Finding a new job, hunting for a new career, or hoping to obtain some additional professional career growth is never an easy task whether it’s your first time looking or your final one.

As a potential candidate searching in the current economy, you have the choice of picking any field you want.

But what are some of the factors that potential job candidates are looking for to get hired faster? Have job searches changed? Are there plenty of job opportunities out there? What do qualified candidates look for in a new job? Has the hiring process changed since the last time you looked for a new position? Are background checks or background investigations still being conducted? What are potential employers looking for in current employees? Do social networks, phone interviews, or video interviews play a role in today’s hiring process? Have salary ranges changed?

If you have questions and need answers to those above, keep reading to learn what makes a bad hire, the perfect candidate, a good hire, or a qualified candidate, when hunting for a new job and/or career.

There are some tips to help you the potential candidate understand how to get hired faster when applying for jobs online and hopefully going through a job interview.

Stats

Before getting to the nitty gritty, here are some stats and other figures about job interviews in the United States:

• Most of the jobs aren’t posted online.
• According to research, about 85 percent of people tell lies in their resumes.
• You only have seven seconds to make a good initial appearance.
• By 2025, 75 percent of the world’s workforce will be made up of people under 35 years old.
• The current jobless rate in the United States is 10.2 percent
• On average, 118 applicants apply for one particular job opening.
• Next time you wonder how many applications an employer receives, remember that out of every 100 applications, only one person gets hired.
• Interviews can sometimes be conducted on mobile devices or through a phone screen interview.
• Interviews should last no longer than half an hour when completing the hiring process, that is if they’re any good. Anything longer than that, and you’ll be wasting your own and the company’s valuable resources.
• 91 percent of employers want their candidates to have relevant work experience. All these are stats according to legaljobs.io
• According to a recent survey by Monster Worldwide, nearly 92 percent of recruiters prefer applicants who have at least one year of professional employment under their belt. Yet, 65 percent of respondents say that they prefer job seekers with relevant professional experiences. Another 24 percent prefer any kind of experiential education — and just 5 percent think that non-experiential skills aren’t important.
• 76 percent of resumes are rejected because they contain an unprofessional-looking address.
• If you don’t get rejected because of an unprofessional e-mail account, you might also be rejected because of an unprofes­sional resume; 43 percent of resumes are thrown out because they’re poorly written.

Tech is King

Three important factors hiring managers to consider when interviewing a prospective candidate and not passive job seekers during rounds of interviews include the following:

New technology is changing the ways we interact with each other and we are no longer limited to face-to-face communication. We can talk to anyone anywhere anytime through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, Vine, Periscope, and others.

Technology is enabling us to connect with people who live far away from us and share information about ourselves and our interests when it’s time to conduct rounds of interviews.

Companies are trying to get closer to their customers by offering more than one way to interact with them. As a result, when customers become potential employees, they’re expecting companies to treat them like friends rather than just business partners.

Candidates want to know everything they need to know before applying for a job if they meet the correct social skills, analytical skills, as well as what to expect when being asked phone interview questions.

Similar to the Buying Process

Think about your buying process; you probably start by researching what you’re interested in. Then you may read reviews from friends and family members who’ve had similar experiences.

Finally, you might check out user ratings and reviews on sites like Amazon and Yelp. When it comes to hiring, the vast majority of companies often do the same thing. They’ll ask applicants to fill out an application and then they’ll send them off to HR where they’ll spend hours digging through resumes and conducting interviews.

In both cases, the goal is to find someone who meets the company’s needs whether they are interviewed via an oral interview, phone screen interview, or meet the criteria for a formal interview.

Company Culture and Tech

Posting employee testimonials and videos gives job seekers an inside look at the company’s culture before they even go through the application process or start filling out job applications.

Candidates also want to see posted job descriptions in the job listing along with annual salaries. These are things that attract potential employees because they want to learn more about the company and if they would fit in if hired.

Candidates also want high-tech, and high-quality, in a current employer or a potential business owner that they may consider joining.

Text interviewing is one way candidates like to engage with future employers via this ever-expanding technology. With text interviewing, recruiters send out requests for immediate applications with appropriate amounts of questions for the first contact. Candidates respond almost instantly, usually within a few short weeks; and they don’t even need to leave their homes to submit them. And it doesn’t take long for the employer to get back to the applicant with a decision.

Candidates also appreciate being able to easily choose an appropriate time slot for interviews. Smart scheduling technology can make the process easier and more efficient. By sending out personalized email invitations, recruitments send the signal, “We value your time.” Offering candidates the ability to pick the best timeslot for them is one way to show appreciation for their time.

Candidates want openness, too. When it comes to hiring new talent, there can often be a lot of confusion about how things work. With the advent of social media, it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of the moment and forget to take a step back and think through the full scope of the situation. Candidates want to understand exactly where they stand before moving forward.

Potential employees also what to know what they can expect during the entire recruitment process i.e. receiving an email before the interview letting them know when they’ll be interviewed, who they’ll be meeting with, and if there will be any scheduled break times.

Onboarding

Potential candidates would also appreciate an automated onboarding process even further by using an automated tool.

Onboarding solutions help potential employees complete back-end forms quickly and efficiently. They help companies hire faster by enhancing their hiring processes and compressing the time it takes for candidates to be hired. They also help reduce any temptation for an already employed person to leave their current job for another one.

Candidates today are searching for employment just like consumers who are seeking out new products. However, team members cannot get the kind of job interviews they want if they don’t use the new HR technology available to them.

Other Things Candidates Want

Flexibility:

• 65 percent of job seekers say they would be interested in working remotely even if there were no Coronavirus outbreaks. However, 31 percent say they’d prefer to continue working from their current office location.
• Furthermore, 76 percent of workers say flexible work arrangements are one of the reasons they stay at their current job.
• As new candidates look for new positions make sure that the organization in question is comfortable with flexible working arrangements and made known during the hiring and onboarding processes.

Transparency:

• An employee needs to be clear and upfront about what potential candidates can expect from the recruiting processes (for example, how long interviews last).
• Include insights into pay, benefits, equity, and other details candidates may ask about during an interview. Half of all applicants get frustrated by the lack of transparency in hiring processes.

Career Growth”

• One of the main reasons people quit their jobs is because they don’t feel there are enough opportunities for advancement within the company.
• During recruitment, as a candidate make sure the internal mobile and L&E strategy is clear and can help candidates better evaluate whether they want to work there.
• 33 percent of candidates say they’re motivated by job growth opportunities when deciding where to work.

• Potential candidates want diversity in the workplace. According to CareerBuilder’s 2018 Talent Trends Report, 67 percent of employers say they prioritize diversity and inclusion (DEI) when hiring new hires, while 50 percent of current workers believe their company could be doing more to promote DEI.
• DEI initiatives must be clearly explained during the recruiting processes, and the team needs to be able to answer candidates’ questions about the company’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

Bottomline

Overall, as a potential job candidate, it’s easier and faster in today’s market to find exactly what kind of job you are looking for thanks to a vast number of employers incorporating some of these important things into their day-to-day operations.