Finding the right talent is often challenging, and as many as 75% of companies struggle to recruit effectively.
Whatever industry you're in, sourcing talent when you need it is vital. Every business relies on the skills and dedication of its employees, so you want to make sure you have a team that's going to help guide your company toward success.
There are all kinds of candidate-sourcing methods that different businesses have implemented over the years, and some are more effective than others. You want to have an understanding of the ones that work best and how you can implement them.
In this guide, we'll go over some of the most effective talent acquisition strategies that you could use for your business. Let's get started.
Before you even start looking for new talent, you should determine what you're after. An ideal candidate persona is perfect for this.
Create a profile that details the specific skills, qualifications, and characteristics that you need. This will help you find the most relevant candidates.
When you create any job listings, you can base them around this persona. When candidates are looking at the listing, they'll have a much clearer idea of whether or not they fit the role.
The average corporate role receives about 250 applications, and you could easily get more than this. You'll only interview a handful of these; then just one will get the job. This means that there were 249 people who felt like they fit the role but weren't successful.
When another position comes up, one of these 249 applicants could be perfect for it. It can be a good idea to review these candidates and engage with the ones who seem to fit the ideal candidate persona you created.
You should already have their data, which most businesses save in a recruitment management system (RMS), applicant tracking system (ATS), or another database. This can help you go through these candidates effectively.
In some cases, you won't even need to advertise the position at all. You may be able to find the perfect person out of your previous candidates, helping streamline the recruitment process.
With a suitable RMS, you can use data from previous candidates to create and maintain a sourcing pipeline. You can build the foundation from this data, and you could also consider adding passive candidates to the pipeline. These are candidates who aren't currently seeking new opportunities but may be in the future.
If you prefer, however, you could create a separate pipeline for passive candidates. This may help keep things more organized as these ones won't have been through the same vetting process yet.
You can categorize candidates within this pipeline based on skills, qualifications, and experience. This will help you better match them to future job openings.
Analyze the qualifications and skills of past candidates and compare them to the future hiring needs of your organization. Look for any skill gaps so you can determine which areas may need a stronger talent pool.
Keep your active and passive candidates separate within the RMS data. Having separate segments will make sure your outreach and engagement go to the right candidates.
Use your sourcing pipeline to regularly communicate with candidates. You can implement a nurturing strategy including elements like company updates and relevant job alerts to keep them in the loop.
Employer branding can be one of the most important aspects of finding suitable talent. This is because a bad reputation will make people far less likely to want to work for your company. As many as 86% of job seekers will look at ratings and reviews when they're looking for a new company to work for.
Building a strong employer brand will help attract a lot more talent, making it easier to find the perfect candidate for a specific role. This will also speed up and streamline the recruitment process.
Making sure different teams collaborate can help with this. Your marketing team should work with anyone involved in the recruitment process to develop a strong employer branding strategy. If you already have one, they should be constantly working to improve it where possible.
When communicating with anyone, you're likely to get a better response when things are more personal. This remains true when recruiting.
Any time you reach out to potential candidates, a personal touch can help increase the chances of a positive response. The data you have on these candidates can help with this.
There are various approaches you can take towards this, but it can be a good idea to keep things concise. Try to keep emails to around 200 words or less. If you start writing too much, people will be less likely to read everything.
You shouldn't just personalize the email, but the subject line too. This will make it far more likely that candidates will actually open any emails you send them.
Make sure you keep the tone of any emails friendly and respectful. If you don't hear anything back, don't be afraid to follow up after a few days. When they do respond, make sure you reply promptly to maintain engagement.
One of the most effective recruitment tips that you should follow in today's world is to take advantage of the latest technology. There are always new ways to connect with potential candidates, and organizations that use the best tools available to them will generally get the best results.
For example, recruiters are now making use of virtual reality (VR) to give job seekers a highly immersive experience. Your company can take part in virtual job fairs which will give you a chance to connect with candidates with ease. You can engage with people from anywhere while still providing a personal touch.
You can also use VR to help show your company's work environment. Candidates will be able to get a clearer idea of the work culture they can expect as well as the job role they'll be filling. Not only can this approach help you find the best talent, but it can also save time and resources.
This can be easily overlooked, but it's a simple way to improve your chances of finding the best candidates. Many recruitment best practices are in terms of how you present your business, as this can hugely impact how many job seekers you attract. When looking at a career page, job seekers are likely to leave if they're not impressed with what they see.
This is a part of your branding strategy, and your careers page can act as a type of passive sourcing channel. If anyone is searching for work in your industry, you want your careers page to show up. Effective search engine optimization will help your page rank higher in search engine results, which will directly impact how many people end up on your site.
Make sure this page (along with the rest of your site) is user-friendly and easy to navigate. The layout and information should all be clear, and it's a good idea to categorize jobs based on departments, locations, or other important aspects.
Include a search function that allows users to look for specific roles. This will help speed things up and improve the user experience.
When looking for new hires, you can encourage your current employees to make recommendations. In many cases, this can be a very effective approach.
Your employees already have first-hand experience with your company, so they have a good understanding of your work environment, business values, mission, and more. As such, they're only likely to recommend candidates that they know will be a good fit.
Many companies use employee referral programs to help spur this on. A simple example would be to offer a cash reward to employees who refer candidates that the company ultimately hires. Clearly communicate any programs to managers and employees so they understand exactly how they work.
It's important to still take referred candidates through the same screening and evaluation processes as any other applicants. This will help you ensure you don't take on anyone who isn't well-suited for the job.
Sometimes, finding the right talent doesn't involve hiring techniques. You may already have the best candidates right under your nose.
Depending on the role you're trying to fill, you might have someone perfect for the job already working at your company. Allowing internal mobility means you can fill positions quickly with individuals who you're familiar with. As you know, they already fit in well at your company; all you need to do is determine if they have the right skills and experience for a specific job role.
Your employees will value this too. Internal mobility gives them the chance to expand their horizons and follow new career paths. Development is incredibly important to employees, so they'll appreciate the opportunity to grow their skills and gain new experience.
Educate your managers about internal mobility and how it works. When it comes time to find someone for a certain position, you can then speak to your managers about their current team members. They'll likely be able to suggest suitable candidates to you, helping streamline the process.
While you may be recruiting for roles you need to fill now, you should always be thinking about the future. You want to take on employees that will be good for your company in the long run. To do this, you need to understand where your company is heading.
Make sure you know what your company's growth plans are. This will give you a clearer idea of which teams need to grow, and you can then determine the kind of employees you need to take on.
You should maintain communication with leadership so you're always on the same page as them in terms of the direction of the company. Take part in important meetings so that you're aware of important updates and changes.
Collaborate with managers and department heads so you can work with them to identify specific expansion requirements. They know their teams, so they can inform you of what they need.
With these insights, you'll be able to better anticipate future talent needs. You can then create a talent acquisition roadmap with clear details about the positions that you need to fill and when.
Data is crucial to success in today's world, and it comes from all kinds of places. You can collect data when recruiting that you can later use to improve your strategies.
Keeping track of metrics and analyzing them can give you in-depth insights that you can use to make better-informed decisions. Some of the metrics you may want to track for recruitment include:
These will show you how effective your talent acquisition process is. You can then decide how to make improvements moving forward.
Think about your organization's sourcing goals to determine the most suitable metrics to track. Set up systems to collect this data efficiently. An RMS, along with HR analytics software, can be ideal here.
Pay attention to trends over time. You can regularly update and review data so that you know what adjustments will be most helpful.
Sourcing talent can prove very difficult, and while the above strategies can be helpful, sometimes the best option is to seek help from professionals. A talent advisory company can help you find the best talent for any position your business needs to fill. ProIQ works to help businesses strengthen their operations through high-quality recruitment strategies.
We can help with social media recruiting, geofencing recruiting, programmatic advertising, and more. We're partnered with some of the best software providers, such as HubSpot, WP Engine, and Microsoft Advertising, allowing us to deliver industry-leading services. Get in touch with our team today to schedule a consultation.