Getting people to be interested in your jobs is difficult.

It’s difficult because we’re attempting to persuade them to show some interest in your job vacancy, which will also mean that they might have to undergo one of the most stressful things any of us have to endure – and that is the process of changing employers.

Here are the 6 most stressful events in people’s lives, according to a survey conducted by www.thisismoney.co.uk:

1. Going through a divorce 78%
2. Selling or buying a house 70%
3. Arranging care for an elderly relative 68%
4. Having a child 53%
5. Changing jobs 49%
6. Getting married 40%

So with this in mind, when there’s a job vacancy that needs to be filled – especially if it’s a business-critical job vacancy – whose self-interests really need to be addressed first?

That’s right. The candidate’s.

Right at the start of any recruitment campaign, your target candidates effectively become your target customers. At least up until the point where they’ve been convinced that they want to work for you, which is when the recruitment process morphs from selling into buying.

So logically, if someone was going to seriously consider leaving their current employer to work for you – and put themselves through one of the most stressful events in their life, then it would probably be reasonable to expect that we should be giving them valid reasons why doing so might make their life more rewarding in some way.

There’s no secret or magic to finding the right candidates – It’s just about doing your research, knowing what you’re selling, knowing what good looks like, and treating people with respect. On that last point, respect is often shown by talking with them when it’s most convenient for them – which is usually evenings and weekends.

If we don’t show the target candidates complete respect, both in how we position our job opportunity to them and by treating them with honesty and transparency, filling specialist, white-collar jobs in all sectors get reduced to a bigger game of chance than it needs to be.

The current climate we’re living through has brought about very high levels of hesitancy in considering changing jobs across all job sectors and disciplines. That’s one more level of stress that nobody bargained for.

Now, as recruiters and hiring managers, we are facing up the realisation that if we’re going to have any chance of filling these critical job vacancies, we’re going to have to start thinking from the target candidate’s perspective, not our own.

If you need help with your recruitment, reach out to arrange a free, informal, discussion.