Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 18 months you would have noticed Kalgoorlie is undergoing a change of image. With the arts & culture side becoming prominent thanks to Heartwalk & Artgold, the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder has been seeking feedback for the Kal City Centre Project and the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce has developed a series of short video’s to promote living and working in Kalgoorlie Boulder.
At the same time look on any of the Facebook crime pages or google reviews of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and you will see there is quite a bit of negative content about living and working in the region. Obviously with some of the events of the past couple of years our image has taken a bit of a hit and as a consequence as an employer you have to work harder to attract people to Kalgoorlie.
So as a recruiter or business owner are you doing everything you can to attract employees to town and to your business?
Chuck everything at your recruitment ad to pique interest in your vacancy
By this I don’t mean write the longest job ad on the planet. Include info about your company, do you offer additional employee benefits such as bonus’, salary packaging, relocation? well tell job seekers about it, embed the KBCCI short video’s into your seek ad (if you aren’t sure how to do this drop me a line and I can pop around and show you). If you have the budget for it choose a standout ad, this will allow you to put three bullet points related to the position or your company in the search results screen, this is the best possible way to grab a candidates attention for them to view your ad. Try to include as much info as you can for job seekers without them dying of boredom while scrolling through a ton of content. Include links to your website, the the CKB In My Community page, even rentals on realestate .com.au. The more relevant info you can supply links for the better, remember it’s all about selling – selling your opportunity, selling you as an employer and selling Kalgoorlie as a great place to live.
Structure your seek ad for mobile platforms
The majority of job seekers will view your job ad on a mobile device, to grab their attention straight away structure your seek ad so the job details are first, then skills & experience requirements, how to apply & at the end include a brief overview of your organisation with links to your website for further information. Lastly embed the promotional video. If you fill the top part of the ad with “padding” about your company you risk them not taking the effort to scroll down to view the position on offer and navigating away.
Seek out passive job seekers
These are the candidates that aren’t actively seeking a new job but if something interesting came up they’d consider it. Use your connections to spread the word, use LinkedIn to advertise and headhunt, use industry associations to advertise your vacant position.
So now you have a candidate how do you convince them that working for you will be a great opportunity?
Conduct a professional interview and ask appropriate questions
I can’t stress this enough, the interview process is as much of a process for the candidate to assess you as much as you are assessing them. If you are running late, are unorganised, come across as rude or abrupt, ask unlawful questions, don’t ask relevant questions, then chances are your candidate will walk away thinking you are a cowboy operation they want no part of – no matter how much you are paying.
Have promotional material to provide to the candidate
A simple PDF with an overview of your company and operations, the benefits of working for you and promotional info on living and working in Kalgoorlie can assist with presenting a professional image, builds your brand for the candidate and can help provide additional information that you may miss at interview.
If you have the funds bring them to town for a site visit
When I was recruiting in the mining industry if we could get our preferred candidate to town for a site visit then we could get them over the line, once they (& their partner) had seen that we actually are quite a metropolitan town that wasn’t all red dirt and bad behaviour it was all smooth sailing. Over a decade ago when I was a HR Officer at the City of Kalgoorlie Boulder we used to take our preferred candidates for a tour around the town, making sure to visit the things most important to the candidate such as schools, sporting facilities and restaurants. If you’d prefer to leave it to the pro’s then you can engage a service such as Red Dust Roots. This is your opportunity to shine & you only get one shot (no pressure).
I may be biased but I think Kalgoorlie presents amazing opportunities for a great lifestyle, career development and the opportunity to get involved in a multitude of community associations and events.
Based in Kalgoorlie, The People & Culture Office is an independent HR Consultant who can partner with you to offer a one stop HR solution, we only charge you for the work we perform; no contracts, no annual or monthly fees, just quality service. Click here to learn more
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