How to recruit employees? Many recruiters and TA professionals often struggle with this question. In fact, according to a study by LinkedIn, 83% of talent leaders say that talent is the number one priority for their organization. And 59% of them say that the best way to improve their performance is to hire better talent. [1]
But how do you find and attract the best talent for your company? How to recruit employees that thrive in your culture, fit your vision, and contribute to your success? How do you overcome the challenges and issues that come with fast paced recruitment? In this article, we will share some tips and best practices on how to recruit employees that thrive.
How to Recruit Employees via Platforms and Channels
One of the first steps in recruiting employees is to find them. Where do they hang out? What are they looking for? What are their preferences and expectations?
There are many platforms and channels that you can use to reach out to potential candidates and showcase your employer brand. Some of the most popular ones are:
- Job boards: This channel refers to websites where you can post your job openings and attract applicants who are actively looking for a new opportunity. Some examples are Indeed, Monster, Glassdoor, etc.
- Social media: Through social media, you can share your company culture, values, achievements, and stories with a wider audience and engage with potential candidates who are interested in your industry or niche. Some examples are LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
- Referrals: These are recommendations from your existing employees, customers, partners, or network who can vouch for your company and refer qualified candidates who might be a good fit for your roles. Referrals are one of the most effective sources of hiring as they tend to have higher retention rates, lower costs, and faster hiring times.
- Events: Going to events offer you opportunities to meet potential candidates face-to-face and showcase your company in a more personal and interactive way. Some examples are career fairs, networking events, webinars, workshops, etc.
Check out our guide on hiring channels for the full strategy.
How to Recruit Employees: the Challenges
Recruitment is not always a smooth and easy process. There are many challenges and issues that can arise along the way and affect your hiring outcomes. Some of the common ones are:
- Competition: You might be competing with other companies for the same talent pool, especially if you are looking for niche skills or high-demand roles. You need to stand out from the crowd and offer something unique and compelling to attract and retain top talent.
- Diversity: There are high chances that you might be struggling to create a diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects your customers and society. To overcome this challenge, you need to overcome biases and barriers that might prevent you from hiring people from different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. Here’s our guide on how you can measure diversity metrics in recruitment.
- Quality: At times, you could be receiving too many applications that are not relevant or qualified for your roles. Filtering out the noise and focusing on the candidates who have the skills, experience, and potential that match your requirements are ways to deal with this challenge.
- Speed: You might be taking too long to hire candidates who might lose interest or accept other offers in the meantime. You need to streamline your hiring process and reduce the time-to-hire without compromising on quality. Read more about time-to-fill vs time-to-hire.
How to recruit employees and overcome these issues and recruit employees with less hassle? Here are some tips:
- Define your employer value proposition (EVP): This is the unique value that you offer to your employees in exchange for their work and contribution. It includes aspects such as compensation, benefits, culture, development opportunities, etc. Your EVP should be clear, consistent, and aligned with your company's vision and goals. It should also be communicated effectively across all platforms and channels.
- Use data and analytics: It is the process of collecting, analyzing, and using data to inform your recruitment decisions and actions. Data can help you understand your talent market, identify gaps and opportunities, optimize your sourcing strategies, measure your hiring performance, etc. You can use tools such as Google Analytics, LinkedIn Talent Insights, etc. to gather and leverage data for recruitment. Read more about HR analytics and predictive HR analytics here.
- Automate repetitive tasks: We are talking about the use of technology to perform tasks that are tedious, time-consuming, or prone to human error. Automation can help you save time and resources, improve efficiency and accuracy, and enhance the candidate experience. Tools such as chatbots, email templates, screening tests, or an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can help you automate parts of your hiring process. Read more about automating recruiting tasks here
Proven Strategies on How to Recruit Employees
Recruitment is not a one-size-fits-all approach. When it comes to answering the question, ‘How to recruit employees who will thrive at your company? It is important to have a solid strategy that suits your specific needs, goals, and context. A good recruitment strategy should include:
1. A Clear Understanding of Your Hiring Needs
You need to define the roles that you need to fill, the skills, experience, and qualifications that you require, and the expectations and responsibilities that you have for each position. You also need to assess your current workforce, your future plans, and your budget constraints.
2. A Realistic Timeline and Budget
It is essential to set realistic goals for how long it will take you to hire each role, how much it will cost you, and what resources you will need. In addition to that, you need to monitor your progress, adjust your plans as needed, and evaluate your results.
3. A Targeted Sourcing Plan
Identifying where and how you will find the best candidates for each role is a crucial part when it comes to laying down a solid hiring strategy. You need to choose the platforms and channels that match your target audience, your employer brand, and your budget. At the same time, you also need to craft compelling job ads and messages that highlight your EVP and entice candidates to apply.
4. A Structured Hiring Process
In order to form a strong recruitment game plan, you’re required to design a hiring process that is consistent, fair, and efficient. It’s important to decide on the steps and criteria that you will use to screen, interview, evaluate, and select candidates. You also need to communicate clearly and timely with candidates and stakeholders throughout the process.
5. A Strong Employer Value Proposition
An employer value proposition (EVP) is a statement that summarizes the benefits and opportunities that your company offers to its employees. It is a way to showcase your company culture, values, and vision, and to differentiate yourself from your competitors. You can establish and use a strong EVP can help you attract and retain talent, as well as increase employee engagement and loyalty. To create an effective EVP, you need to understand what your employees want and need, what makes your company unique and appealing, and how you can communicate your message to your target audience.
6. A Diverse and Inclusive Recruitment Strategy
Diversity and inclusion are not only ethical and social goals, but also business imperatives. Research shows that diverse and inclusive teams are more innovative, productive, and profitable than homogeneous ones. [2] To foster a diverse and inclusive recruitment strategy, you need to address potential biases and barriers in your hiring process, such as using gender-neutral language, offering flexible work options, and providing reasonable accommodations. You also need to promote diversity and inclusion in your employer branding, such as featuring diverse employees in your testimonials, highlighting your commitment to social causes, and partnering with relevant organizations and communities.
7. A Continuous Improvement Approach
Recruitment is not a static or linear process, but a dynamic and cyclical one. You need to constantly monitor, measure, and improve your recruitment strategy to ensure its effectiveness and efficiency. You can use various tools and methods to collect and analyze data on your recruitment performance, such as recruitment metrics, feedback surveys, and exit interviews. You can also use best practices and benchmarks from your industry and peers to compare and evaluate your results. Based on your findings, you can identify your strengths and weaknesses, and implement changes and improvements accordingly.
How to Recruit Employees with ATS
One of the best ways to recruit employees that thrive is to use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). It is a software tool that helps you manage your entire hiring process from start to finish. It allows you to post jobs to multiple platforms and channels with one click, track and organize applications in one place, screen and rank candidates based on predefined criteria, schedule interviews and send reminders automatically, collect feedback and ratings from interviewers easily, and generate reports and insights on hiring performance.
An ATS can help you improve your recruitment efficiency, quality, speed, and experience. But not all ATSs are created equal. Some are more advanced, user-friendly, and affordable than others. If you’re looking for a perfect ATS, then look no further, for Manatal got you covered. It is an innovative ATS that helps you recruit employees that thrive in just a few clicks.
Sourcing candidates shouldn't be hard.
With Manatal, you can:
- Source candidates from social media profiles, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter, with one click
- Enrich candidate profiles with AI-powered data such as skills, education, experience, etc.
- Create talent pools and pipelines to nurture passive candidates and build long-term relationships
- Collaborate with team members and share notes, comments, tasks, etc. in real-time
- Integrate with other tools such as Gmail, Outlook, Zoom, etc. to streamline your workflow
Conclusion
How to recruit employees is a crucial question for any business that wants to succeed in the competitive and diverse market. In this article, we have discussed the various platforms and channels that you can use to attract and reach out to potential candidates, the challenges that you may face in the recruitment process, and the tips and strategies that you can apply to overcome them. We have also introduced the benefits of using an ATS to streamline and optimize your hiring workflow. By following these guidelines, you can improve your recruitment outcomes and find the best talent for your company.
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Citation:
1. LinkedIn
2. Forbes