Businesses of all sizes are facing recruitment challenges. In today’s hypercompetitive hiring market, even well-known brands are finding it difficult to bring onboard employees who can help push the business forward.
Experienced, talented candidates aren’t on the market for very long. If your business is going to increase its chances of securing game-changing individuals, then it must take a sophisticated, considered approach to its recruitment practices. After all, your competitors are just as eager to sweep up top talent as you are.
In this post, we’ll run through some tried-and-tested, effective tips for identifying, hiring, and securing your business’s next generation of outstanding employees.
Get smart about identifying candidates
Highly talented candidates are out there. But if you don’t know where or who they are, then there’s little you can do to bring them on board. Finding the candidates that make sense for your role is a balancing act between casting the net wide enough to locate a talented candidate, but small enough that you’re inundated with applications.
How you identify candidates will depend on the scope of the role being advertised. Junior positions may be filled by diving into your pool of connections, as well as those of your existing employees. Candidates for more senior or specialist roles may be identified with the help of a talent mapping company, which will produce insightful data about candidate populations that can turbocharge your recruitment process.
Ultimately, the right candidate is unlikely to simply fall into your lap. You’ll have to go find them. By utilising personal connection pools or working with recruitment experts, businesses can streamline their hiring process and make decisions that have long-term benefits for their future.
Be honest
A candidate may look appealing on paper, but that doesn’t mean that they’re the right choice for the role. While core competencies and capabilities are the main driving force behind position suitability, they’re not the only ones. Cultural fit matters, too. A candidate who does not align with your company culture, even a highly talented candidate, will be much less likely to bring long-term benefits. In some cases, it can even have a damaging effect on existing employees’ morale.
You can’t always guarantee that a candidate will work out. But you can increase the chances. The simplest way is to be as upfront and honest as possible about your company culture. If it’s a fast-paced environment, say it. If there’s more relaxed start-up energy, then say that. Do that, and you should attract candidates that align with what your business represents and how it operates.
Stay in contact
All businesses need time to analyse their options before coming to a final hiring decision. However, businesses should be mindful that taking too long can inadvertently push a candidate away. A leading candidate is unlikely to wait around forever to hear back after an interview. In one study, more than 60% of candidates mentally checked out following more than two weeks of silence.
Don’t lose a potentially outstanding employee for a reason as avoidable as under-communication. Developing a hiring pipeline that balances the needs of the business and the employee can help avoid this issue. If an unexpected obstacle occurs that may cause a delay in the hiring process, it’s best to inform the candidate as early as possible. Ultimately, candidates appreciate openness and communication, and even if things don’t progress as quickly as they’d like, it’ll still reflect well on your business.
Make your business attractive
All too often, businesses spend all their time analysing the strengths and weaknesses of candidates, without realising that the candidate is also analysing them. The best candidates will be aware of their worth and will expect to work for a company that invests in the employee experience.
There are countless ways to make your business attractive to prospective candidates. Offering competitive salaries and providing additional perks and bonuses should be standard. Providing a pleasant working environment, flexible working conditions, and investing in team bonding will also make your business a more desirable place to work.
Perfect the onboarding process
Just because you’ve hired an employee, that doesn’t mean that you’ve secured them. Bringing them on board is one thing. Keeping them there is another. 30% of workers have left a job within six months. More than 20% of UK workers say they plan to leave their role in the next 12 months.
You can’t make a new recruit stay with you, but you can increase the likelihood by investing in your onboarding process, which will get them up, running, and engaged in their role.
If your business is expecting a recruitment drive in the coming months, then keep the above tips in mind to secure the perfect employees.
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