Recruiting talent is about more than posting a job listing on a job board and hoping to find the right person for the job. When you’re looking for top talent, you need a strategy in place to attract the right individuals to your job posting and make them want to work for you. Here’s how you can recruit the best candidates for the job.
Make a Job Post That Will Stand Out
As you know from doing a little bit of research, most job postings online are all the same. They list the skills the person should have for the job, what the person would do in their role and the pay. Some job postings don’t even list the salary that someone can expect. Learn from the mistakes of other recruiters by making a listing that’s complete.
Many top talent candidates will not apply for a job if they don’t know the salary range. By not posting the range, your business will make people assume you either don’t know enough about the position that you’re hiring for to give a range or you’re going to let candidates tell you how much they want to be paid only to choose the candidate that wants the lowest salary.
By listing the salary on your listing, you’ll tell candidates how much you value their skillsets. You’ll also help them avoid any awkwardness when it comes time for them to let you know how much they’d like to be paid during the interview process.
You should also aim to make your job post stand out in other ways. For example, instead of highlighting everything great about your business, tell candidates about the things your business does that can benefit them. Make sure you list all of the benefits of working for you, from life insurance to work environments.
Be More Flexible
Being flexible will help you recruit better talent and prevent turnover. More and more employees are looking for flexible job opportunities that allow them to have a better work/life balance. It’s a simple fact: the happier your employees are, the more productive they’ll be at work. Plus, unhappy employees can be contagious and make other people in the office feel unhappy, which will affect the productivity and morale of the entire office.
You don’t have to allow employees a completely flexible schedule. For example, it might not be good for businesses to let employees come and go as they please. However, you can offer more flexible opportunities like working from home or half days after goals are met for the week.
You can also offer them more flexible schedules, such as only coming into the office for meetings. If you’re going to be flexible, you’ll have to be okay with less control. Remember, as long as your employees are meeting deadlines and showing you they can get their work done on time, then there’s no reason to micromanage them.
Add Perks
Whether your employees work remotely or in the office, you can attract top talent by offering perks your competitors don’t. Work environments make your employees better, happier workers, so consider all of the different types of perks you can give them. For example, some employers have even been giving their workers investments in stocks or cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin.
You can also give perks to remote workers by providing them with their workstations. If your employees are working from a home office, you can give them free equipment, desks, and chairs to ensure they have everything they need to get their jobs done well.
Use Social Media
Your HR managers should be active on social media so they can find the best talent. Finding top talent may not be as easy as sponsoring a listing on Indeed. Instead, they might have to be a little more protective and go out and find the best of the best. One of the most common social media platforms for finding talent is LinkedIn because it’s where professionals can engage with one another.
You can use LinkedIn to find candidates for your job listing even if they already have jobs. Search LinkedIn for professionals who already do the job you’re hiring for, and you’ll find a long list of qualified potential applicants. Remember, though, top talent is already getting tons of messages every day from recruiters like yourself. If you want someone to apply for your job, it’s going to take more than just sending them a link for where to apply, especially if you’re approaching someone who already has a job.
Instead of pitching your job right away, consider starting up a conversation about their skills. After you’ve learned about them, let them know you’re hiring for someone with their experience and ask if they’d be willing to get on a quick call to discuss the opportunity.
Top talent knows they’re sought after, so any interview you have with someone isn’t going to be just you assessing them. The interview is to learn about the company as it is about you finding someone to fill an open job.
Reconsider Your Interview Style
Instead of asking all of your candidates the same boring questions, start by telling them about the company you’re hiring for and why it’s a great place to work. Then, tell them specifics about the job opportunity available to them. Many people in a hiring position make the mistake of not knowing enough about the job they’re hiring for. If you don’t have enough knowledge about the job, consider bringing in someone who does to help you interview the candidate just in case they have questions you can’t answer.
For example, someone in digital marketing might ask you what types of tools you use for analyzing your marketing data. This is a question you might not be able to answer unless you work in digital marketing. By being unable to answer these questions, you’ll make the candidate feel like you’re not even qualified to interview them and the company you work for doesn’t care enough about the candidates to let someone in the department interview them.
You should also stop asking the same old questions to every candidate you interview. Instead of asking what their greatest strengths and weaknesses are, consider letting the conversation freely flow. After you’ve highlighted all of the great aspects of the company and told them about the job, ask them to tell you about themselves and why they applied for the job. From there, let your questions flow freely and invite the candidate to ask you questions as well.
Create an Employee Referral Program
An employee referral program allows your employees to refer people to your company. If you trust your employees and think they’re great workers, then you can bet they’ll bring in like-minded individuals who can help your business succeed. Let your employees become your brand ambassadors and refer friends and family to earn rewards, such as gift cards.
Recruiting the Best
Recruiting top talent isn’t like recruiting for other job listings. If you want someone with years of experience, you need to give them a reason why they should leave their current job and start working for you. Use these tips as a guide, but find more ways you can start attracting top talent and make them want to work for the company.
