A business website will serve many different purposes. It is the digital hub that provides valuable information to customers, processes transactions or provides data to customers, and becomes the public face of your company to the world. It is likely the first place where people looking for employment will visit to learn more about the company. That potential new hire is reviewing the website to get a better understanding of the story that the business is telling. The question becomes, “What is the story the business is communicating to the world?”
Very often, companies will use the About page to tell a story about their business. In the pallet industry, it is sometimes about a parent, or even a grandparent, that started with a truck, a garage, hard work, and a dream. While this a great way of displaying a history of growth and service to customers, it may be time to rethink the approach when communicating what a great employer the company is to those potential new hires.
A potential new hire wants to know about the company as it operates today and a Careers page on the company website is a great way to collect and communicate information about becoming and being an employee. Aside from making standard job listings available, the page can be utilized to display pertinent information about the company that is relevant to employment. For instance, it is a good idea to have pictures available that show different areas of work in the business like the shop floor or office.
The Careers page is a great opportunity to showcase current employees and their stories. A short employee biography with pictures is a powerful way to communicate how the company treats its workers. A quick recorded video interview with a current employee is even better. Your employees really are your best salespeople to those looking for jobs at the company. Using these resources on the website demonstrates to future employees that the employer values its workforce.
While the company website can function as a career hub for the business, social media is an antenna that broadcasts about the company to the wider world. Of course, social media is a great way to advertise available job openings. Most social media platforms offer job postings as part of their paid services. It is also a tremendous opportunity to showcase the company and connect with a newcomer.
Most people have five or more social media accounts, and while potential employees are using social media channels like LinkedIn to look for jobs, they are almost certainly using those same channels to further investigate the company in general. What are they looking for? In two words – engagement and information.
A company website provides a view of the company and its services that is most often tilted toward customers and finding new business. Social media offers outsiders the chance to dive a little deeper and the opportunity to view the culture of a company as a great place to work.
However, when was the last time the company posted anything to LinkedIn or another social media channel? Has it been more than six months ago? Did the company post about how great their service is or was it something about employees?
Especially important is communicating how the company is addressing COVID concerns internally. Certainly, you want your customers to know that you are up, running, and available for business. Think about what a potential employee is looking for when it comes to how COVID is being handled within the company. Using a social media channel to clearly inform new hires about company policies regarding COVID provides clarity and peace of mind that the business is a safe place to work. These are the details that paint a picture of company culture that values its employees.
The company website has been redesigned, and the company social media accounts are broadcasting useful updated information for customers and potential employees alike. The company is receiving submissions for job openings, and now is the time to start streamlining the online hiring process. What starts as a trickle can quickly turn into a firehose, especially in today’s digital job market with a one-click submission to a job posting. While finding quality candidates can be tough, job boards like indeed.com and ziprecuriter.com, and social media sites like LinkedIn have internal tools to help an employer with processing applications and resumes. It is essential though that the job listing is clear on experience and requirements.
If the company website is set up with a Careers page (it is, right?) and this is being used to collect resumes and applications, it is vitally important to respond to submissions in a timely manner. An applicant that can be a good fit will not wait for a company that takes even a few days to respond. Many of these processes can be automated to alleviate the burden of answering each individual submission. One way to do so is to set up an email for job submissions only and use an autoresponder for initial replies. This small action goes a long way in opening communication with applicants and launching the interview process.
The COVID pandemic has forced every company to rethink many of their processes and make sweeping adjustments. Thankfully, the pallet industry is considered critical infrastructure, and most companies were able to remain open for business. As such, hiring of new employees continued but changes to the interview process were necessary.
Video conferencing tools like Zoom Meetings, Microsoft Teams, and the old favorite Skype enter the process and allow companies to continue interviewing job seekers safely. Frequently, applicants in the labor pool for the pallet industry are immigrants, and English is their second language. In some cases, companies use a current employee who speaks the language to either conduct the interview or provide translation via shared video meeting when appropriate.
Zoom has a feature that allows a non-native speaker to hear another person on the call translate in real-time to their own language on a different audio channel during the meeting. There are other tools available for video conferencing that provide a closed caption translation in real-time as well. However, not all job applicants have access to this technology. This is where the good old-fashion phone interview sometimes takes place.
Technology is only one part of the communication strategy to effectively recruit new hires. While the technology may have been updated to offer new ways to communicate with job seekers in the 21st century, a company still has to offer a culture and work environment that is appealing and will attract new talent. A company website, social media channels and video conferencing tools can be the windows that showcase what sets your company apart as a best place to work in 2021.
Editor’s Note: Glenn Meeks is an expert on marketing and sales for the pallet and recycling industries. He currently offers communications, freelance writing, website design and online marketing services tailored to the pallet industry. He can be reached by calling (888) 261-2284, or at glenn.meeks@woodviewmedia.com.
