Here’s What Job Seekers Expect From Potential Employers

Finding robust talent to work at your organization is high-stakes, especially at times when job seekers can afford to be picky. This article explores job seekers’ expectations of the ideal recruitment process, so you can up your chances of hiring crème de la crème. 

With the US unemployment rates hitting all-time lows, it’s the job seeker’s market.

Job applicants can be selective when it comes to the organization they want to be employed by. In fact, one bad move and recruiters will be the ones to get an email that starts with “Unfortunately,..”

So—

We at Zety decided to throw under the microscope 1,010 job seekers to explore what they expect of the recruitment process when they interview for jobs.

Here are our findings.

Where Does Your Job Search Start?

Perhaps you think job boards are the number one place for candidates to look for job offers.

But—

The results show that most job seekers (24.82 percent) choose to poke around company websites in search of career opportunities in preference to job boards (24.54 percent), referrals (23.43 percent), and social media platforms (12.7 percent).

This could be due to the growing realization that job boards are growing ineffective because of how dehumanizing and time-consuming they are.

Another point worth noting is where the vast majority of respondents do background research on their prospective employer:

1. Company websites (31 percent)
2. Review sites (28 percent)
3. Insight from current/former employees (23 percent)

The results clearly show that the largest number of candidates visit company websites both when looking for job offers and researching prospective employers.

That’s why it’s a good idea for employers to revamp their company website and provide job seekers with realistic expectations about the work environment, company culture, and values. 

It’ll not only improve the initial candidate experience but will also help pre-screen job seekers on autopilot, leaving you with an enhanced applicant pool.

How Much Energy Are You Willing to Put in When Preparing Your Application?

It’s common knowledge that recruiters average of 7.4 seconds to review a candidate’s application.

But—

What about job seekers? How long does it take from their end to prepare a job application before submitting it?

According to our findings, most job seekers can dedicate up to 2 hours of their time (118 minutes) to it.

This could be due to the fact that most job seekers have realized the importance of tailoring their resume to the job description to stand a chance against applicant tracking systems.

What’s also interesting to note is that the male responders are willing to spend 15 minutes more compared to women to prep and submit a job application. In numbers, it’s 125 and 110 minutes, respectively.

Lastly—

We also found that the more educated the job seeker, the more time they are ready to spend on an application:

• Graduate Degree: 132 minutes
• Bachelor’s Degree: 129 minutes
• College or High School Degree: 99 minutes

How Long Do You Expect the Recruitment Process to Take? 

Job seekers realize that the sooner they find a job, the better their quality of life will be.

That being said, when we asked the responders about how long they expected the job search to last, the results were quite surprising:

• Under two weeks (9 percent)
• Two weeks to the month (33 percent)
• One to three months (41 percent)
• Six months (13 percent)
• One year and more (4 percent)

Now—

How does it compare to reality?

Based on the findings from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment lasts 22 weeks on average.

That’s at least several months longer than what over 80 percent of job seekers would expect.

What Factors Play a Key Role When You Choose Which Career Opportunity to Pursue?

Finally, we asked the responders about their motivates to opt for one job over the other.

Over 90 percent of respondents have identified salary as the most critical factor influencing a job choice, followed by duties and responsibilities (89 percent of the responders pointed at them.)

That being said, while salary turned out to be the most critical factor for everyone, Gen Zers didn’t attach that much importance to it in comparison to other generations.

Also, there is a visible generation gap: the young pay less attention to the type of duties with 12 percent of Gen Zers and 10 percent of Millennials admitting it’s a neutral factor. 

Looking at the other end of the spectrum—

The least important factors for job seekers are brand awareness, referral of a friend, and the size of the company.
In summary, while it’s not that much of a surprise that salary tops the list, it’s fascinating to see that brand awareness ranks that low. The only generation that seems to attach importance to it is Gen Zers, 42 percent of whom think it’s essential.