Salary is one of the first details job seekers look for in a posting. Along with education and experience requirements, compensation immediately determines if someone will apply for the job or move on to the next one. Common practice has been for companies to put off salary discussions until it was time for an offer. Some prefer to present a large salary range in the job listing. Shifts in the job market have seem greater movement towards salary transparency, with some states even requiring it by law.
What Is Salary Transparency?
Salary transparency is the act of openly discussing wages in job postings, in interviews, and as a part of company culture. As recently as 1953, discussing salaries openly within the company or with others outside such as the news media could be a punishable offense. The National Labor Relations Act was passed that year to protect a worker’s ability to “discuss wages in face-to-face conversations, over the phone, and in written messages. Policies that specifically prohibit the discussion of wages are unlawful.”
While companies do have some ability to limit wage discussion on social media under electronic use policies, it’s unlawful for a company to retaliate against a person for communicating about salary. They also cannot have any rules in place that prohibit those conversations.
Why Does Salary Transparency Matter?
As part of the ongoing effort supporting employment equity, several states have passed laws that require salary range as a part of job postings. Emerging data from these efforts shows, at minimum, that women benefit from salary transparency. As of March 2023, California, Washington, Nevada, Colorado, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and Maryland had enacted salary transparency laws. Fifteen more states are considering adding them in upcoming legislative sessions. Each state has its own job posting requirements. Some demand a list of all benefits, while others want to see just a salary range.
Gathering data to these laws’ effects will take some time. But according to The Center for American Progress, a recent (though limited) study analyzed Colorado’s pay transparency law. After its passage, the state’s labor force participation rate increased compared with the labor force participation rate of nearby Utah. Since the Beehive State has similar demographics and economic characteristics, it served as a good comparison. In a competitive labor market where companies are looking to cut through the noise and find the best candidates, salary transparency may be a promising solution.
Including Salary Detail in Job Listings
To new generations of workers, perceiving salary as a taboo topic is an unpopular stance. Recent data from The Society of Human Resources Management shows that a whopping “80% of U.S. workers are more likely to consider applying for a position if the pay range is listed in the job posting.”
Whether companies see this as a burden or an opportunity is up to them. Secrecy around salaries not only affects new hires, but current employees too. A company culture that discourages open discussion may be banking on an underpaid employee not realizing that their position is worth more than they are making. This can dramatically affect employee retention along with hiring replacement workers who find that practice distasteful.
Employers who are feeling adrift with new regulations and practices can take some comfort in the nuances of the discussion. SHRM points out that pay equity is about fairness. Fairness accounts for differences between people that are nondiscriminatory. Examples include special skills, years of experience, education, and location. Employees don’t have access to all the data and information available to HR. There are legitimate reasons to offer different salaries to different workers. It’s important to spend time documenting these reasons and make sure they are fair and easy for other employees to understand.
Benefits of Including Salary Range in Job Postings
Preparedness: Including salary information in job postings allows hiring managers to make these decisions in advance of the first candidate walking into the interview. It encourages scrutiny of past salary practices and adopting legally compliant policies (where applicable).
Trust: Transparent salary information fosters trust between job candidates and existing employees. As companies post job information on popular websites and social media, good and bad information can make its way to both potential and current workers. Extending this courtesy to both groups is vital for filling positions and job retention.
Quality: SHRM found that 66 per cent of companies who include salary information in job postings said the quality of their candidates improved, along with 70 per cent who said the number of their applications increased. A high caliber applicant pool saves you time and money.
Stand Out: Part of an employee’s compensation package is perks and benefits. If your small business feels like it can’t compete with larger companies from a salary perspective, you can list available perks that make your company culture unique. Examples include a gym membership, flexible work hours, or a generous PTO or holiday policy. For some workers, those benefits will outweigh the potential of a higher salary.
Productivity: If your company offers compensation that’s tied to performance, transparency makes it clear how employees can achieve their highest level of salary. It can foster healthy competition between employees who do a similar job. Secrecy can have the opposite effect, as gossip can discourage employees from doing their best work.
If your company has adopted salary transparency as a best practice, ApplicantStack can help. You can fill in the salary or salary range in every job listing for quick internal reference and to easily populate top job boards. Enjoy the peace of mind that comes with complying with local regulations and recruiting the best possible candidates for your company.
We’re excited to announce our inclusion in Indeed’s ATS Partner Program as a Gold Partner. We work closely with Indeed to build reliable integrations, optimizing hiring processes for countless businesses across all industries.
ApplicantStack + Indeed Integration
Indeed is the top-ranked job site in the world, drawing more than 350 million unique visitors on a monthly basis. The goal of the site is to put jobseekers first, offering access to open roles and the option to research companies they are considering working for. With over 245 million resumes on Indeed, employers can also find and connect with top talent, creating a mutually beneficial situation for the workplace.
ApplicantStack is designed for small business clients, helping them compete with major companies for skilled talent. Without the right applicants and new hires, it becomes more difficult to grow and maintain a stellar team. But the recruiting process can take a lot of time and effort, which small business owners may not have to give.
ApplicantStack levels the playing field, and the integration with Indeed gets open roles in front of a wider audience. Sponsored Jobs, which can be created and posted within the platform, attract nearly five times more candidates than non-sponsored jobs. Plus, the applicant-tracking system (ATS) streamlines the recruiting process while ensuring access to all data from one place.
Take Advantage of Indeed + ApplicantStack: A Winning Combination
Learn more about our integration with Indeed and how you can access an all-inclusive hiring & onboarding solution as you build your team.
Finding the right person to fill an open role with your company can be a challenge. But even when you locate them, you might need to sell them on the organization. The latest generation of workers wants to feel like the company they work for aligns with their values and that they can make an impact.
So, that means you always have to be ready to sell your company and show how it benefits society as a whole. This concept can help you generate more interest in open positions and attract candidates who really care about the work they do. Explore our five tips to craft a candidate pitch that appeals to all who hear it.
What is a Candidate Pitch?
A candidate pitch, also known as a recruitment pitch, is a clear and succinct statement offered to a prospective new hire to inform them of the position and company. The goal of this pitch is to capture their interest. It should also encourage them to submit an application or consider an offer. By crafting and using a recruitment pitch regularly, your team can emphasize the value of the company and what it contributes.
Ways to Improve Your Candidate Pitch
As you consider how to pitch the company and open roles to a potential candidate, you can incorporate these five tips.
Tell a story
People respond more effectively to stories, as the information presented in this way is more memorable and relatable. As you craft your recruitment pitch, think about the narrative you could weave around the start of the business and how it has reached the point it is at today.
You might also think about incorporating elements of existing team members’ stories. For example, if you have an employee who has moved up from a lower level to a higher one, tell that person’s story. Demonstrate the opportunities for professional growth and development and investment in each individual’s potential and skillset.
Highlight unique selling points (USPs)
Every business has its own unique selling points. Your candidate pitch should emphasize these clearly. Describe what sets your company apart and what members of the workforce get to experience as part of the organization. You could also highlight some of the elements of your business that align with candidate values. Examples include any investments into inclusion, environmental sustainability or opportunities to advance.
Take advantage of resources
In today’s tech-heavy world, it’s worth taking advantage of all available resources. Artificial intelligence (AI) platforms are ideal for creating first drafts of content, including a pitch to sell potential candidates on open roles within your business. Input the information you have and see what you get. It’s easy to make adjustments where needed, and you’ll likely save some time on the first go-around.
Customize the content to your audience
As you craft a candidate pitch, consider the people who might apply for open roles. What do these individuals have in common with one another? Do they share certain skills or experience? Customize your pitch to what those people might be interested in hearing about the company.
Include a call to action
Make sure candidates know what the next steps are in the process with a clear call to action at the end of the pitch. If you’re discussing open roles, provide information about where to find additional details and how to submit an application.
Are you looking for additional resources to streamline your hiring efforts? ApplicantStack is your go-to, offering applicant tracking and candidate management tools that keep everyone on the same page. Whether you’re building a new time, backfilling an open role, or hiring regularly, you can count on this solution to make it easier to find and bring on talent. Give it a try (it’s free)!
Attracting, hiring and retaining top talent is not a game of chance — it’s all about strategy. In fact, there are right ways, wrong ways and optimal ways to go about hiring that can increase your chances of attracting the right people for your open roles.
When completed with care, you can:
Get your job listings in front of the most qualified candidates.
Attract passive candidates.
Engage job seekers.
Improve the candidate experience.
Retain top talent.
In this blog, we’re discussing some of the most important and lucrative hiring best practices that can help set you up for recruiting success in 2024 and beyond.
The Benefits of Getting Your Hiring Process Right
At the end of January 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported approximately 8.9 million job vacancies nationwide. This figure is down from an all-time high of 12.2 million in March 2022, but there’s still some work to be done to fill these millions of open roles.
And, while hiring best practices can change significantly from one industry to another, we believe there are a few core principles and strategies that provide value to recruitment and retention across the board.
Before diving into those best practices, let’s first understand some of the benefits that a focused and well-balanced recruitment process can provide for your organization.
Higher Quality Talent Acquisition
A well-executed hiring process can increase your chances of attracting the most qualified candidate for your open role — someone who possesses the skills, experience and cultural fit necessary to excel at your company.
Well-executed, of course, means a genuine, optimized and fair hiring process. Unfortunately, this is something that employers need to be reminded about. A recent study revealed that a surprising 36% of hiring managers admit to lying to potential candidates. Even more surprising, a whopping 80% of hiring managers believe that lying is “very acceptable” during the recruitment process.
So, what is the cherry on top of all this fibbing? About 35 percent of prospects that were lied to and then hired ended up leaving the company within one month, and 31 percent within three months.
Finding and retaining good talent needs to start off on the right foot: the honest one.
Improved Performance and Productivity
Hiring the right people can enhance team dynamics and productivity, which can lead to improved performance and better business outcomes. McKinsey calls this employee archetype the “thriving stars.” And, based on research, they say that employees belonging to this archetype “bring disproportionate value to the company” and “have a hugely positive impact on performance and productivity by, among other things, creating psychological safety and trust in a team setting.”
Cost Savings
Hiring the right candidates from the outset can help reduce recruitment costs associated with turnover, training and onboarding. No study is required to discern that hiring is an expensive mechanism of the modern workplace.
Job advertising and interviewing aside, high turnover sometimes means higher severance pay for fired employees, while onboarding new ones may mean more signing bonuses and relocation assistance.
Beyond the cost of the recruiting process itself, there are plenty of other expenses that can strain your budget quickly.
Enhanced Company Culture
Hiring individuals who embody your company’s core values and contribute positively to the workplace culture can strengthen your organizational ethos and foster a sense of belonging among employees.
The result? Oftentimes, hiring individuals who are a good cultural fit results in higher employee engagement, reduced turnover and better performance all around. By consistently hiring and retaining top talent, organizations position themselves for long-term success, growth and sustainability in today’s increasingly competitive business landscape.
The Negative Impacts of Hiring the Wrong People
We’ve discussed a few benefits of hiring an ideal new employee, but what about some of the less obvious, negative impacts associated with poor hiring practices?
Have a look:
Wasted resources: Unoptimized processes take longer, are more prone to error and may unnecessarily extend your time-to-hire, which costs money.
Missed opportunities for innovation, growth and achieving strategic objectives: With a drawn-out recruiting process, you risk losing the interest of qualified candidates.
Reputational damage: Poor practices are pretty evident — especially to prospective hires who have no stakes in your organization. An unideal process may warrant criticism, which can harm your brand image.
5 Hiring Best Practices
Hiring isn’t easy—but it also doesn’t have to be rocket science. Employ these five recruiting best practices to get the ball rolling in your organization’s favor (while also appeasing prospective employees).
1. Define Clear (and Honest) Job Descriptions
Harkening back to the research done on employer honesty, you absolutely should not lie to a potential candidate at any point throughout your recruitment strategy. Not in the job description, during the interview process or onboarding.
For curiosity’s sake, here are the top five things that employers lie to candidates about — so you can do the opposite:
The role’s responsibilities (40 percent)
Growth opportunities at the company (39 percent)
Career development opportunities (38 percent)
Company culture (31 percent)
Benefits (28 percent)
Be honest about the responsibilities and expectations of each role in your job postings, and your new hires may just stick around for longer.
Workplace culture is at a bit of a strange juncture these days. With an increase in remote/hybrid working arrangements, employees say that feeling less connected to their organization’s culture is a major challenge.
For organizations, some believe that hybrid work has negatively impacted their workplace culture. So, what’s the solution?
Both of these revelations communicate that culture is still important, even if employees are going into the office less and less as time passes. So, when hiring new employees, it may be more important than ever to assess cultural fit and how a candidate could positively contribute to your hybrid atmosphere. Here are some questions to ask during the interview process to glean good cultural information:
Can you describe your ideal work environment?
Tell me about a time when you successfully collaborated with a team.
How do you handle ambiguity or change in the workplace?
Describe a situation where you had to resolve a conflict with a colleague.
What do you value most in a workplace?
4. Invest in Your Employer Branding
According to Universum’s 2023 Employer Branding NOW study, employer branding is a top priority for organizations right now and a critical HR investment.
What’s influencing this investment? Well, 86 percent of surveyed employees revealed they are likely to research a company’s reviews and ratings when deciding on where to apply. Moreover, half of all candidates say they wouldn’t work for a company with a bad reputation. Here are a few ways to improve branding to optimize the hiring process:
Create consistent brand messaging
Provide growth opportunities
Emphasize employee well-being
Welcome, monitor and respond to employee feedback
5. Promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)
DEI in the workplace is a bit of a difficult topic these days. There’s a strong political divide between those who support DEI efforts and those who believe having strict race requirements for certain roles, grants or opportunities is iffy.
What we do know for certain, however, is that everyone—no matter their background—deserves an equitable chance at success in their work.
As we progress further into 2024, the way organizations approach DEI may change, so it’s important to stay abreast of hiring trends to determine the most beneficial path forward for everyone—job seekers, employees and organizations included.
Here are a few ways to help promote that success:
Foster inclusive leadership: Train managers and leaders to promote inclusivity in their teams, to actively listen to diverse perspectives, advocate for underrepresented employees and create an inclusive work environment where everyone feels valued.
Review and address pay equity: Regularly review your organization’s compensation practices to identify and address any disparities based on gender, race or other characteristics.
Create employee resource groups (ESGs): Establish employee resource groups or affinity groups where staff from diverse backgrounds can connect, share experiences and advocate for positive change.
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The job market is a dynamic, living thing that demands adaptability. For businesses of every size, intuition and personal connection are vital for finding ideal candidates. But they are only part of the hiring puzzle: analyzing recruitment metrics gives a more accurate picture of where your hiring process is succeeding and where you could stand to improve.
Understanding Recruitment Metrics and Why They Matter
Recruitment metrics refer to the data that provide insight into the efficiency and effectiveness of your company’s hiring process. Metrics are individually insightful but the data is also symbiotic, informing the other. For example, if the most expensive recruitment source you use yields the highest quality candidates, it may be a mistake to reduce that budget because an overall budget metric suggested cost-cutting.
Analyzing hiring metrics gives companies ideas on how to work more efficiently, which hiring methods work the best for your type of business, and can even anticipate growth to generate a long-term hiring plan before it’s critical. In small businesses where employees may wear many different hats—including participation in hiring—collecting and reviewing these metrics is essential to focus and coordinate your efforts.
Recruitment Metrics to Track
Consider tracking these important recruiting metrics:
Time to Fill
Simply put, “time to fill” indicates the number of calendar days it takes to find and hire a new employee. The Academy to Innovate HR (AIHR) offers a few different starting points:
A hiring manager submitting a job requisition
A job requisition’s approval
A job posting going live online
The end date is typically when a candidate accepts a job offer. This metric can show internal delays in approvals or posting.
Time to Hire
While “time to fill” analyzes the company’s time efficiency, “time to hire” is a more candidate-centered metric. This number indicates the time from when the candidate applies to accepting an offer. It can show lags in company response time, a leading reason for losing out on a potential hire.
Cost Per Hire
This is a metric that accounts for all the costs your company incurs while hiring new employees. It may include:
Internal hiring administrative and legal costs
Cost of job postings
Advertising costs
External recruiter fees
Travel expenses
Recruitment or hiring bonuses
Relocation costs
To calculate cost per hire, add up all costs in a time frame and divide it by the number of hires. This metric helps the company know how effective the hiring budget is being used, and where to make adjustments if the cost per hire is limiting the number of new employees you can add in a year.
The average cost per hire is $4,700, according to SHRM data. But some estimates come in as high as three to four times the total salary of the position your company is seeking to fill. It’s worth identifying areas to trim the overall cost.
Application Completion Rate
If your company uses an online application system, this metric can show how many candidates start but never finish the process. It can indicate bottlenecks in the application, or note if candidates consistently leave sections blank or seem to have insufficient space to answer questions. This metric allows you to make the appropriate edits so the application process is smooth for the applicant and provides the right amount of data for the company.
Offer Acceptance Rate
This metric helps you know the percentage of offers accepted by prospective employees. Considering that it always costs you something to make an offer, this metric is valuable in analyzing each step of the recruiting, interviewing, and offering process. If your company has a high initial response rate but a low offer acceptance rate, this may indicate:
Your job descriptions may be misleading about actual job responsibilities
Your interview process could be too long or too demanding
Your communication has some lag time that’s causing you to lose out on desirable hires
Quality of Hire
Once a prospective employee has been hired, analyzing metrics doesn’t need to stop. In the first few months of a new employee’s tenure, you can evaluate whether they are meeting the company’s standards. If you have a trial period, this can be a useful metric to determine whether you and the new employee are a good fit after all.
According to Indeed, “The basic calculation for quality of hire would work as follows: job performance score + social engagement score + productivity score / total number of factors = quality of hire.”
These criteria will vary from company to company, but a noticeable decline in quality of new hires can motivate you to examine the factors that lead to low productivity, for example. Can they be attributed to a point in the hiring process that could use some scrutiny? It’s better to address those issues long before hiring, onboarding, and a period of lesser quality work.
New Hire Turnover Rate
While analyzing quality of hire comes from the company side, turnover comes from the employee side. This metric shows how many new hires stay on for some defined period of time. If you’re seeing an unexpectedly high turnover rate, this can indicate:
Problems with onboarding
Confusion about or dissatisfaction with job responsibilities
Mismatch of employee to supervisor
Interview mistakes regarding skills or experience
Analyzing Hiring Metrics
Modern software makes gathering hiring metrics a breeze. A tool like ApplicantStack offers reports for a whole suite of data, allowing your company to track recruitment metrics with ease. These reports can provide great insight before a hiring push puts you in a bind.
A budget-conscious company is always looking to save on the bottom line, but the right metrics can do much more than just encourage an overall slash and cut. This data can give you insight if your recruiting spending is in the right places, and offer guidance to reallocate resources to actions offering you the most quality hires. Get access to the reports your company needs to track hiring metrics when you start your free trial.
One of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is referred to as “the great resignation.” During this time, which began in 2021, employees resigned from their positions en masse. According to some estimates, more than 50 million employees voluntarily left their roles, resulting in a mad scramble for talent.
Some of the factors driving the mass resignation event included a desire for enhanced flexibility, particularly in scheduling, remote or hybrid work, and higher pay. But a percentage of these individuals regretted their decision, resulting in an attempt to return to the company they left behind.
Embracing returning team members was a 2023 hiring trend we discussed on our blog. Now we’re diving into why these employees want to come back, what to consider and the benefits of welcoming them into the fold.
What is a ‘Boomerang’ Employee?
The term “boomerang employee” refers to someone who left their role and came back to the organization. Considering that the average employee tenure with a company is about five years, it makes sense that they might return to a company they worked for previously during their approximate 40-year professional run.
Why Employees Might Return to Previous Employers
A significant portion of those who quit their jobs believe that the previous role was better than their current one. People in this situation might be more excited about a return to their previous employer, which can boost morale and strengthen the company culture.
Other factors influencing decisions to return to previous employers include life situation changes, such as having children or caring for an ill family member or exploring another industry. An employee might choose to pursue a passion, taking time away from work during that period. Some people work seasonally, while others relocate temporarily based on climate conditions. These situations can all lead to boomerang employees.
The Benefits of Embracing Returning Employees
There are certainly benefits that come along with embracing former team members who want to rejoin the company. Some of these advantages include:
Familiarity with the expectations, responsibilities and job overall
A well-established relationship with the employer, which can boost retention and loyalty
An increased likelihood of understanding and aligning with the company culture
A less time-consuming onboarding process
Depending on their reasoning for leaving and what they did during the period away, returning employees may bring additional viewpoints and skills that can benefit your company.
Considerations of Rehiring Boomerang Employees
Of course, not every employee who resigned from their role will be a good fit to return. It’s worth considering what they will bring to the team and whether their presence will benefit the organization.
If a former employee left on a negative note, a return could create bad feelings in the workplace. Even remote workers may have trouble with tasks that involve collaboration or delegation from an individual who spoke negatively about the company or participated in other toxic behaviors.
Make sure to consider other applicants before determining whether the previous team member is the best fit. It’s easy to overlook well-qualified candidates when someone who is already trained and familiar with the processes requests to come back.
Understand why the employee chose to leave to get a sense of whether they will be happy working for the company once again. If they felt dissatisfied with aspects of business leadership or team workflows, they might become a higher flight risk if their concerns haven’t been resolved.
Maximize Your Hiring Efforts with ApplicantStack
Whether you choose to bring back boomerang employees or widen the search to include a range of candidates, ApplicantStack can make the hiring process go more smoothly. It includes tools to make communication with candidates easier, keeping everyone on the same page. Plus, you can share your open positions on multiple job posting sites with a single click to cast a wider net.
