By Christina Wofford, Senior Vice President of Marketing & Communications, Digital Air Strike
Many dealerships already had a problem recruiting and keeping quality employees, but the Covid-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the issue.
The “Great Resignation” also resulted in 4.4 million people quitting their jobs in September alone, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Remote employment has grown exponentially, while candidates for customer-facing jobs have only decreased.
Competition for qualified candidates is fierce, while recruiting has become even more of an online affair. Here are five ways to use technology to fill open positions faster:
1. Post Jobs on Your Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business). The average person searches on Google 3-4 times a day. Since Google owns more than 90% of the worldwide search market, your dealership is missing out if you’re not promoting your open positions on your Google Business Profile, which shows up on the first page of Google when consumers and job seekers search for you. This is a great place to promote your open positions, great benefits, and even testimonials from happy employees.
2. Start Social Recruiting on Social Media – More than 55 million companies are listed on LinkedIn, with 14 million open jobs posted. Almost 2 billion users visit Facebook daily. Make sure your jobs are posted across social media – – including on Facebook’s feature just for recruiting, Facebook Jobs. Go a step further and don’t just post your open positions on social media but make sure your feeds include posts that would make someone WANT to work at your dealership. Highlight employees, your benefits, and why someone will enjoy a career in the automotive industry. Encourage your employees to comment on and share the posts to extend your reach and explain why others want to work for you.
3. Use Social Ads to Promote Competitive Positions – Advertise your open positions to active job seekers on social media and get creative with targeting. Use geo-targeting to reach candidates based on demographics, interests, and online behaviors. Include location targeting to promote your open positions to your competitors’ rock star employees and reach younger workers graduating from college or a trade school. Find an outstanding creative and marketing team to design an enticing ad and write eye-catching copy to ensure your ads attract more candidates.
4. Utilize an AI Chatbot on Your Website – Visitors to your website may also be looking for a job. Feature your open positions prominently and in an interactive way by including them in your website chat with links to your open positions and an explanation of all your great benefits. Make sure your chatbot is also linking to your current positions and benefits. With AI, your chatbot can ask/answer qualifying questions and do some of the heavy lifting so your team can step in to reach out to serious contenders only.
5. Protect & Promote Your Reputation as an Employer – More than 70% of job seekers read reviews about companies, and 33% of candidates have rejected an offer because of bad reviews. Make sure your reputation correctly reflects your dealership. Monitor and manage sites like Glassdoor, 38 million employer reviews, and 50 million monthly site visitors. Respond to all reviews and use your responses to good and bad reviews as an opportunity to explain and showcase the benefits of working at your dealership.
Take the work out of hiring by following these five easy steps. Expert marketing teams can get the job done right if your dealership doesn’t have time to monitor and post jobs.
About the Author
Christina Wofford brings more than two decades of experience in journalism, marketing, communications, and public relations to Digital Air Strike. Christina is Senior Vice President of Marketing & Communications, responsible for all marketing and lead generation efforts, including earned media and event planning.