How many applications do you expect to receive for the Alaska job opening you posted to a local job board?<\/p>\n
Number of applications will depend on several things, including, but not limited to, your industry; the position; your company\u2019s employer brand; and the quality of your ad.<\/p>\n
The good news is you will likely receive applications from at least several qualified candidates.<\/p>\n
A majority of employed individuals, 51 percent, is now actively seeking or open to new opportunities, according to one study. It\u2019s a big shift from only a few years ago when, during the recession, employed individuals clung to their current jobs, happy for a paycheck.<\/p>\n
Job seeker confidence has been a byproduct of a stable, growing economy. Curiosity has also fueled the search. Even many employees who are relatively satisfied with their current job want to know what other opportunities might be available.<\/p>\n
Reviewing applications<\/strong><\/p>\n Among so many applicants, how do you find your ideal candidate? Sifting through a pile of job applications, electronic or otherwise, requires attention to detail.<\/p>\n Fortunately, these days, employers frequently rely on an applicant tracking system (ATS), or an integrated talent management system that includes ATS features, to filter out candidates who don\u2019t meet the necessary qualifications. Needless to say, you\u2019ll want to make sure your keywords are correct so you don\u2019t miss out on quality candidates.<\/p>\n When taking advantage of all your system\u2019s bells and whistles, be sure to use the feature that generates a response to a job applicant.<\/p>\n Communication matters<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes, you should respond to all job applicants, including those you don\u2019t interview.<\/p>\n Best practices include acknowledging receipt of the application and an update on the next step. What if there is no next step? \u201cThank you for your interest, but\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n When your application process is automated, this is easy to do.<\/p>\n What happens if you are a small company that doesn\u2019t have this kind of system?<\/p>\n Get back to all job applicants anyway. There are email templates you can use for applicants who don\u2019t pass the initial screening, as well as email templates for applicants who interview but don\u2019t get the job.<\/p>\n Isn\u2019t it easier to simply say something like this in a job ad: \u201cWe will only contact applicants who meet our qualifications\u201d? This way, you\u2019ve covered your bases, right?<\/p>\n It\u2019s better than nothing, but it\u2019s not a best practice. To a job seeker, the statement comes across as rather condescending \u2014 and the statement does nothing to further your employer brand.<\/p>\n Remember, every positive experience a job seeker has when interacting with your company furthers your employer brand, while every negative experience detracts from it.<\/p>\n Why is employer brand so important? A strong employer brand helps you attract strong candidates. In addition, it impacts your company\u2019s overall reputation. After all, those Alaska job applicants are also customers or would-be customers. And, thanks to social media, word spreads very quickly about their experiences.<\/p>\n Bottom line: Don\u2019t risk ruining your rep by not getting back to job applicants. It\u2019s common courtesy, and courtesy really does count.<\/p>\n Paula Santonocito, a business journalist specializing in employment issues, has covered online recruitment since the early days of Web-based employment advertising and candidate sourcing.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How many applications do you expect to receive for the Alaska job opening you posted to a local job board? Number of applications will depend on several things, including, but not limited to, your industry; the position; your company\u2019s employer brand; and the quality of your ad. The good news<\/a> is you will likely receive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":7967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":13,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[232],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-7966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketplace","tag-employer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7966"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=7966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}