How To Have Effective Conversations With Candidates

Published 9 Aug 2022 | 3 min read

The most meaningful candidate conversations are based on a mutual understanding. So, what the best way to understand your candidate market? Tap into SEEK’s Laws of Attraction data portal.

The easy-to-use portal features a wealth of local candidate data that’s refreshed regularly to support New Zealand’s employers in strengthening their attraction and retention strategies. It can be filtered to give a deeper understanding of what candidates are really looking for in a job, so you can focus conversations around the specific drivers and perks that they value.

Elyssia Clark, Head of Customer Insights and Strategy at SEEK, explains the Laws of Attraction data is based on more than 4,500 local candidate responses.

“The insights are not vanilla,” she says. “The data is granular and cuts across industries and demographics, so you can use it to show how much you understand your candidates better than the competition.”

How the candidate market is changing

In the current employment market, employers need to take every opportunity to capture the interest of candidates.

“During the height of the pandemic, there was a reluctance among candidates to move jobs, which exacerbated the candidate-short market” says Clark.

“But our latest data shows us that around one in four hope to change jobs in the next 12 months. Our Laws of Attraction portal enables hirers to maximise their chance of capturing that moving candidate market through informed data and insights.”

For some hard-to-fill roles, for instance, Clark says the best way win over candidates is to show them that you understand them.

“For senior IT managers, for example, it’s important for hirers to know that salary and work life balance are top drivers for these candidates, but also that 39% would be delighted if the role offered flexible working hours. You can use this information to put you in the best position to drive placements.”

Leveraging the Laws of Attraction data

Before starting candidate conversations, tap into the Laws of Attraction portal to gain an understanding of what they are likely to want in their next role. With this knowledge, you can reflect on how your organisation fits with their priorities and how you can best discuss this with candidates, leading to a more effective and positive conversation.

“In that engagement phase, it's really important to go back into the portal and get underneath all of those drivers,” says Clark. “If you’re going to be talking about corporate social responsibility, for instance, how can you talk about it in a way that is meaningful and relevant to your specific candidate market? It’s all in the data for you to leverage.”

Dig deep into the data

The data in SEEK’s Laws of Attraction portal goes beyond specific industries. You can filter it to discover what drives candidates from specific generations, gender and levels of seniority. This knowledge can be used during your conversations to show that you understand candidates as individuals and that your organisation is designed to fit their needs.

“For example, we know that mobility and global opportunity were highly valued before the pandemic, especially by Millennials,” says Clark. “The latest data shows the number of candidates who are willing to work overseas has dropped by half, but this driver has been replaced by other incentives, so it’s really valuable to find what these drivers now are and then use this knowledge in your conversations with specific candidate groups.”

In a tight employment market, a deep understanding of candidates can make the difference between attracting top talent or losing out to the competition. The valuable insights in SEEK’s Laws of Attraction portal can help you to build meaning conversations with candidates and support your successful recruitment strategy.

What’s driving the employment choices of candidates today? Visit SEEK’s Laws of Attraction portal for the latest insights. 

Click here to read the article by Seek.co.nz.