Swiss professionals want to be approached directly for job changes
Even professionals who are not looking for a job can be won over for a new job by actively approaching them. This is shown by a representative study by onlyfy by XING on application behavior and recruitment.
Half of employees in German-speaking Switzerland prefer it when companies actively contact them with job offers. At 54 percent, men tend to be slightly more open to being approached directly than women at 47 percent. A minority (38 percent) prefer to actively search for the next job themselves. The preference to be approached directly by companies is similarly strong in all age groups and across different hierarchy levels. These are the findings of a study by recruiting specialist onlyfy by XING, for which the market research institute forsa surveyed more than 1,000 employed people in German-speaking Switzerland on their application and job search behavior.
Active candidate approach becomes suitable for the masses
It can often be worthwhile for companies to approach potential candidates directly: Around a quarter (24 percent) of respondents who were actively contacted for a job accepted the offer even though they were not looking for a job. Another 15 percent were already looking for a job and accepted, and 34 percent did not accept the job they were approached for but considered changing jobs. Only a minority (26 percent) were left cold by the direct approach.
"Whereas direct approaching of candidates used to play a role primarily in the search for top executives, today companies use it to tap into a huge pool of latent professionals at all hierarchical levels who are willing to change jobs," says Frank Hassler, CEO of NEW WORK SE, which also owns the onlyfy by XING brand. "For many companies, this means a rethink from a purely passive to a more active recruiting strategy," Frank Hassler continues.
Successful application process: Talk is gold
Once candidates have decided to apply, it is important not to lose them again on the way to employment. In this phase, the most important thing for employees from German-speaking Switzerland is rapid feedback from the company. The older they are, the less patience they tend to have. Among those over 50, 92 percent say that quick feedback is important or very important to them. In the 18- to 29-year-old group, the figure is 83 percent. The second most important thing for candidates is transparency about the entire application process (87 percent), followed by regular contact and feedback (81 percent). In comparison, the channel through which the application can be made is less important (via mobile devices (51 percent), by means of one-click applications on portals (37 percent), directly via social media channels (21 percent)).
Job advertisements: Information on corporate culture is mandatory today
What information do professionals expect to find in a job ad? In addition to information on location (87 percent) and salary (85 percent), information on corporate culture (83 percent) is also important or even very important. And this is true across all levels, from professionals to executive management. "Job advertisements must reflect the expectations and information needs of employees in order to have an impact," says Frank Hassler. "Unfortunately, this is often not yet the case. Without a word about salary and work culture, long lists of requirements and responsibilities are presented. Here it is time for companies to rethink and adapt their outdated templates," says Frank Hassler.
Source: onlyfy by XING
