3 Ways to Attract (and Keep) the Best Candidates

In June 2016, the unemployment rate fell below 5 percent (4.9 percent). This was the first time we experienced such a low unemployment rate since the beginning of the Great Recession. For recruiters, this means it has become harder to find talent to fill positions. So what can be done to improve yield and productivity? Research suggests some obvious solutions, and some less obvious ones. 

Here are three solutions you can start implementing right away:

1. Start with a higher compensation.

My work based on data from CareerBuilder shows that job postings with higher compensation attract more (and better) applicants. A 10 percent increase in compensation is associated with a 7 percent increase in applicants. Furthermore, higher compensation attracts applicants with higher education and longer experience.

2. Offer them frequent pay raises.

You may want to also leave yourself some room to increase compensation in the future. Research suggests that workers who receive an increase in compensation perform better. However, the increase in performance is fairly short lived. It may be smart, then, to give relatively frequent smaller pay increases rather than one big pay raise.

3. Give them a gift: It’s the thought that matters!

Surprisingly, research has shown that giving employees a gift has a higher impact on performance than giving them the same amount in the form of a pay raise. In one experiment by Kube, Marechal and Puppe, a gift of a thermos bottle raised workers’ productivity by 25 percent over the course of one day! The key reason why the gift worked so well? It showed thoughtfulness on the part of the employer.