3 Effective Tactics to Hire in the Mountains
At Mountain Careers we are providing something new and have been bringing awareness to our workforce in mountain communities. How can we attract and retain applicants in areas such as Breckenridge, Frisco, Vail and Telluride? How can we showcase the amazing opportunities in our mountain communities?
With unemployment at an all time low (1.3% in Summit County, 1.7 in Eagle County, 2.3% in Pitkin County) there are three key tactics that employers can use to increase the number of qualified applicants this year.
This is what we have learned:
First you must attract talent! You want people to say “I really want a job there”. Consider that “over 72% of candidates spend more than 1 hour researching a job before applying” and “ 62% of job seekers visit social media channels to evaluate an employer’s brand (Sources: CareerArc, Nextwave). Ensure that your website and facebook pages includes information about your culture, pictures of employees and the type of work that you do. A picture of your employee ski day never hurts!
Next, make it easy for people to apply. One effective way to do this is to post salary ranges and benefit details. Applying for a job takes a lot of time and effort. It can be discouraging for applicants to spend time and energy applying for a position only to discover that the compensation offered is less than expected. Put yourself in the applicant’s shoes. Wouldn’t it be nice to know the salary range?
Lastly, create an environment that “works” for your employees. We know this sounds hard, but employees are looking for a personalized employee experience. Did you know that “63% [of businesses] already have a formal flexibility policy in place” (Source: Mercer). Understanding each employee’s situation and what motivates them at work is going to be crucial. Did they move to the mountains to ski? Do they value time with their kids? As professionals looks to integrate work and life mountain employers are in prime position to accommodate. Our advice? Stay open minded and remember old ways of scheduling and working will need to change.
The future of work in the mountains is evolving and Mountain Careers is on the front lines with you. “We are confident that collaboration and building a network among mountain towns will play a role in the future of work in mountain communities.”
Mountain Careers is a job board and network dedicated to connecting professionals to employers in the best mountain towns. Jobs posted reach over 4,000 professionals in our weekly newsletter. These include locals and those actively seeking to relocate to the mountains.
For more information or to post a job, visit www.mountaincareers.com. Postings start at $79 with options to add a Social Media Boost.
Sources
https://www.careerarc.com/blog/2015/09/15-employer-branding-stats-every-hr-pro-must-know/
https://www.uk.mercer.com/our-thinking/global-talent-hr-trends.html