5 Recruiting Fundamentals that Always Work (Pandemic or Not)

Let’s not tempt fate by asking if finding talent and filling roles can get any harder or the job market could get any stranger. Instead, let’s focus on what works to get talent in the door and on the job.

Whether the job market favors job seekers or employers, whether the economy is roaring or receding, there are a handful of recruiting strategies that always get the job done. The intrepid Employment Enterprises recruiting team relies on these five fundamentals for recruiting success—strategies you can count on to produce talent time and again.

1. Dynamic, Personal Outreach

It takes energetic outreach to get the right candidates to take notice and apply. Businesses that hope job postings will do the trick are easily drowned out by employers with big advertising and targeted media budgets. That’s why it’s important to invest in tools and efforts that allow your teams to reach out, get in front of, and engage candidates where they are. Sitting back and waiting for talent to come to you doesn’t work for anyone. Even the world’s celebrated and best places to work run dynamic talent outreach and recruitment programs because they want the best. They go out and get them.

So, what are the best outreach tools and practices to get candidates to take notice?

• Social recruitment tools – Software and solutions that allow for candidate sourcing, targeting, and engagement across a wide range of social media sites, from the well-known behemoths like LinkedIn to specialized sites focused on industries, interests, and skill sets.
• Automated posting tech – Tools that automate and accelerate the distribution of postings to the right job boards, platforms, and social media sites.
• Candidate databases – From industry to industry and skill set to skill set, employers have numerous talent databases to choose from that offer smart, targeted talent exposure.
• Live Events – Going where candidates are is also a highly effective outreach strategy, from hosting and attending job fairs to attending industry events and conferences and joining in community events. People want to connect and take notice of the employers who try to connect with them.

2. Flexible Fulfillment

Any recruiter will tell you there are no perfect job descriptions. It takes flexibility and an open mind to find a great match amid a candidate, the role, and the employers. Recruiters and hiring managers who know the appropriate time to stick strictly to the job description and when to relax the requirements to pull in a larger, more diverse candidate pool are helping the business save a great deal of time and money. How?

Job openings that go unfilled cost a business a good deal of money in lost productivity and dissatisfaction among overworked teams. However, finding a candidate with 70-80% of the requirements and 20-30% to train can be a great find. Candidates with fewer qualifications do not have outsized compensation expectations. In addition, training usually takes less time than it would to find a perfectly aligned candidate (a unicorn in recruiting, most of the time).

Most importantly, hiring a candidate who has something to learn is an early way to fulfill one of the most important aspirations of job seekers today: growth opportunities. Employees want to gain skills and seek out opportunities to train. An employer willing to invest in training from the start is demonstrating strong commitment to employee development, which is a common boost to employee satisfaction and retention.

3. Turning off the Tech

The human touch has incredible power in recruitment, especially in recent years, as so much of the recruitment process has been automated. From digitally driven application processes to automated employer responses and online skill and personality tests, candidates spend a lot of time using the tools and platforms of a potential employer but are missing chances to get to know its people and culture. That makes every ounce of personal engagement and human touch added into the recruitment process memorable for the candidate.
Simple phone calls or quick video chats can make a huge impact on a candidate while also giving hiring managers and recruiters a chance to clarify skills or experience details. While COVID-19 continues to hinder on-site interactions for many businesses, video-based office tours and pre-recorded culture videos are also good ways to help candidates get a glimpse of the workplace, the culture, and the workforce.

4. Remembering Employment Takes Two

A great recruitment result means two parties are getting what they need. Employers are getting the right hire, and job seekers are finding the right job. Recruiters and hiring managers that work hard to make both parties happy and align business and job seeker goals will deliver better hires. Better hires become highly satisfied employees who bring in more talent with their enthusiasm for their work and success on the job.

Finding the Faults, Making the Fix

The job market realities might be frustrating today, but they are not keeping companies like HubSpot, Google, Invidia, Delta and others from being overwhelmed with good candidates. If candidates are not showing up or are leaving quickly after the hire, recruiters and hiring managers need to know what’s going wrong in the recruitment process and make the fix. Adjustments to job descriptions, interview processes, or candidate pools can be the key to finding candidates who will stay versus those that will flee. It’s a matter of keeping onboarding and retention metrics in front of everyone to identify and eliminate recruitment challenges so that great candidates have the chance to become great employees.

Looking for more recruitment advice from the experts at Employment Enterprises? Contact our team at (703) 361-2220 or send an email to solutions@eeihr.com.