LinkedIn Poll Findings: Job Seeker Insights on Various Topics
With over 24,000 followers, LinkedIn is our largest social media channel to reach and engage with our community of job seekers and higher ed professionals. We utilize the LinkedIn Poll feature to learn from job seekers and share our findings with HERC members. If you’ve taken any of our polls, we thank you for your input!
In case you didn’t know, the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC) is a nonprofit coalition of over 700 colleges, universities, hospitals, research labs, government agencies, and related non- and for-profit organizations, committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the higher education workforce.
Below are some highlighted poll findings and actions that we encouraged our members to take in their recruitment and retention efforts:
Searching for jobs using various channels
Job seekers are finding their roles in higher ed in a variety of ways. When asked how they found their current position in higher ed, respondents were evenly split among an institution’s website, a networking connection, and an online job board. Human resource managers can take note and share job openings in as many avenues as possible to find the right candidates for their roles.
Preparing for the workweek
To gain insight into how employees prepare outside of the office, we asked, “What do you do on Sunday to prepare for the work week ahead?” Nearly half of respondents reported “Review work agenda/calendar” as their way of getting ready for the week ahead. Sharing resources on how to plan and schedule for a successful week could be a helpful way to reach out to employees and encourage a healthy work balance.
Lacking awareness of diversity efforts
Surprisingly, only half of respondents said that their workplace demonstrates an effort to recruit and retain a diverse workforce. This could indicate the need for institutions to conduct their own inter-office survey to determine if their employees feel that the efforts for growing diversity are being shown in their workplace and, if so, consider what can be done to better show that the work is being done.
ADA compliance understanding
When asked, “How familiar are you with your workplace’s ADA accommodations?” only 37% reported being very well informed. Promoting ADA compliance through training can help workplaces better support employees and avoid any misconduct when following the ADA compliance workplace rules.
In it for the long run
45% of respondents said that they would retire from higher education, leaving a large percentage of respondents who were uncertain about remaining in higher ed and/or planning to switch careers. Higher education institutions can benefit from exploring ways to retain employees so that they can improve employee engagement, preserve institutional knowledge, and avoid gaps in employee coverage.
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About the Author: Connie Castellucci is a higher ed data analyst consultant. Previously she has worked within higher ed departments and nonprofit organizations addressing recruitment, new school development, and member recruitment needs.