Predicting Future Job Applicants

What if I told you that your company can predict future job applicants?

I’m talking about predicting that applicants in the future will want to apply for your job, before the applicants themselves even know they want to be in that line of work.

No, this isn’t a pitch for the newest HR psychic hotline. This is a simple process you can use to identify candidates who have the skills and the qualifications to be, say, a bank teller, but they haven’t even thought of it yet.

Watch a quick video below to learn how you can better predict your future job applicants!

Video: Predicting Future Job Applicants

How does predicting future applicants work?

Just follow these 5 simple steps to predict future job applicants:

1. Find resumes and LinkedIn profiles of people currently doing the job you are hiring for.

In the case for this first step, we are talking about a bank teller. Start by taking your current bank tellers resumes or find some resumes on a larger database like Linkedin or Indeed.com and study them.

2. Look at the job that they had right before their job as a bank teller.

Find these applicant's job title from right before they were a bank teller and figure out what that position was. Search for similarities in these jobs. For instance, are they customer service representatives, are they in fast food, or are they retail service?

Take any common denominators you find in previous jobs and add them to your list.

3. Identify keywords that these job seekers are searching for.

The keywords you are looking for aren’t keywords based towards your open position, but rather keywords based around the job seeker. You will find these keywords by looking at the resumes from Step 1, as well as looking at their previous job from Step 2. These keywords will be things like “part time” and “customer service”.

4. Identify what caused these job seekers to make the switch.

Often time these job switch triggers will be schedule, career path (which is why it’s good to look at future college aspirations on resumes in Step 2!), or even prestige.

For example, a person that has been working as a retail associate might be tired of working nights and weekends, and would be looking for a "Monday thru Friday - 9 to 5" job. Or a person hoping to study finance in school, would be more naturally drawn to be a bank teller, rather than a cashier at the local fast food shop.

5. Write a job ad that speaks to the people you have identified.

Now that you know where potential candidates are coming from and what they are looking for, write a job ad that will reel them in! Not only does your job ad need to tell them why they want this job, but also why they want this job at your company.

To continue with the example of a bank teller, you would want to talk about getting weekends and holidays off but also continue with benefits that are unique to your company. Maybe you offer a fully stocked kitchen or tuition reimbursement. Sell them on the position, but more importantly, sell them on the position at your company.

Give predicting future jobs a try!

Try this "Predicting Future Job Applicants" process out when writing your next job ad and see if you are able to gain access into a new pool of untapped qualified job applicants. You can also download our "Job Seeker Persona" process guide to help, as well as find links to keyword generators, and other helpful tools by visiting our ApplicantPro Tools area.