How Small Businesses Can Compete for New Employees
Everyone agrees that the labor market is tight in Central PA. In September 2023, the Commonwealth announced that the unemployment rate in Pennsylvania had reached a new low of 3.4%. These statistics can feel scary if you are a small business trying to find and hire new employees at any level.
In January 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics confirmed the trend: It reported that an astounding 8.8 million job vacancies loom across the country. The struggle to locate and onboard competent employees is real and is confirmed by the sheer volume of vacant positions. Even the nation’s largest companies, armed with massive recruitment departments and huge ad budgets, find it difficult to recruit talent.
So, if you’re a small business, especially in smaller job markets such as Harrisburg, Lancaster, York or Lebanon, you may begin to wonder if you can ever find employees when the job market is so strained. Your firm will be competing with big businesses that have been operating with a decided recruiting advantage for decades. In addition to brand recognition, these large firms also have the resources to support aggressive recruitment, including dedicated HR teams, employment pros and larger budgets for advertising positions. How can small businesses in Pennsylvania hope to find great employees in this hyper-competitive market?
Good News: Times Are Changing
In the past, big businesses had the deep pockets needed to advertise at scale, and that put small businesses at a decided disadvantage. But if smaller companies use new tools and techniques, the old rules no longer apply. The job-seeking process has changed dramatically. Today, it’s not how much you spend but how smart you spend. Instead of flooding the market with ads, placement, position, context and technology are the key considerations.
Now, thanks to online job boards, the latest digital AI innovations and the rise of social media, even very small enterprises can access highly effective, affordable recruiting options that bring employees to you. By creating an innovative digital funnel, you can encourage potential employees to find your job listing, relate to them in relevant ways, demonstrate the value of your post and persuade them to apply for your job.
The Power of AI in Recruitment
One of the biggest game changers is AI. Advancements in artificial intelligence are making it easier than ever to send recruitment ads to the right people at the right time, reducing waste and bringing down costs. These recruitment programs access massive datasets to “learn” which people are most likely to respond to your job posting. These programs use complex, many-layered, weighted algorithms modeled after human logic.
AI programs can track patterns, measure reactions and continually learn, which improves results. While the programs can learn only within certain parameters, the optimizing algorithms can process and distribute recruitment information quickly, efficiently and effectively. In short, it can distribute your job postings to the most relevant job sites in ways that efficiently find more qualified applicants.
Social Media’s Role in Job Hunts
Social media is playing an increasingly important role in job hunts. X (Twitter) has over 540 million users, who spend an average of 32 minutes a day on the platform. Each week, 61 million people use LinkedIn to search for jobs. A Harris Poll reports that 58% of job seekers use social media in their search. Forty-eight percent of Gen Z (ages 18-25) and Millennials (ages 26-41) with work experience have applied to jobs they learned about on social media.
While not everyone initially associates social media with job hunts, it doesn’t take long to see how they connect. While online users spend time on social networks catching up with friends, family and professional acquaintances, they’re also telling people they’re looking for jobs, asking about openings and spending time researching companies.
The Great Equalizer
When you combine the use of AI and social media with skilled recruitment personnel, you get a recruitment program that allows small businesses to use all the tools and resources available to Fortune 500 companies. And the good news is that you can now hire top recruitment personnel on a job-by-job basis instead of retaining costly consultants or full-time recruiters.
MANSI Media’s new MAXRecruit packages make it possible to combine advanced AI with the power of social media. We offer recruitment solutions that employ AI technology to distribute job postings to the most effective job sites and provide a streamlined solution to find more qualified applicants efficiently.
But we don’t just “set it and forget it.” We also coach our clients on job posting style, content, and tracking strategies. And we actively monitor and optimize campaigns on behalf of our clients to drive the best results.
MAXRecruit posts on a series of targeted networks that reach college entry-level employees, diverse audiences, social media networks and veteran hires.
To help you find job seekers with interest or experience in your industry, MAXRecruit allows advertisers to choose two targeted industry networks, which may include healthcare, education, sales and marketing, accounting and finance, cannabis, green, hospitality, IT, manufacturing and trade, nursing, transportation and logistics, call centers, law enforcement, construction and energy, and engineering.
The system programmatically distributes ads to the right aggregators, while MANSI provides active monitoring and optimization to improve a job post’s performance.
Let’s Start Talking
If you want to find out how to leverage AI, social media, targeted job categories and exceptional industry expertise, contact MANSI Media today. Ask about MAXRecruit Gold, MAXRecruit Platinum and MAXRecruit Diamond packages. We’ll explain your options, share affordable pricing and help you fill crucial positions.