They say good help is hard to find, and it seems to be more true now than ever. It’s a job-seekers market across all facets of the industry with more positions to fill than people searching for work.
Employee retention has always been a top concern for feed and grain managers, but today simply getting people through the door in the first place is an uphill battle.
According to talent acquisition experts, the key to attracting qualified candidates in 2021 is to employ a digital recruiting strategy.
The transformation to digital recruiting has been creeping up for years but was accelerated by COVID-19, which all but eliminated traditional job fairs and other networking opportunities. Since last year, according to a Sage report, 24% of businesses have started using artificial intelligence (AI) for their talent acquisition, and 56% of managers plan to adopt automated technology within the next year.
So how does recruiting with AI look? They’re software programs and tools that help source, screen and hire the best applicants. Some use chatbots that screen candidates and schedule interviews for you using messaging apps like WhatsApp.
Some programs can build custom lists of qualified candidates based on your job description and automatically reach out to contacts in their database with personalized messages to get them to apply.
Posting jobs online in front of the right niche audience is recommended as well. Popular job sites like Indeed and LinkedIn Jobs can be useful, but agriculture-specific websites like AgCareers, AgHires and the new Women in Agribusiness Career Connector were created to connect talent with employers in the agriculture field.
Some sites will even help develop optimized job postings, create targeted social media recruitment campaigns, and provide expert recruiter services.
One of the best investments any company can make in its people. For those struggling to find quality people, now is the time to consider investing in AI and web-based strategies to help your company ride the digital recruitment wave into the future. ■
