. In this article, we’ll cover candidate expectations and key points in the employment offer process, as well as explain how to connect with candidates on a more personal level.

Meeting Candidate Expectations: Then & Now

Candidates Expect an Inviting Company Culture

In the past, candidates applied for positions without knowing or expecting to know much about an organization’s inner workings or culture. As a result, when candidates were extended an offer, an organization’s culture played less of a role in whether they would accept the position.

But now, candidates want to know about the work environment and company culture so they can assess whether they think the organization is a good fit. Help candidates get that information by having a section on your careers page that provides cultural insights into your organization, and include videos and images that display what it’s like to work for you.

Candidates Expect Greater Transparency

It used to be that a candidate applied for a job, sent in their résumé and waited patiently for a response from the employer. All too often, candidates were left in the dark regarding timelines, with few ways to find out where they were in the hiring process.

Now, candidates expect rapid responses to their inquiries and greater transparency into a potential employer’s hiring process. Therefore, make sure that you inform the candidate about when they can expect an offer or rejection and deliver on it. This shows that the organization is respectful, responsible and disciplined. Plus, if you make transparency a core piece of your recruitment strategy, you can improve your offer acceptance rate.   

Candidates Expect More from Your Employer Value Proposition

Your employer value proposition (EVP) is the distillation of what you offer candidates and what you expect in return. In the past, organizations relied heavily on brand recognition and compensation as their primary EVP. But, more than ever, candidates expect flexible work options, formal succession planning, mentorship programs, open communication and real-time feedback to be part of an employer’s value.

Before candidates reach the offer phase, make sure you have clearly communicated what makes you different as an employer. When candidates understand your story and how you view your role as an employer, they can get a picture of what they can expect if they accept your offer.

Plan ahead to ensure that candidates have information about the team they’ll be working with and the types of projects they’ll work on. When appropriate, you can also create an opportunity for the candidates to meet their future coworkers during the recruiting process.

Compensation, Benefits & Perks

Presenting benefits and compensation begins with your job postings. According to a survey conducted by Glassdoor, more than half of the respondents listed salary (67%) and benefits (63%) as top factors they looked for in job ads. By listing the salary range, benefits and perks this early on, you are less likely to lose a candidate at the end of the process solely because the salary and benefits offered are less than they are willing to accept.

When making a job offer, begin with an in-depth discussion with the candidate to determine which benefits and perks they value the most; it may be possible to create an offer package that is personalized enough to meet their needs. Furthermore, it’s important to know the difference between a perk and a benefit, as they are two different categories of non-wage compensation items.

Benefits: Benefits are best described as a form of non-wage compensation that complements salary. Health insurance, transit assistance, stock options and retirement contributions are some of the most popular benefits offered by organizations.

Perks: Perks are above-and-beyond offerings that may sway a candidate to value one organization over another. Think about these like the “icing on the cake.” Perks at work may include a company car; retail discounts; summer hours; gym memberships; standing desks and off-site, team-building activities. These perks can really sweeten an employment offer and increase the likelihood of acceptance.

Non-Traditional Perks & Benefits

A survey released by TriNet found that 91% of respondents at small- and medium-sized businesses view non-traditional benefits as an important aspect of their job satisfaction. According to the survey, non-traditional benefits include perks such as flexible work schedules, commuter benefits, unlimited paid time off, paid volunteer time, remote work options and more. 

If your organization offers non-traditional perks and benefits, leverage them to sweeten job offers. These days, candidates are becoming less concerned with salary alone and more concerned with overall compensation – including a better work-life balance and greater workplace flexibility. If your organization offers employees access to a gym, the option to work from home or other alluring perks, make sure to mention these when discussing benefits with candidates.

Entwining Benefits & Employer Branding

Fusing your benefits package with your employer brand gives your benefits program a distinct identity and purpose aligned with your core values. It’s something that candidates should be able to recognize in every aspect of your benefits presentation. In particular, your benefits mission statement should be clear and concise, but also unique to your organization. Strive to make it a natural extension of your broader organizational values. For instance, if excellent customer service is an area of focus at your company, craft your benefits mission statement to highlight how your benefits seek to anticipate and meet the needs of employees.

A financial services client of PeopleScout’s is one example of blending employer branding and benefits. Specifically, the client provided a comprehensive and generous maternity leave policy for expecting mothers. However, when communicating its maternity leave policy, the benefit wasn’t featured in a way that effectively highlighted the company’s commitment to supporting new parents. While informative and to the point, this approach to educating employees about the policy was misaligned with the client’s employer brand of empowerment.

PeopleScout worked with this client to craft new and more brand-aligned communications about the maternity leave policy. The new messaging shared in the excitement of expecting employees, while also highlighting the challenges expecting mothers face in the workplace. Employee communications about the maternity leave policy centered on the values of empowerment and support for employees – inside and outside of the organization’s walls.

Engaging & Communicating With Candidates During the Employment Offer Process

Initial Conversations

Once you’ve decided on a candidate, don’t waste time reaching out and sharing the good news. Otherwise, the candidate may accept a position elsewhere or develop a negative attitude about your organization if they are left waiting too long.

When you contact the candidate, discuss the details of the job offer. If the candidate is satisfied with your offer, ask for verbal acceptance and let them know a formal offer of employment will be sent shortly.

Follow Up & Keeping Candidates Warm

After verbal acceptance of your offer, stay in contact with the candidate to keep them engaged and interested in the role. When following up, don’t be overly eager or too pushy; instead, allow the candidate some time to think about your offer. While the candidate considers your job offer, stay in touch through the candidate’s preferred method of communication. The purpose of your follow-up correspondence should be to reinforce your enthusiasm about having the candidate join your team.

Follow-ups with new details about the offer, like “You will be working at X location” or “Would you prefer to work on a Mac or a PC?” allow you to stay connected while relaying information that is relevant to the candidate. What’s more, keeping in touch enables you to continue to build a positive relationship with candidates after the offer.

The Official Offer Letter

An offer letter represents the final stage in your recruiting process and is the legal document that defines the employment relationship between your organization and the candidate. For those reasons, it is critical to get it right.

Think of the offer letter as a formal invitation for the candidate to become an employee of your organization. Like any invitation, your offer letter should send a warm and positive message to the candidate. Articulate a friendly, welcoming tone and indicate your anticipation of the candidate’s future contributions to your organization. The offer letter should inform candidates of their compensation and benefits, as well as include a description of their role and responsibilities.

Consider creating multiple templates for offer letters, especially if you have distinct categories of employees. Then, personalize them to match the candidate and to ensure that each candidate receives the right information for their situation.

Organizations that want to fill open roles with qualified and talented employees need to approach recruitment in the same way that sales and marketing teams approach engaging and closing clients. Look for creative ways to show why your organization is a great place to work.

And, finally, solicit and provide feedback to candidates; this communicates that you value their input and that your organization – like the candidate – is using the exchange as a teachable moment meant to foster growth, which is an indicator of a positive workplace culture. By focusing on your brand, culture and benefits, as well as keeping in touch with candidates, you’ll maximize your ability to land – and keep – the best talent.

When facing a tight and highly competitive talent market, employers find it even more difficult to hire for hard to fill jobs. What’s more, the dearth of highly skilled talent in critical industries can lower an organization’s productivity, which, if let unabated, could have a major effect on the global economy.

According to a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) report, vacancies for jobs requiring highly skilled workers or in-demand skills are among the most difficult to fill. The talent acquisition professionals surveyed in the report said the following job categories are most difficult to recruit:

In this article, we’ll cover how organizations can identify, source and hire highly skilled talent more effectively.

Creating Candidate Personas for Hard to Fill Jobs

Before you source, recruit and hire highly skilled talent, you must first outline the skills, attributes, experience and tendencies of your ideal candidate by creating a candidate persona. A candidate persona is a semi-fictional illustration of a candidate who exemplifies what you are looking for in a specific role. An accurate candidate persona will help your talent team tailor its strategies and approach to best suit the talent you are looking to hire. This is especially important when recruiting highly skilled candidates who have diverse and unique requirements, drivers and employment expectations.

Your candidate persona needs to answer key questions. Begin by answering these questions using existing data from your applicant tracking system (ATS) and customer relationship management (CRM) databases on candidates and employees. You can also interview current employees – especially those who align with your ideal candidate – for their feedback. Below is an example of a candidate persona template:

Make sure your personas are representative of actual human beings – rather than a portrait of an overly idealized, fictional candidate. Also, be cautious when creating candidate personas; giving your personas names and pictures to make them seem more realistic and multi-dimensional is great, but it may also lead to bias. Instead, keep personal identifiers to a minimum to avoid discrimination and maximize diversity. 

Sourcing Highly Skilled Candidates

Leveraging Social Media

LinkedIn is a favorite social media recruiting tool for talent professionals. However, oversaturation is the predominate reason that many hiring managers claim that recruiting on LinkedIn has become less effective. Despite being inundated with competitors, LinkedIn is still one of the most important tools in a recruiter’s toolbox. However, sourcing talent on other social media is also a vital part of a modern recruiting strategy.

• Twitter: Use Twitter’s advanced search function to hunt for user profiles that use industry-related keywords and hashtags. Then, refine your search based on location and other important criteria. For example, if you’re looking to fill a developer position, search Twitter for specific software and developer-related keywords within your organization’s target market. This search can uncover developers in your area with the experience you’re looking for.

• Facebook: Facebook’s targeted search capabilities enable you to find high-quality, skilled workers who align with specific criteria. For example, if you search “copywriters with packaging marketing experience,” Facebook will return a result with matching profiles. Reach out to these candidates to see if they would be interested in interviewing with your organization.

The power in using your social media accounts goes beyond sourcing candidates for hard to fill jobs; you can also showcase your organization’s employer brand and culture to entice and engage talent.

Employee Referrals

To gain a competitive edge, look to your employees. An employee referral program can help your organization expand its network with a ready-made talent pool. Employees have contacts with former classmates and co-workers, and their referrals are more likely to be qualified and a good fit with the company culture.

Additionally, consider posting open positions in office areas, announcing openings at company meetings and sharing them in company-wide communications to help employees keep referrals top of mind. Also, regularly remind employees about the rewards for referrals, such as financial compensation or other perks. Even if a referred candidate is not a good fit for a particular position, you can still consider them for different roles, which can help supplement a robust talent pipeline.

Leverage Recruiting Automation & AI Tools to Source Candidates

Innovations in talent technology have transformed every phase of the recruiting process. One phase that has seen enormous change due to technology is candidate sourcing. Candidate sourcing is the most important phase in recruiting highly skilled talent because the talent pool is more constricted.

Today, talent tools powered by artificial intelligence can locate passive candidates for hard to fill jobs much faster and more efficiently than ever before. AI technology crawls the internet to collect and analyze a wide variety of candidate data – from résumés to social media activity. Based on this data, AI-based tools can help make predictions about which candidates will be open to switching jobs, making it easier for recruiters to prioritize those candidates.

Selling Your Hard to Fill Jobs

When it comes time for the interview, you’re not just interviewing highly skilled candidates; they’re interviewing you, as well. To effectively “sell” your opportunities, outline and communicate the benefits of working for your organization. Effective communication on the front end can save your company significant time and effort.

Understand What It’s Like to Work for Your Organization

To properly sell the role, make sure that you have an accurate view of your organization from the perspective of your employees – both current and former. Consider deploying surveys to obtain feedback from current employees and make sure to conduct exit interviews with departing talent. Take the feedback you receive and craft an objective report of your employee experience. When you understand the day-to-day experiences of your current and former employees, you can better sell an accurate and positive depiction of what it’s like to work for your organization. 

Understand Your Employer Value Proposition

Your employer value proposition (EVP) is what you are selling to the candidate. Recruiters and hiring managers need to know – and be comfortable articulating – the value proposition of your organization. In other words, you need to answer the question, “Why would someone want to work for you in this position?” Your employer value proposition includes a range of tangible and intangible benefits of working at your organization, such as: work/life balance, flexibility, culture, values, compensation and benefits. Know the benefits of working for your company, and make sure that you effectively “sell” it to highly skilled candidates.

For instance, PeopleScout helps a client to maximize its employer brand to attract a healthy pipeline of top talent. The client, which has a global presence in the construction industry, works with PeopleScout to highlight its unique culture to potential employees. During the hiring process, hiring managers communicate the client’s mission of: minimizing environmental impact and maximizing sustainability; creating innovative approaches to complex industry problems; and promoting the well-being of its employees.

As an example, the client offers three days of “well-being” PTO that can be taken in addition to the traditional leave offered by the client. These days are seen as necessary for employees working in a physically and mentally taxing industry, and illustrate the client’s commitment to the well-being of its staff. What’s more, the client also offers multiple flexible work arrangements to increase work-life balance – a prudent, yet uncommon, benefit in the industry. By helping our client weave in its mission, culture and brand into the recruiting process, the team has been able to establish the company as an employer of choice for highly skilled talent. 

Be Careful Not to Oversell

In addition to the perks, it’s also important for candidates to have an objective understanding of the challenges that may come with working at your organization. You don’t have to paint an unflattering picture of your hard to fill jobs, but it is important to provide accurate information up front. Overselling or omitting information will start the employment relationship off on the wrong foot should they accept your offer, and could lead to higher turnover. It won’t take a new hire long to figure out that what they were told before they were hired is not the reality of the role. For example, if your role requires irregular or long hours, communicate that to the candidate. This allows the candidate to make a fully informed decision and mitigate the risk of immediate disengagement.

What Candidates Want to Know

Just like you want to know about a candidate’s background and experience, highly skilled candidates also want to know what they can expect from employment at your organization. In particular, during the recruiting process, they may be interested in: 

• The candidate’s potential for growth: Highly skilled candidates want to know how leaping to a new organization is going to benefit them – especially in relation to the growth and overall well-being of their careers.

• The role’s potential for growth: Candidates may want to go beyond the position in its current form and discuss what the position could be and how the role ties into the organization’s plans for the future. 

• Your organization’s potential for growth: Highly skilled candidates want to be part of a winning team, so show them how your organization is driving success.

• Your organization’s culture: Candidates want to know that the position is going to be a good fit, and that includes how they fit into your organization’s culture. 

The evolving landscape of talent acquisition requires a more proactive, multi-touch approach to attracting highly skilled talent and converting them into applicants and, ultimately, hires. As the global economy continues to grow and the demand and competition for highly skilled talent rises as a result, organizations need to stay abreast of the scope of talent available in the market.