Hunting season is open

“The war for talent has been going on for some time, and at Stepstone we try to support companies in this as best we can,” says Sofie. “Not only with our solutions, but primarily by aligning the expectations set by executives with the reality. We try to give them a realistic picture of the current job market and the expectations of jobseekers.”

Legends of tomorrow

Stéphanie: “The generation currently entering the labour market prioritises different values than those who have more experience. Millennials, born between 1981 and 1995, are looking for job security and are interested in career opportunities. Gen Z, born after 1995, pays more attention to a nice job title and considers what the company stands for during their search. Is there a focus on diversity and inclusion? Is sustainability a hot topic?”

“What can definitely help here are reviews from current employees,” adds Sofie. “They give potential employees an objective view of your company’s culture and way of working. If your employees become true ambassadors, they are an asset for recruiting new people. At Stepstone, we therefore give companies the opportunity to add reviews.

In addition, you have to develop a long-term strategy. Ad hoc recruitment has become almost impossible. So, do not wait until you need someone, but constantly focus on employer branding with a recruitment policy, onboarding process and retention policy.” “Thinking about the long term means better anticipating the future,” says Stéphanie. “So, measuring and anticipating this becomes crucial. At Stepstone, for each company, we continuously keep track of how many vacancies are online, how many respondents there are and much more.”

The perfect match

“At Stepstone, we use technology not only to generate data, but also to simplify candidate searches,” says Sofie. “We have our own search & match technology that is capable of interpreting search terms rather than taking them literally. If someone enters ‘financial manager’, the tool will look for synonyms, among other things. Moreover, the tool continuously learns and takes into account results from our research. For instance, we know that someone looking for a part-time job considers this aspect more important than the job title.

The platform then looks at all the information available about a candidate in order to build a 360-degree profile. Both explicit data such as the search terms used and implicit data such as click behaviour on our site are taken into account. That 360-degree profile allows us to target each candidate in a more specific way and show relevant content.”

Stéphanie: “On the employer’s side, a consultant is on standby to monitor the recruitment process from start to finish. Each company thus has a single contact person who contacts them proactively to give advice and follow up the campaign. In addition, all job descriptions submitted by a company are subjected to our strict Quality Check to make sure everything complies with current laws and standards.”

Human touch

“Everything is getting more data-driven, and technology certainly creates a lot of opportunities today,” says Stéphanie. “But I am convinced that the human aspect remains crucial for the recruitment process to succeed. At some point, both employer and employee want to meet to see if there is a connection.

Moreover, suppose as a company that you do not receive the right profiles for an open vacancy, we intervene to provide advice. Our Customer Success Consultants optimise job descriptions, eliminate barriers in the application process and boost employer branding.”

“We think along with our customers and AI is not that far advanced yet,” Sofie concludes. “In the end, talent attraction is still about people. And that is something we must not forget today or in the future.”