Feeling burnt out trying to hire in this competitive job market? Find out how to win top talent despite today’s public sector HR challenges.

Finding quality candidates is a hard enough job on its own, but too often, HR professionals and hiring managers make the job even harder by grading applicants and candidates on the wrong things. Making job listing requirements highly specific or strenuous may actually be too prohibitive, discouraging eligible candidates who are more than capable of learning on the job or who have relevant experience that substitutes for a specific degree. On the flip side, using an unstructured interview process is only about 20% successful in predicting the future success of a candidate, according to Harvard Business Review. Then there’s the inevitable presence of unconscious bias, which can lead hiring decision makers to make snap judgments on candidates based on irrelevant information or past experiences, whether positive or negative.

Recent research by GovernmentJobs.com found that public sector applications are down overall even though hiring is on an upswing. This poses a problem today for agencies who are looking to fill critical vacancies. While offering unique perks and benefits, as well as a more stable work-life balance compared to the private sector, are great things you should be highlighting in your job listings, you should also consider what may be turning job applicants off early on in the hiring process. Doing everything you can to shine a light on what makes working for your organization special will help you get the best talent. Let’s take a look at nine red flags in job listings that prevent candidates from applying to a job.

While many public sector organizations attempt to up their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, how many of them are actually facilitating a welcoming environment for diverse employees? 

Even if your workplace is diverse, diverse employees may not feel understood, valued, and represented at every level of the organization -- and they may not feel like there are as many opportunities for growth. Beyond mission statements, there’s likely plenty of room for improvement throughout every stage of your hiring and retention processes.

Keep reading for actionable steps your team can take to foster a more welcoming environment for employees of diverse backgrounds. 

Diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts should be a crucial part of any organization’s recruiting and hiring process. However, it’s easy for DEI webpages with boilerplate phrases like “equal opportunity employer” to be written off as disingenuous if an organization doesn’t put in real work to ensure DEI initiatives are fruitful. 

Our 2021 Diversity Report highlighted important public sector recruitment data from January 2019 to December 2020, with a focus on the discrepancies between Black female and White male candidates.  

Attracting enough qualified applicants to public sector positions can be challenging. While many applicants are drawn by the prospect of doing meaningful work and supporting their communities, public sector roles are often overlooked by applicants in search of perks the private sector can offer.

In addition to health concerns, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an upheaval of the public sector job market that has left many workers uncertain about their future. With massive layoffs and a hiring freeze, the US unemployment rate increased to 14.4% in April, the highest since World War II. Learn more about the data behind recruiting in a pandemic below.

According to our survey of 23,310 job seekers between April and June of 2020, 51% reported their job status had changed as a result of the pandemic. The top three reasons that caused a job status change were involuntary, including being laid off (32%), reduced working hours (25%), and being furloughed (18%).

Hiring in the public sector today is becoming increasingly difficult, as high retirement numbers are causing jobs to open up a rate the public sector can’t keep up with and the near-record low unemployment rate making competition for talent tough. One way to lessen the current talent gap is to grab job seeker attention through engaging job promotions.