The Most Effective Strategies to Implement in Your Organization
by Asad Khaja
The talent market is tough on everyone right now, for recruiters and companies alike. That’s why when it comes to recruiting strategies it’s good to have multiple strategies or points of focus. This is going to help you crush the war on talent and get the right individuals in place the first time. This is why we’ve put together the top 10 recruiting strategies for your organization to focus on this year!
1. Step up your job descriptions.
Let’s be honest, your job description is the first thing your next potential employee is going to see. This is your chance to impress candidates and attract the right type as well. You want to use this as a chance to display and talk about your company culture or other things that are important to your company. You can even find augmented writing tools online that will help you think about everything.
2. Build a top talent pool to draw from.
Think of this as a cheat sheet of people you want to have working for you. This should be stored in a database of some sort with notes/details about them. You can then quickly turn to this pool to reach out for a new position to speed up your process. Here at W Talent Solutions, each of us has a list of our “most placeable candidates.” This is a list of people who just were either over or under-qualified for the role we discussed but have the skills or culture to fit in well.
3. Create an employee referral program.
Having a referral program is going to help to bring in more engaged candidates who are more likely to stay because they already have a relationship with someone there that they can talk with. Additionally, this is going to improve employee morale by finding ways to reward your employees for helping the company grow and will improve your culture.
4. Get creative with your sourcing strategies.
Many companies are at a crossroads where they might have upwards of four different generations in their workforce. Each one of these groups interacts in different ways. You also aren’t always going to find each group on LinkedIn or Indeed. Just recently, our firm completed a search that took us sourcing over 800 candidates to find the one. There were multiple brainstorming sessions for ways to find candidates or search phrases that we hadn’t tried yet.
5. Focus on your culture, and not just for the present.
The type of culture that people are going to be part of has become one of the biggest reasons we’ve seen from candidates they’re looking. Instead, challenge yourself during the hiring process to see not how someone fits the culture now, but also how they can help you achieve that next step. This might even have to involve having discussions of what the future vision of the company is, and start recruiting towards that new vision!
6. Create a strong first impression.
This partially goes back to your job description, but we have to remember that before a candidate meets with you or sees inside the company they’re doing a ton of research. This is a chance to make sure that your brand is standing out online, not only the website but on social media as well. Highlight areas online of why someone would want to work at your organization.
7. Connect with your local universities.
Your local universities and trade schools can be a great pipeline of the top talent in the job market every year. Many universities have professional student groups that will have speaking engagements with local businesses throughout the year. This is a very cheap and easy way to get your name out there and talk about what sets your organization apart in the industry.
8. Get involved in your local community.
There are so many different ways now to get involved in the local community, whether it is volunteering at a local non-profit or attending networking events. This is another unique way for a company to showcase their culture and learn about your business, especially if you don’t normally deal with the consumer side. Another unique way is to host an open house, where the public can come learn more about your company and make connections with employees before they may even be thinking about starting a job search.
9. Start tracking and measuring your hiring data.
The last piece is really a key piece of the puzzle. Track and measure as much of your hiring data as you can. Some of the key areas you can track are candidates contacted, time to fill, source of hire and first-year attrition. These are some of the easy key areas to track which will help you evaluate your processes and if you’re hiring the right people as well!
10. Leave it to the pros.
Sometimes, it’s simply best to ask for help so you can keep doing what you do best while having leaders in talent acquisition find your perfect candidate. Find a firm with a great reputation and an array of recruiting services to fit your needs. If you’re thinking of getting some recruiting help, reach out to us and we’ll pair you with a talent advisor to discuss your organization’s talent needs.
