In various industries, organisations are increasingly hindered by the challenge of attracting the necessary talent. The scarcity of skills has reached such a critical level that numerous businesses are now compelled to postpone or abandon strategic plans due to the unavailability of required expertise.
Consequently, business leaders are dedicating significant efforts towards attracting new talent and distinguishing themselves in a labour market driven by employee preferences. They are implementing comprehensive initiatives to position their organisations as preferred employers, showcasing the exceptional employee experience offered. Through a wide range of measures, including attractive benefits, well-being initiatives, flexible work arrangements, and robust training and career development opportunities, employers are striving to create a captivating employer brand.
However, one element of talent attraction that is sometimes overlooked, is the technology, and in particular the applications people now use when looking for jobs. Global research by Cisco AppDynamics reveals the average person now uses a total of six applications or digital services when looking for or applying for a new job – and this increases to eight in the U.S. and nine in India.
Applications have become the foundation of how people now find work. From jobs sites and social media platforms through to employer websites and employer review sites, job seekers are using a range of digital services every day when searching for employment. And when these services don’t perform as they should, it has a profoundly negative impact on how people feel about a potential employer.
Therefore, it’s essential business leaders put digital experience at the center of their recruitment strategies, ensuring their applications - whether that’s careers pages on their websites or email and messaging services for candidates - are always performing optimally. Otherwise, they risk putting off the talent that they so desperately need.
Jobseekers are rejecting employers with suboptimal digital experiences
With people now entirely reliant on digital services to find, research and apply for new jobs, their expectations for these services are now sky-high. 97% of jobseekers state it is important the applications they use to find and apply for jobs provide a fast and seamless experience, without any delays or disruption. Additionally, 64% claim that if these applications fail to perform, it puts them off working for the potential employer.
For employers, this is a stark message - if their recruitment-focussed applications and digital services suffer from disruption or downtime, they are jeopardizing their chances of attracting almost two-thirds of potential new hires.
People now want the same level of digital experience from their employer (or potential employer) as they get in every other area of their lives. They expect their experience when looking for and applying for a new job to match that when they’re streaming movies and music, ordering groceries, or connecting with friends online.
HR leaders need to recognize that people are no longer willing to accept second rate digital experiences just because applications and digital services are work-related. And they also need to be aware that people’s reactions when they encounter poorly performing applications are now incredibly strong. 73% of people admit that they would feel anxious and angry if the applications they were using to find and apply for a new job didn’t perform properly.
Application performance can give employers the competitive edge in the war for talent
The message from job seekers to potential employers is clear - they simply won’t put up with disruption or downtime when using jobs-related digital services. In fact, more than half claim that employers have only one shot to impress them with their digital services. There are no second chances.
This is why it’s so essential for HR leaders to work with their IT departments to ensure that they are providing potential hires with fast and seamless experiences at every stage of the recruitment process.
Currently, many organizations are struggling to manage application availability and performance within multi-cloud and hybrid environments. Technologists don’t have the unified visibility they need to get a clear line of sight on applications running across on-premises and cloud native environments and this makes it extremely difficult for them to identify and troubleshoot issues before they impact end users - whether that be customers, current employees or potential new recruits.
To mitigate this risk, organizations need to implement an observability solution which spans across both cloud native and on-premises environments and allows technologists to monitor the health of key business transactions distributed across their entire technology landscape. With real-time insights from the business transaction’s telemetry data, technologists can swiftly understand the root cause of issues and expedite resolution, so that applications are operating at peak performance at all times.
Significantly, the research shows that employers that can deliver seamless digital experiences can take a big step towards becoming an employer of choice for candidates. 78% of people claim that they would want to work for an employer that provides brilliant, seamless digital experiences throughout the recruitment process.
At a time when HR leaders are looking for any advantage, they can get over their rivals in the jobs market, this is a potentially game changing benefit. By focussing on digital experience throughout the recruitment process, employers can steal a march on the competition and attract the high-quality talent they need to grow.
James Harvey is CTO Advisor EMEA, Cisco AppDynamics
