According to the Bureau of Labor statistics as of July 2022 the unemployment rate in the United States is 3.5%, the lowest it's been in 1/2 a century. This means there are more open positions then people without work looking to fill them. The majority of industries are having trouble finding the right people to bring aboard and keeping them once they are hired. The demand for talent is outstripping the supply in most markets across the country. What is a company to do if they are going to win in this environment for talent?

How do you win the best and brightest over to your firm, when likely every one of your competitors is going after the same job seekers?

1. First and foremost, to stand a chance at landing quality applicants, you have to offer a competitive salary and benefits package just to get on their radar. Just as in the real estate market where there is a shortage of supply and buyers are driving up home prices, without marketing a competitive and attractive compensation package you stand zero chance of hiring top talent. We hear it every day “these employees in the market just don't want to work”, when in all actuality they will not work for peanuts when there are several other options in your market who are offering more competitive compensation. If you needed a sign, now is the time to review your competitiveness in pay if you are having difficulty attracting quality talent.

2. Secondly and almost equally as important as compensation, today's employee wants to work for organizations with a mission driven culture they can get behind. The Harvard Business Review reported last fall that more than 90% of employees would be willing to earn 23% less money to do work they believe has meaning. This is the time to review and if necessary, update your company mission and values, and even survey your existing employee population to get them involved in any revision. Once you've polished this mission of yours, with all the social media channels available today there are more ways to present and market your mission and culture to prospective employees than there has ever been. Don't just hide your mission in some PowerPoint deck on your network, discuss it on your website, interview your employees and host those video interviews in your social media posts and other channels to spark the interest of your next great hire.

3. Speaking of social media, the third thing we would recommend companies do if they are having difficulty recruiting right now is to look beyond LinkedIn and become more active with their recruiting social activity. Today, you never know where your next great hire is going to come from, therefore you should be passively looking for them or engaging in conversations with them on all social media channels they could potentially be using. This means having your marketing team engaging with users who comment on your YouTube videos, analyzing engagement data from your Facebook or Twitter or TikTok posts to learn more about these users-- one of them maybe you're next great hire. Don't just place ads in your applicant tracking software or recruitment site and expect them to come, post a video on your social media channels for that hard to fill position of one of your existing employees discussing the job role and how much they enjoy working for you.