Getting the best staff is essential for businesses, whether you’re looking for a tech pro, a new manager, or even a secretary. Though you may know exactly who you need on your team, the best individuals are hard to find.
Attracting new talent is all about innovation. A cutting-edge recruitment strategy reflects a creative company, which in turn signals to potential candidates that this place has a good employee culture. These three innovative recruitment strategies are sure to get the right candidates through the door.
Social Networking
Social networking has become a necessary part of the hiring process. When it comes to sourcing new talent, LinkedIn is the big one. Nearly all graduates have uploaded their CV to LinkedIn, enabling employers to read through profiles and search for candidates in their niche. Over 1.9 million people connect with companies on LinkedIn making it a great site to network on. You can track job-hunters by searching for job-hunting keywords and targeting groups that have people relevant to your field.
Don’t just use the social networking sites that everyone has already heard of though. Innovative employees are also early adopters of new trends and using the latest sites. As well as the big name social media websites, there are specialist social media sites (such as Medium for writers and Doctors Hangout for doctors and medical students) that you can use to find a collection of candidates with specific skills.
Successfully sourcing talent on social media sites doesn’t just rely on your ability to search with the right keywords and approach potential employees with the right tact. You also need to have excellent, up-to-date social media accounts for your own company. People you connect with on these sites will be viewing your social media profiles, so make sure branding is strong and the updates reflect what a great employee culture your company has.
Niche Job Listings
Companies trying to recruit new talents have been using job listings for years, but they’re making one big mistake.
Many employers are signing up to the largest job boards, like Monster and Indeed. Those big name job boards may come with the largest candidate databases, but most of those candidates won’t be relevant for the position you’re looking to fill. Is getting your ad viewed a million times by the wrong people worth it? Probably not.
In this scenario, it’s much better to opt for a smaller, specialist job listings website to ensure your job ad targets the right people. There is a job site for nearly every niche these days, from Culintro for culinary jobs to Jobs4Medical for the healthcare industry. Experts have commented that niche job boards tend to result in applications from higher quality candidates with more relevant skill sets.
Viral Videos
If you want to go the extra mile, then a viral video is a great way to get excellent candidates and make sure that people are talking about your company at the same time.
Heineken got a lot of laughs with their latest video that showed real life applicants trying to talk their way into the job whilst the interviewer held their hand across the table. Viewers were invited to watch the video and vote for the best candidate, an excellent example of both content marketing and crowdsourcing the best results.
Even if you’re not planning on making a viral video, scraping those standard interview questions and opting for something a little more out of the box can be a great way for candidates to differentiate themselves. An old interviewer I knew liked to ask potential candidates to tell him what he had eaten for lunch, then judge from their reaction what percentage of their previous answers were lies. By challenging candidates to think on their feet, you’ll be able to see who has the right skills and abilities to work for your company.
(About the Author: Ron Stewart has worked in the recruitment industry for 30 years, having owned companies in the IT, Construction and Medical sectors. He is currently running the Jobs4Group, and is CEO of Jobs4Medical. To connect with Ron, you can visit his website www.jobs4medical.co.uk, follow him onTwitter @jobs4medical, like his Facebook page or connect with him on LinkedIn.)
photo credit: matt coats via photopin cc
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