Freelance recruitment: what strategies to attract talent?

In recent years, the recruitment market has been facing increasingly complex challenges. The relationship with work has greatly evolved since it is no longer just a question of earning a good living, talents are now looking for jobs that meet their search for meaning. How can we help them to thrive even more in business? Discover our trails, nourished by the feedback from our team on the ground.

Summary

1. An uncertain job market?

2. 1st strategy: focus on the employee experience

3. 2nd strategy: strengthening your employer brand

An uncertain job market?

For several years, we have been facing an unstable job market, due to several factors. The Covid crisis has greatly slowed the market, forcing companies to rethink the work environment. The digitalization of the vast majority of business sectors is also pushing companies to accelerate their internal transformations, in particular by changing working environments and by anticipating jobs in connection with these technological advances. Of course, the war in Ukraine is also having an impact and is increasingly questioning our means of production and consumption.

Businesses and talent alike therefore face a lot of uncertainty. On the one hand, businesses are asking How to recruit if the budgetary restrictions linked to the current difficulties limit access to the most expert candidates. On the other hand, talents sometimes find themselves unemployed after economic layoffs and for those in office, wage increases do not always keep up with price inflation.

How can we adapt to this economic context? For the time being, let's be patient. Even if some sectors of activity are experiencing strong slowdowns, the market is likely to unlock more quickly than you think. New dynamics are possible, for example with an increase in employment linked to a papy-boom, not to mention the growing needs in the ecological sector. Opportunities will certainly grow but it is possible to anticipate by adopting strategies to promote your future recruitments.

1st strategy: focus on the employee experience

For professional collaboration to have every chance of blossoming, it is necessary to valorize the employee experience, whether they are candidates in the middle of the recruitment process, as well as company employees.

Experiment with new recruitment processes

When we ask for feedback from the candidates we support in their recruitment processes, we almost always get the same answer: the more clear and transparent the communication was, the more confident they are in their desire to join the company. It is therefore important for candidates to have all the information they need to fully understand the context and progress of recruitment. Companies therefore have every interest in specifying, from the first exchanges, what the recruitment process will be. For example, the number of meetings planned or whether they will have the opportunity to meet the team via an immersion day. The more steps there are to get the job, the more essential it is for candidates to be quickly informed to maintain their motivation and turn the effort required into a real personal challenge.

It is also possible to accelerate the integration of future recruits with decisions that are sometimes confusing, but which demonstrate a genuine desire for collaboration. Why not remove the trial period, for example? It would indeed be a great proof of trust.

In the same way, more flexible contractual terms are perceived favorably by future recruits, such as the elimination of the non-competition clause. To go further, it would also be interesting to consider diversifying the types of contracts without limiting themselves to permanent contracts. For example, this would be an opportunity to integrate freelancers in the company.

Take care of the onboarding of new hires

What are your plans to welcome your new talents? We advise you to put in place mechanisms to encourage the reception of newcomers.

Too often overlooked, this step is nevertheless essential to promote good integration into the team and into the company. In fact, we receive the most glowing feedback from the talents who received particular attention upon their arrival. The impact is sometimes in the details: prepare the equipment in advance with a functional computer and immediate access to the various software, provide a welcome booklet, anticipate information meetings in the agenda or even simply have the contract signed on the day of arrival.

Sometimes the whole team is involved in the onboarding process. An immersion day, for example, is often initiated when the hiring process is highly likely to succeed. For talent, it's a way of discovering the work environment and gauging the team's atmosphere. Sometimes talent or team members may go back on their first impression in this way. It is then a good way not to go wrong with a hire that would not bear fruit. But companies are even going even further in onboarding by setting up a comprehensive program as soon as the employee arrives. This program can combine several of the following tracks:

• present all administrative aspects and benefits (mutual benefits, navigo reimbursement, restaurant tickets, CE, etc.)
• Take the time to show you around the premises, the amenities and the allocated workspace
• designate a lead collaborator to answer questions
• organize information meetings on the organization, software, position etc.
• schedule follow-up points to discuss first impressions, the employee's feelings, answer any questions he may have, etc.
• Suggest to write an astonishment report
• Hire a Chief Happiness Officer to promote the conviviality of the company

2nd strategy: strengthening your employer brand

To promote recruitment, it is sometimes necessary to do real work on your employer brand. We offer you some tips.

Valuing its advantages

Offering attractive conditions to employees necessarily requires an advantageous salary policy. In particular, we can think of the variable. This may include individual and/or collective bonuses depending on the achievement of objectives, the seniority bonus, the 13th month, the establishment of a business savings plan or even a greater or lesser contribution depending on the financial capacity of the structure. Sharing value is an asset for your business and makes it possible to retain talent even more.

Communicating on the subject, both internally and externally, is important to value your advantages. Mentioning the pay range on a job offer or not is a good example. For 87% of candidates, this information is considered important. Instead of dreading interested candidates, see this practice as an opportunity to value the efforts made by employees. So isn't it a good reason to apply if a company knows how to reward its employees at their fair value?

Other companies are even going further to fight both wage inequalities and break the taboo on remuneration. Salary transparency, in particular through the establishment of a freely accessible salary grid, is another way of attracting future candidates. Those who are convinced by these values of transparency and equality will best correspond to the values promoted by the company.

Transforming to remain attractive

Communicating about its benefits is not enough. It is also necessary to maintain a corporate culture, since it is the culture that brings employees together. Beyond the image conveyed externally, values should ideally be embodied on a daily basis. Certain actions are therefore sometimes necessary in order to return to the core of the primary values.

To adapt to current transformations, which can be compared to Future of Work, the most structural innovation would be to offer its employees the opportunity to become stakeholders in the governance of the company. Like a country or a community, so-called open companies, for example, ask their employees to exchange, debate and cooperate around decisions that will impact the life of the company. This collaborative innovation can resonate with talents in search of meaning and/or with a strong need for commitment. By decompartmentalizing decision-making structures, these companies mobilize collective intelligence to move forward and value everyone's contributions.

Without going so far as to transform the profound structure of your company, it is possible to establish new thought processes, collaborations or even to integrate talent profiles that challenge work methodologies that have remained unchanged for years. These new dynamics can vary the degrees of integration of company talent, without calling into question their commitment. What about profiles Slashers, for example? Or independent talent? It is sometimes good, for your own interests, to change your practices and get out of traditional dynamics. To remain attractive, a company must remain open to change, to the diversity of profiles and methods of collaboration.

These strategic axes aim at you: helping to attract top talent. After all, the most committed and best qualified talents are attracted to a strong corporate culture that cares about its employees from the moment they arrive and throughout the duration of the collaboration. For this to work, it is therefore a question of synergies, connections but above all of common values.