Recruitment is often neglected and put on the back burner as a support function. Organisations tend to forget that any resources but the Human Resources can be duplicated by a competitor.
The edge lies in having skilled persons at key positions, which are committed to the organisation, capable enough to deliver into the result areas and have a thinking pattern in tandem with the organisational vision, mission and goals.
Internal recruitment sources like transfers, promotions never suffice the need of fresh talent and access to better ideas, strategies and competitors movements.
With the advancement of technology, cut-throat competition, digitization of business processes and other factors like globalized markets, talent acquisition has become a serious menace. Employers and hiring managers are on the line of fire for the spike in employee turnover that companies are facing these days.
Here are six indispensable ways to reach out to more candidates in explaining how to proactively reach out to more candidates using popular tools and sources.
#1. Referrals from Employees, stake holders, suppliers, & other formal networks
Recruiting from employee referrals will always be an evergreen mode of creating a pool of prospective candidates. Be it the current employee, or other network personnel, they know the organisation as well as the candidate. The trust factor also plays a vital role. Thus organisations worldwide encourage existing employees to refer able candidates for recruitment.
The gesture is often compensated by mode of cash/ recognition/ incentives etc. A major drawback of this mode is that over-doing this may lead to favouritism, and may bring down the morale of other employees.
Takeaways:
- Source of passive candidates
- Higher quality as already screened
- Save time and recruiting cost
#2. Use of Social Media & digital platforms
The social media is a force to reckon with. With the changing demographics, every business perspective has evolved to be digitally equipped and active. So has recruitment. My friend Manash from Lini Marketing Solutions says, “we have started looking at various social media to attract potential candidates.” Yes that’s true, as per Adweek report, 92% of companies use social media for recruitment.
- Don’t be just a hiring manager, be a mentor
- Create a Brand Image, be a brand
- Make appropriate social media profiles
- Don’t just post job openings and vanish
- Post useful reading materials and helpful tips
Source: PayScale
Perhaps is the best professional network in current times. The network is used by 98% of professional recruiters and 85% of the hiring managers to find candidates as per Viveka von Rosen, author of the book LinkedIn Marketing: An hour a day. Professionals maintain a LinkedIn account and update about new skills, achievements, professional experience sharing and other stuff. This helps the recruiter to identify the skills, competencies of the candidate and also helps connecting to the right person.
With features like LinkedIn jobs & LinkedIn services, LinkedIn is a boon for a recruiter to source candidates among over 250 million users and close the positions with ease. The platform has been used to such an extent that adding your LinkedIn handle with the signature of your email is as good as sending your resume or curriculum vitae. LinkedIn’s connected App also allows recruiters to make contact when it matters the most.
Employment Portals
Potential candidates’ key in their details, photographs and resume on employment portals and this data is sold by Employment portals to organisations. Use of portals is an excellent source of candidates. Employers can use their login to search particular skills, attitudes or behaviour to generate the pool of right candidates.
Talk about the social recruiting and the one tool that comes instantly in my mind is Jobvite, where your employees have the freedom to share the job opening within their social circle. This tool is truly helpful and adept in the social recruiting process.
Takeways
- Job Seekers can be specifically targeted
- Faster, effective and larger reach
- Better and higher response rate
- Information reach develops ‘multiplier effect’
#3. Go for the 3P’s of Branding – Positive, Powerful, & Perpetual
This umbrella term includes traditional advertisements like press releases in newspapers, professional journals and magazines, television or radio to postings on blogs and websites or creating online discussions. This mode has a greater outreach and can be used to target masses and generate a larger pool of candidates with remarkable variance in quality. This is also a big way for the organisation to announce that we are growing.
Not only the job opening ads but other write-ups through which a passive candidate could know more about the company should be encouraged; the aim should be to create a positive image in the minds of the passive candidates.
A properly carved advertisement with adequate information enhances the image of the organisation.
Organisations participate in activities like job fairs where masses come for a Walk-in-Interview.
Visit a typical job fair and the versatile, vividly colourful & portable roller banners would definitely welcome you! The roller banners are not only a substantial way to exhibit what a company is looking for but also a great way to advertise about the company as whole. Amrit Dhungal from The Business Printers said, that trade printing should be vital factor in any exhibition strategy, regardless of how large or small the company.
Other such activities as webinars, public discussions, have been ably demonstrated as good sources of talent acquisition.
Takeaways
- Creates a positive image of Company’s culture
- Attracts large pool of talented candidates
- Helps the company to create a brand image
#4. Hire A Recruitment Agency
Organisations keen to stay slim and not investing into recruitment teams tend to outsource the recruitment process to recruitment consulting agencies. Well known agencies source proper candidates as per the job descriptions and job specifications provided by the client organisation.
Sometimes the recruitment consulting organisations go extra mile by conducting interviews and other assessments before forwarding the candidates to the client organisations for selections.
The charges for such services are usually a percentage of the annual package given to the candidate. In many cases, the agencies charge the candidates’ one month salary. If the sourcing is for a senior position, the charges may go higher.
If you are looking to find a recruitment consultancy firm then stunited is a right place to look for. It helps you find the agencies. With a wide variety of choices of the agencies, you don’t have to look for a perfect agency anywhere else. You can also refer this Forbes article on how to hire recruitment agency
Takeaways
- Improved recruitment process
- Reduces Turnover and training cost
- Provides a competitive edge (specially to the smaller firms)
Employment exchanges set up by governments or other agencies act to bring together employers and potential recruits. Such exchanges maintain records of job seekers with their names and qualifications. The employers inform the exchanges about the vacancies at their end and types of employees they need to fill those positions.
#5. Conduct Campus Recruitment To Hire Fresh Faces
If you are looking for fresher, then the way to recruit is direct from the source. Talent from the best educational campus allows HR managers to select the best and of course at economic salaries. Institutions have campus recruitment cells which organise recruitment fairs or company meets to help out their candidates with jobs. Unlike advertisement or agencies, this mode does not involve much cost and yet you get to advertise about your company to the masses.
Source: Hunts hire
Takeaways
- Wide range of candidates for different profiles
- A chance to create a mass brand appeal
- As a fresher they develop loyalty towards the company
#6. Application Tracking System & Managing The Database
Keeping information like candidates details, scanned copies of resumes in digitized form with a proper Application management systems to retrieve information as and when required is always advantageous. In previous recruitment cycles, even better performing candidates may have lost to competition.
The data is a goldmine, for you may never know which candidate could be suitable for this current avenue. Database management systems have evolved a long way and cater to such causes with absolute ease.
And the most talked term today is the use of ‘The ATS’ (Application tracking system), a simple and effective way to organise the recruitment process. It’s only helpful in bringing down the hassles of hiring but also creates a smooth process.
Source: Churchmag
Takeaways
- Reduces the recruiting time
- Organised data accessible on computer
- Lets you focus on the qualified candidates
- Reduces bottlenecks, expedite the process
- Reduced recruiting cost
- Builds a database for future use
We’d love to hear how you reach out to canditates. Please let us know in the comments below.
Images: “Human Resources concept, Portraits of a group of business people/Shutterstock.com“
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