It’s not easy to find the best employees. You see, not only are they competing for jobs, but you, as the employer, have to compete with your rivals to get the cream of the proverbial crop. Not only do you have to get people to apply for your vacant positions in the first place, but you also have to ensure that you have something worth offering candidates in favour of your business rivals. In this article, we will give you a few helpful tips for the next time you go through the hiring process. Hopefully, you will find the right people to fit your team in the process.
- Don’t advertise everywhere. Now, the traditional way for an employer to post vacancies is to follow the path well-travelled by most business owners. They advertise on popular job websites, such as Indeed, Reed, Monster, and TotalJobs. There is nothing wrong with this exactly, but you will be faced with an inundation of job applications. Therefore, put a limit on the places where you advertise your vacancy. Focus on websites and forums which are specific to what you are looking for. These are the places that the right people will come to anyway, instead of the average person looking for a job, any job, to apply to.
- Use a recruitment agency. Not only does an HR recruitment agency alleviate the hard work it takes in hiring somebody, they also have the skills to match the candidates on their books with the right positions. Some agencies cover a wide field of job roles, and others are specialised, such as in areas of finance for example. You don’t have to interview all the candidates they recommend to you, but you can work with the agency to narrow down your search, so your time is better spent meeting those people who are better-suited to the position you are offering.
- Write better job posts. The more specific you are in your vacancy description, the more likely you are to get the right people applying for the job. Ensure you have a list of all the ‘essential’ skills and qualifications needed for the post, and then broaden the scope a little with a list of those traits that are ‘desirable.’ You might still get the ‘wrong’ people applying, but you will be able to weed out the good from the bad by using your own checklist governed by the job description.
- Be careful of social media. In the same way advertising on every job website available could be inadvisable, the same applies to social media. Considering the endless loop of people on social networks, you could be inundated with more applications than you can manage. Therefore, narrow down your search using some of the tools at your disposal. LinkedIn has an excellent search option, where you can use InMail to reach out to those people who would make a great fit for your business, and you can also advertise your vacancy on professional networks. You can also tap into Facebook, using Graph Search to specifically target the people who would potentially fit in well within your team. So, use social media wisely, and you will get better-defined results in your search for employees.
- Speak to past candidates. If you have gone through the hiring process before, you may still have a number of applications on file. It may have been tough to choose between those who applied, especially if they closely fitted what you were looking for. Now, while many of them will have gone on to find jobs elsewhere, there may still be past candidates in need of a job position. Dust down their application forms and get in touch with them. You might just make their day, and they will make your day in return should they welcome the opportunity to work with you.
- Start an internship program. Fresh from graduation, interns are desperate for work experience. Now, you could offer them unpaid positions because of this, though most companies do the honourable thing and offer a paid program. You will get the freshest young minds around, keen to show off their expertise and to make a good impression in the employment they are given. They will bring new ideas to the table, with the latest practices straight from what they have learned in the classroom. While you will benefit from this extra pair of hands in the short-term, you might go beyond any internship program you offer by hiring one lucky intern a full-time position once the program is over. This way, you can get the best people early, before your nearest rivals move in to snap them up!
- Poach from your rivals. Okay, so this is a tad naughty, but hey, the business world is cutthroat, right? While you probably wouldn’t stroll into your rival’s office with the promise of a better offer to those who are working there, you could still use social media to get in touch with any high-performers you have heard about. Now, you do need to have something to offer as an incentive, such as a better working environment, higher pay, or improved chances of promotion, as most employees will be loyal to their current employer, no matter how much of a taskmaster they are.
- Speak to your team. There may be people on your team who know where to source the best candidates. You do need to be careful – you don’t want your employees bringing in their best mates because they need a job – but an incentive program, where you offer something (such as a bonus in their wages) when they make a recommendation for a candidate, may encourage your team to reach out to anybody they think is suitable. Considering your team know what it’s like to work in your company, and have an understanding of the skills needed, it stands to reason that they may know people who would be a perfect fit.
The right employee for your company is out there, so spend time following leads and using the channels we mentioned to help you recruit them. It may take time, but if you don’t need to hire somebody urgently, a little patience is a virtue, especially when it comes to profiting your business.
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Cyber Geek Girl
