What Matters Most to Today’s Well-Informed Workers

Job candidates have tremendous access to employer information today. That had altered the way well-informed workers find and consider new work opportunities. Here's a look at how the search process is changing for everyone.

Historically, the balance of power between employers and candidates has favoured employers. Candidates had few sources of information about open positions, corporate culture or company vision, let alone compensation and benefits.

However, the talent market is changing — big time. Candidates today report a dramatic increase in the amount of information they have about a company. They have it at a position at significantly earlier stages of the job search process. In the last year alone, candidates report noteworthy increases in the amount and types of information they have before starting the application process.

Understand The Candidate's Preferences and Perceptions

To better understand how employers can leverage candidate preferences and perceptions, ManpowerGroup Solutions went directly to the source — candidates. In a recent global candidate preferences survey the company undertook, respondents worldwide reported a significant increase in the amount of information they have about compensation, benefits, company mission, vision, culture, brand and corporate social responsibility.

Candidates have more power than ever before because they have more information. Thus they make more informed decisions. Companies have to be smarter in where they look for candidates.”—Nikki Grech, ManpowerGroup Solutions, Australia

She said this is contributing to the rise in referrals as a significant source of talent for them.

What Matters to Well-Informed Workers

Generally, compensation and type of work are the most critical factors in making career decisions. The global candidate preferences study also revealed that the importance of schedule flexibility is rising. It has pulled even with benefits as the third most important factor.

However, markets dotted around the globe showed significant differences. For example, candidates in Norway and the U.K. ranked type of work as most important. In Australia, compensation fell almost to the bottom of the list of motivators with factors like schedule flexibility and geographic location ranking much higher. Moreover, in Brazil, Costa Rica and India, an opportunity for advancement mattered more to candidates than compensation. Regardless of what motivated them in a given market, candidates around the world are seeking and finding more information than ever before. It is essential for employers to be aware of what motivates candidates when making career decisions.

Company Brand

Fifty-eight percent of global candidates said that the company brand is more important to them than it was five years ago. This insight is especially real when it comes to Millennial candidates. Companies can benefit from embracing this trend. They are building a stronger employer value proposition, or a unique set of offerings, associations, and values. All of which positively influence target candidates and employees.

More Information

In the five major talent markets tracked by ManpowerGroup (China, the U.S., Australia, the U.K., and Mexico), candidates report having more information about employer brand before the application process. Candidates in the U.S., Australia and the U.K. report having access to almost double the amount of information about the brand than the year before.

The trend also holds for other markets surveyed. Globally, 28 percent of candidates reported having information about an employer’s brand pre-application. Norway, India, Sweden, Germany, Spain, and Poland exceeded the global average, though candidates in Japan, Costa Rica, and Brazil report had significantly less information.

“Traditionally, Japanese workers do not speak out about the workplace. Historically, it is a commonplace for Japanese workers to spend their whole careers at one employer. Candidates do have more information than ever before about companies, but it is changing more slowly than in other markets.” — Ayano Kiryu, ManpowerGroup, Japan

Compensation Transparency

As noted earlier, compensation is an essential motivator for career decisions among candidates globally. When it comes to switching jobs, an increase in pay is twice as robust as the type of work. Earlier and more complete disclosure of compensation information may also increase recruiting efficiency as candidates can remove themselves from consideration when one of their primary motivators for career decisions and job switching falls short of their expectations. In the five major markets for which year-over-year comparison data is available, the number of global candidates with compensation information has increased more than 10 percent in all markets.

On average, 44 percent of candidates globally have information about compensation before completing the application process. Information levels, however, fluctuate by the market. More than half of the candidates reported having compensation range information in China, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, and Panama. Sweden and Norway lie at the other end of the spectrum with fewer than 20 percent having access to such information.

Candidates in Latin American countries reported having more information about benefits than other global regions. And over half of all Chinese and Indian candidates said having information about benefits offered at the very earliest stages of the job search process.

Candidates across the globe wanted to understand the benefits information offered by prospective employers. Thirty-eight percent of candidates said that the benefits provided with a role or company were one of their top three factors in making a career decision. They know benefits information before applying increased more in the U.K. and Australia more than in the U.S., Mexico or China. This trend may be the result of the continued provision of robust benefits packages by employers in the U.K. and Australia versus the other countries.

Seeing the Value in the Vision

Companies have become increasingly active in sharing information about their mission, vision, and corporate social responsibility policies, according to the ManpowerGroup report. This insight comes at a time when more businesses and candidates seek to align themselves with organizations that share a common point-of-view and commitment to these critical areas.

And more candidates than ever are accessing this type of information before applying. In particular, job seekers in Australia, the U.K., and the U.S. have made great strides in obtaining information about the vision and mission of potential employers.

Globally, 32 percent of candidates report having information about their potential employer’s corporate mission and vision at the earliest stages of the job search process. Candidates in 11 of the surveyed countries either met or exceeded this global average. And while fewer candidates, 16 percent, reported having CSR information before applying for a position, less than any other aspect of job search information, that number continues to rise.

“For years, the information about companies and positions was very controlled and purposefully hidden. We now encourage our clients to share more information about company vision and what it is like to work there. It creates a powerful and meaningful dialogue with candidates that can yield better quality hires.” — Ximena Cardenas, ManpowerGroup Solutions, Latin America

Key Considerations for Employers

The ManpowerGroup candidate preferences survey offered eight takeaways that employers should consider when reaching out to candidates:

Engaging with the Right Groups Often

As competition for candidates intensifies, employers are attempting to build talent communities and increase the frequency of communications with their talent pools. Many companies are providing more information to candidates than ever before to win the attention of candidates,. Discussions that showcase company culture, values and other aspects of employer brand are increasing.

Messaging by Occupation Type

Fortune 500 companies are increasingly devoting portions of their career pages to messaging about specific job categories. This personalized content is intended to build stronger relationships with hard-to-find talent by demonstrating an understanding of their unique interests and needs.

Company Websites are Still No. 1

For the second year in a row, candidates consider company websites to be the No. 1 source of information and the second most credible source of information about a company’s brand (current employees are the most reliable source). Employers must recognize the value of the content on their website and the potential of their HR portals to build employer brand and increase access to the information candidates are seeking.

Employer Review Websites are Gaining Attention

Survey data shows that employer review websites are growing in importance as credible sources of information about an employer’s brand. Globally, they are the third most trusted source of information. Given that these websites are here to stay, HR executives must be aware of what people are saying about their employer brand — both positive and negative. Ideally, positively engaging with these posts will help potential candidates spot jobs that are utterly false or not reflective of the company’s values.

More Money Talk

In some markets, compensation information for particular roles has been publically available for years. In countries without such transparency, the anonymity of the Internet has made it a safe place to share company and salary information in ways never before possible. Millennials are helping erode pay confidentiality policies. It is becoming harder to keep employees (and potential employees) in the dark regarding average industry compensation levels. Some companies seeking to attract Millennials have developed salary transparency policies as part of their corporate culture.

Have a Chat

More and more companies are encouraging potential candidates to engage with them before submitting their application. Specifically, employers are using chat functions to support potential applicants to ask questions of employees. Current employees rank the chat function as the No. 1 source of credible information about an employer’s brand; it is a simple and relatively inexpensive way to increase exposure of employee brand ambassadors.

More Digital, More Visual

The bar has been raised on social media content today. Text-only posts and stock photos no longer grab a viewer’s attention. The use of dynamic content, such as animation and video is becoming commonplace on all social media channels and is more likely to drive engagement than text-only posts. To attract notice from in-demand talent, employers must adapt to these changes. That means being more creative in expressing one’s brand online. Content such as video job descriptions, a 3D company tour, employee testimonials or a dedicated careers YouTube channel, can dramatically influence candidates’ perception of one’s company.

Offer a Test Drive

One of the best ways to ensure that candidates understand the employer’s value proposition is to have them experience it firsthand. In Japan, a social recruiting platform Wantedly does just that. Wantedly curates a group of companies that candidates can interact with in-office visits, workshops, mentoring groups and even weekend projects to better understand what it is like to work at a company. Companies in other markets can take a powerful lesson from Wantedly: Candidate ‘test drives’ emphasize transparency and build strong talent pools of potential employees, reducing the risk of culture or skills mismatches in the hiring process.