Hiring The Best Talent: 10 Top Effective Recruitment Strategies

Americans change jobs an average of every four years. 

With such frequent career changes, it’s more important than ever for workers to be experts at networking and job searching. But employers also need to perfect their recruitment strategies if they expect to attract the best talent. 

While we’re long past the days of sorting through piles of resumes, the hiring process can still be tedious, especially if your hiring practices are ineffective. What’s more, recruiting top talent will be difficult if it’s clear you haven’t moved with the times. 

Worried that your company will be left behind? Keep reading to learn how to recruit the best talent, and fast!

1. Develop a Clear Employer Brand

One of the best tips for recruiting top talent is to have a clear employer brand in place before you even start the search for new hires.

Just as every brand has a set of values and a target customer, you need to decide what your company’s values are, and how to make these appeal to your target employee. 

Consider what sets your company apart from others, and why anyone would want to work for you. Is your company hot on career progression? Is it a fun place to work? Are the perks out of this world? Once you have a clear employer brand in place, make sure to reflect it on your website, social media profiles, and all job ads.  

2. Create Compelling Job Posts 

Unless your company is already well-known, your job post is the first impression a potential candidate will have of you. 

As well as reflecting your employer brand, you need to make the post clear, concise, and compelling. Job seekers want to know the details of the role’s benefits and expectations without having to trawl through too much text. 

They’re also likely to be looking at a lot of ads so it pays to make yours stand out. Consider linking to a video on your company’s website or career blog to attract their attention. 

3. Place Value in Employee Referrals 

Who better to do your talent recruiting for you than your current talent?!

Many companies who invest in their employee referral scheme with internal advertising and employee bonuses find that it saves them a lot of time, money, and energy in the long run. 

As motivational speaker Jim Rohn theorized,

you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

With this in mind, your talented employees should know at least one or two similarly talented professionals.

They’re also likely to have a better idea of whether anyone they refer will fit in with the company culture. And, having a friend who works for you is going to be a big motivator for this talented potential employee to come aboard. 

4. Invest in an Applicant Tracking System

Another way to save time and money on recruitment is by investing in an applicant tracking system (ATS). ATS software streamlines the process of posting jobs and recruiting top talent into an automated system including multiple-site job posting and applicant sorting. Like good spend management tools, they can help you save a huge amount of time and money in the recruiting process and beyond.

That said, there are many different ATS options available, so make sure to do your research and select the appropriate system for your company’s size and budget. 

5. Seek Out Passive Candidates

As biotech recruiters know, often the best candidates are those who are currently employed in a similar role with no immediate intention of changing companies.

It might seem like an impossible task to attract these ‘passive candidates’ to your company but it’s always worth reaching out to them to let them know that you’re interested. They’re sure to appreciate the personal touch and are more likely to keep you in mind if and when they do decide to leave their current role. 

6. Maintain a Social Media Presence 

After reading a job posting, potential candidates will often check your social media presence to find out more about your company. By maintaining a social media presence that reflects your employer brand, you’re more likely to attract talented individuals that match your company culture.

What’s more, social media is also becoming a popular way to recruit millennials. This can include advertising jobs, finding talent, and communicating with potential candidates. 

7. Make Use of Niche Job Sites

Depending on your industry, certain roles within your company might fall into more of a niche category. As such, recruiting top talent for these niche roles can be difficult on more general job sites. 

With this in mind, it can be a good idea to make use of smaller job sites that cater to more specific jobs. These niche sites also have tighter communities of job seekers and recruiters, making it easier to connect with the right candidates. 

8. Consider Campus Recruiting

College campuses can be a great source of top upcoming talent. Making connections with local colleges can help identify candidates for internship opportunities while establishing a relationship with academic bodies is always useful for future talent recruiting. 

College recruiting can involve attending career fairs, speaking at events, and advertising opportunities on campus job boards and websites. 

9. Perfect Your Interviewing Skills

Talent recruiting doesn’t end once you have a potential candidate in your sights. An effective interviewing process is also a vital part of a successful recruitment strategy.

Many brands can overlook how important it is for interviewees to perfect their technique in order to get the best out of each potential candidate. Whether the interview is individual or in a group, remote or in person, the focus should be on creating a comfortable atmosphere that also presents an accurate representation of the company culture. 

10. Speed Up Your Hiring Process

Last but not least, one of the most important tips for recruiting talent is to make sure you don’t take too long to decide on the right person for the job. After all, if you’re considering a potential candidate, it’s likely that other companies have also got them in their sights. 

This also means taking a good long look at specifically your talent acquisition process. Dealing with top talent means these potential employees are in high demand and have plenty of options to choose from. So, making it as pain-free as possible for candidates goes a long way to building up a positive persona of your company in their eyes. Because while you might be choosing them, they’re also choosing you.

Show that you value their time by keeping them informed at every stage of the process. This way they’re less likely to lose interest or take another role. 

Effective Recruitment Strategies to Hire the Best Talent

By implementing these kinds of recruitment strategies, it’ll be much easier to identify, attract, and hire the best candidate for the job. 

What’s more, by making the whole recruitment process more efficient, streamlined, and focused, you’ll be able to devote more energy, time, and money into retaining your existing talent.

For more of the best career-based advice and news, be sure to check out our other blog posts!

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