What Attracts a Candidate towards a Job Position? (No, It's Not Only the Salary)

While talking about hiring trends, we often address recruitment from an employer's perspective. What are the qualities the hiring manager is looking in a candidate applying for a certain position, what's their budget, their requirements and the list goes on. Companies often complain about poor acceptance rates and low skill levels among candidates during the hiring process.

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The intolerant environment and "employer first" mentality has made hiring and retaining talent extremely tricky in the past few years, particularly for new-age job roles like technology. Because even though India is struggling with a high unemployment rate, the opportunities for efficient employees are not as scarce anymore.

A modern candidate prioritizes working in a healthy environment instead of straining his mental stability. And no, salary is not the only factor to entice a candidate to join your organization. HR Tech startup Cutshort recently released its 2019 survey report on hiring talent, unveiling some interesting insights into how candidates of today approach a job search.

What's Important?

The report suggested that while candidates do value a competitive salary, there are several other factors that are equally or more important. 85 per cent of candidates prioritized the job role over the salary while 50 per cent said that the company brand was more important. In the nutshell, salary doesn't ensure that companies will be able to hire and retain talent just because of CTC package.

In today's high-skill, post-globalization era, candidates with the right experience and skills have no dearth of opportunities. Hence, 70 per cent of the candidates admitted of dropping out of an interview process because they were asked to put in an unreasonable effort. Notably, candidates value professionalism that includes transparency, timely communication and respectful conduct.

Employers' Take

The report clarifies that companies need to put more effort into things like outlining a clear job role and career path. Brand building from an employee perspective, especially in terms of the online reputation, is something that companies can no longer afford to ignore. According to the survey, 65 per cent of candidates said they read Glassdoor reviews when interviewing with a company.

Nandini, Senior HR Manager at Suraksha Diagnostics admitted, "As employers, we are quick to fault candidates. This report helped us introspect on whether our hiring process was meeting the needs of the modern candidate. As a team, we were able to take back several actionable recommendations to make our hiring process more candidate-friendly."

For more insights from the CutShort report, refer the following infographic: