If you’re planning to hire new talent for your fashion or retail business this year, you should know that some things have changed. According to the experts, 2018 promises to be more exciting, profitable, and competitive than ever.Type your paragraph here.
Trends Affecting the Response Rate of Potential Candidates to Your Business
In 2018, the candidate’s wants and needs throughout the hiring process will become an even greater priority than it was in 2017.
The View at Entry Level
If you can’t remember the last time you hired an entry-level candidate, you may want to make this a focus in 2018. Why? Because it’s the entry-level talent you find today that can propel your business to new heights tomorrow.
Many well-known brands have already fueled this trend by making entry-level hiring their new focus via retail job recruitment agencies. Not only have they increased minimum wage pay, but they’re also offering other incentives to apply, such as not requiring experience and providing all needed training.
Expect a Higher Volume of Hired Talent
Many recruiters expected to be hiring more this year, due to so many companies needing new hires because of business growth and expansion. The increase in hiring volume is a sure sign of a strong economy, making it all the more important to ensure your business receives the right talent.
Giving the Candidate What They Want
Consumers want what they want when they want it, and so do candidates. 2018 will see the trend toward treating candidates like consumers continue. Although the base preference is to communicate with a human about the status of their job application and other information, candidates are also open to other communication methods.
For example, most candidates are fine with receiving a response from AI-powered chatbots to their questions instead of a human. This is because they’re aware that human interaction isn’t always possible, but also because they know that this kind of communication will allow them to get answers more quickly, ultimately expediting their own search for employment.
Better Recruiting Through Analysis
Before the advent of business metrics and technology, the efficiency of recruiters was far more difficult to determine. Today, it’s possible to analyze the efficiency at which recruiters do their jobs, which means it’s also possible to optimize key performance indicators such as the rate of job offer acceptance.
The increasing incorporation of technology to assess recruiter efficiency means that this kind of analysis is occurring virtually everywhere. For businesses looking to drastically increase their chances of obtaining the best talent by using a recruiting agency, this means it’s highly likely that the retail recruiting firms they hire have already optimized their metrics to ensure high efficiency.
Creating Opportunities for Flexible Working
As with job incentives, large employers are also implementing remote working options for their talent. Remote working is seen as attractive by today’s candidates, who want their work schedule to be more flexible in terms of hours and locations. A company looking to hire top talent will need to consider the need of candidates for positions that fit their lifestyle in addition to their financial needs.
Interestingly, this situation has benefits for the employer as well. Because of the flexible nature of remote working, an employee is likely to have a much higher rate of engagement with his or her job, which can mean a wealth of opportunities and revenue for businesses.
Trends Affecting the Fashion Industry
In addition to paying attention to what candidates need from your hiring process, there are also trends affecting the fashion industry on a global scale. The common denominator for these trends is technology; there are a number of technologies which will change the way in which fashion business owners will run their companies in 2018.
These trends are important for fashion and retail businesses, as they will require hiring talent with the knowledge and experience to get companies on board.
Online and Mobile
Today’s customer uses online platforms at the start of their buying journey. For example, they may visit several sites to compare prices or use social media to ask those they know about the quality and cost of desired items.
This will require fashion and retail businesses to both develop additional customer engagement strategies and expand their partnerships within the industry in order to boost their online presence and remain competitive, or to hire retail job recruitment agencies having this expertise.
The use of mobile phones to make purchases is expected to continue its momentum in 2018, thanks to the availability of even more mobile payment solutions. In addition, predictions are that a higher number of fashion companies will themselves create options for mobile payments.
Using Big Data for Personalized Customer Experience
Just like candidates, customers will want a personalized experience when interacting with companies—and companies know that increased customer loyalty is what drives sales.
That being said, companies in 2018 will be hiring a staff that knows how to harness and use big data to create richer online experiences, increase engagement with companies who are having an influence on customers, and offer customers recommendations tailored to their personal preferences.
Finding the Right Candidates
Your company needs top talent in order to stay competitive. The best way to ensure that top talent is found is by getting in touch with retail job recruiters. These experts can offer your company many benefits.
Industry and Hiring Experience
A fashion recruiter is intimately familiar with the industry. Not only do they know what the trends are, but recruiters also know what your business needs to stay ahead of the competition, as well as know how to find candidates to help you reach this goal.
These experts also know how to ensure new hires stay with your company and will advise you on the best amounts and types of benefits and other incentives to offer candidates to keep them working with you for the long term.
New Technology Knowledge
Retail recruiting firms also have some of the latest tools for finding and performing skills assessment on potential candidates. This kind of digital knowledge is absolutely essential in today’s landscape, where candidates themselves are using digital tools to locate jobs in the fashion industry.
Special Connections
Not only are recruiters well-versed in the industry and the digital tools needed to find candidates, but they also have connections inside the industry that companies looking to hire may not possess.
These connections include those to smaller pools of candidates, as well as access to candidates looking for fashion industry positions without having advertised this fact. This offers benefits to your company, as it will avoid having a tidal wave of candidates to consider. Instead, you receive a smaller selection of highly-skilled candidates.
Hiring a recruiter can save your company time and money. However, it’s important to ensure you get the most from the experience.
Partnership and Communication
When you hire a recruiter, you are essentially hiring a temporary partner. That being said, it won’t only be the recruiter’s job to find the right candidates for your open positions; you will also need to make an effort.
Communication with a retail job recruitment agency is essential; ensuring you always answer their calls, as well as sharing your opinions, likes, and dislikes can all make for a higher-quality experience. Also, it’s important to keep in mind that, while recruiters do have inside industry knowledge and access, they don’t give business advice, although they likely know someone who does.
Patience and Understanding
Recruiters know exactly how to go about finding you the right candidates for the job; after all, that’s why you hired them. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you will get the right candidate right away.
Because there are so many variables involved in getting the right people to your door, it may take a few attempts to get the candidate who matches all or most of your requirements.
Where to Find Recruiters
The right recruiter for you is one who will use his or her experience and tools to get you the talent you seek. The best companies will be more than happy to work with you to ensure you understand their process, as well as accompany you every step of the way on your recruiting journey.
The Fashion Network has been helping business owners get the talent to propel their companies to the next level for 15 years. Our one-on-one service and attention to the individual needs of our customers are what keep our clients coming back. Learn more about how easy it can be to get the right talent for your fashion business by emailing David@thefashionetwork.com.
