Dive Brief:

• A survey of 1,010 U.S. job seekers' by career website Zety found that before candidates decide to accept or reject a job offer, they consider what the quality of the application and recruitment process is like and their impressions of the recruiters they met in interviews — but salary is the most influential factor, according to the results.
• More than half of respondents said it should take between one to two weeks following a first interview to receive a job offer from an employer. That expectation doesn't match reality, Zety said, citing a 2018 report by recruiting software firm Jobvite that found average time-to-hire among employers was 38 days in 2017, or about 5.5 weeks on average.
• Respondents named their top sources for learning about job openings as company websites, followed by job boards, job referrals and social media. Paid time off and medical coverage ranked as the most popular benefits among job seekers in the survey, Zety said.

Dive Insight:

In a candidate-driven job market, recruiters might see conflict between what their companies can deliver and what job seekers expect. But that disconnect might also extend to the recruiting process itself: a Randstad Sourceright study published in September found that while 77% of talent leaders considered their candidate experience to be "excellent" or "very good," 84% of candidates surveyed Randstad reported having negative experiences while job hunting.

As Zety's results show, an organization's values can be highly influential to candidates, so the recruiting process can be an optimal time for HR professionals to promote their organizations' brands. Still, employers need to play the long game when it comes to culture. A 2019 white paper from Alexander Mann Solutions found that while employers think employee value proposition (EVP) can be created during the hiring process instead of developed over time, this can end up in employers investing in expensive branding initiatives that don't reflect their true brand.

HR leaders shouldn't underestimate their ability to promote and sustain their employer's brand. In fact, according a survey by Page, CHROs are among the executives who work closest with chief operating officers on branding in many organizations. Page's survey showed HR leaders are increasingly working with communication and marketing officers — and even some CEOs — on brand promotion. This is occurring, in part, because of the social values of job seekers, many of whom select employers whose values are aligned with their own, Page said.