Creative Recruiting Strategies
Finding great talent takes time, effort and creativity. Where do you go to find the right person who is great at the essential functions of the position as well as happy and productive while doing it? Too often we go to the most obvious places, which have managers competing with other companies in the industry. Take time to brainstorm with others to come up with creative ways to find the right talent.
Have a lunch time brainstorming session, including all of the stakeholders involved in the position. A stakeholder is anyone who is dependent on this hire to meet their business needs. No suggestion is wrong, rather have fun and you may be surprised to find distinctive ways to source or network to find the right candidate.
Note: Be creative, though legal, in your job postings. Make it unique so your company’s brand stands out against the rest of the postings.
Company Website
Your website is a great place to advertise your open positions. Position your Join Our Team section on the main page with a link to your vision, values and culture, along with a detailed description of the open positions. Your website offers more information about the company than an ad posted on a job board. Use the right key words for the position in your title, and a person searching the internet could come upon it
Constant Recruiting
- Even if you don’t have an open position, you may meet someone who potentially be a great employee, so give your card and see if they are willing to find out more about the company.
- Everywhere you go speak to someone about your open positions in case they have contacts that are valuable to you.
Disabilities
Talented candidates are what you are looking for your team. Individuals with disabilities may meet the essential functions of the role, with minor accommodation by the company.
Email Signature
Most managers do their primary communication via email, so why not advertise every time you send an email about your open position….. By highlighting a new position in an email signature, each email you send becomes a marketing tool. At the bottom of your email, just write, for example, “We are looking for great technical talent. Check out our website for more details.”
Employee Referrals
Always check in with your employees to see if they know someone who would be great for the open position. Add an incentive as a thank you when they do refer a new employee. If you actively use employees for referral, come up with an Employee Referral Plan, so everyone is clear around what to expect.
Events
Job fairs, trade shows, and community based events are a great way to showcase your open positions.
Colleges hold job fairs and this is a great way to find individuals ready for their first job. If you need to fill several positions, you could host your own job fair at your company.
Use a trade show booth to meet and talk with potential employees. You or your team members may be members of an industry organization, and can use this membership to post or network with others to find employees, which has potential to find talent for your company.
Another example, you can check Meetup.com and find potential candidates at these meetups for the specific technology you require. There are many different types of meetups going on all over the country.
Take advantage of your organizations to network for potential employees.
Job Boards
There are major job boards like Monster and Career Builder that many companies use. If the recruiting is done internally, then you will need to post to the difference sites. If you are searching for technology talent, Dice.com is the grandfather of sites focusing on this talent.
Find the right job boards for the position you are looking for because potential candidates will search or leave their resumes on those sites.
Minority Organizations
You want to hire high-quality talent and sourcing candidates from different organizations enlarges your pool of candidates. Reach out to organizations that support minorities to see if you could post an ad or send an email out to their membership. Employee diversity adds more creative thinking, brings in more candidates and is indicative of the world around us.
Past Employees
Usually companies have employees who have left for their own personal reasons, who were assets to the company. If their current position is not as satisfying as they had hoped, they may be interested in having a conversation with you. If they are happy where they are working, they might be able to recommend someone to you.
Schools
- Depending on the position, whether it’s part-time or full-time, the schools in your area can potentially provide talent. Colleges provide new employees that you are willing to train. Technical schools are a great source to find entry level tech support.
- Maybe you can use interns to fill the position. They will need to be easily trained so as to function quickly within the position. Many companies bring in interns and eventually hire them as full-time employees. You gain a lot of knowledge about the intern’s performance to decide if they will continue on.
Social Media
Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter are the major sites that businesses use to recruit new talent, though popular social media sites are always changing. Sites that are small today can blossom in popularity and be another venue to recruit for talent.
Linkedin.com (business social media site) is great for reaching out to talented individuals who may or may not be actively searching for a new position. Maybe a potential candidate is not looking, though your opportunity may spark interest and they will interview for the position.
Your industry may have specific sites where talent congregate and presenting your opportunity there would work better for your candidates.
Strong talent is being bombarded by recruiters, so if you decide to reach out to the person, put together an offer that would be attractive for the candidate in their next career choice.
Note: If you decide to use this venue to source for qualified candidates or access information on a potential candidate, you need to be aware of the potential legal issues that may crop up in your search. When reviewing the candidate’s public postings and accounts, you are given a better picture of them — you will be aware of the person’s age, race, sex and other “protected characteristics” that is often part of their online presence.
Recruit with the essential functions of the position and stop yourself if you are filtering people through a protected class. Ask yourself if you are not moving forward with this person because they lack the experience or knowledge you are seeking or whether it’s their looks or age that impacts your decision. Consult an employment lawyer if you have any concerns.
Tech Meetups
If you are looking for tech talent, Meetups are a great source of potential candidates. Just seek out the specific type of technology you are searching for and find out if they will allow you to post to their members about your open position.
For example, if you are looking for a software developer, type in the required technology, along with your area, and you will probably see groups already operating with a solid membership.
Women’s Organizations
Women’s organizations are a great way to find new talent as well as balance the diversity in your workplace. For example, The National Association of Professional Women, National Association for Female Executives or Women in Technology International.
Note: You never know where you are going to find the right person, so create a recruiting outreach plan to maximize your exposure and find candidates who may not be looking for a new position, though are intrigued with what you have to offer.
Before you start sourcing, put the time in to be clear around the company’s vision, culture and create a strong job description that will support the company.
Be well,
Pat
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