“ If you pay peanuts, you will get only monkeys!”
So goes a common adage which also means that recruiting lions demands a strategy worthy of it.
Nothing can be more relevant in today’s recruiting scenario. The world is moving towards a target audience and niche customers. It requires specific expertise and skill set to serve them. Recruiting today is more than merely matching the requirement and the skill set available.
Attracting the top brass would be any recruiter’s goal. It requires proper strategy and a viable, low dropout process. This needs you to be abreast with the current market. It is important to understand the skill sets and empathize with millennials as they form the largest chunk of the workforce. A robust solution is a process that provides sustainable alignment between both. It is also imperative to create brand awareness of the same amongst the candidates.
Formulating a strategy for company recruitment must focus upon the following points:
Effective Recruiting Begins With An Easy Application Process
The first impression is often lasting, and this works both ways. Any result-oriented company would strive to keep the recruitment process simple. This holds for applications too. For example, many companies have forms that are required to be downloaded, filled, and uploaded. An online link that enables the candidate to fill up the forms directly is a big step towards easing the process. Similarly, avoid standard or a general form for all roles and positions. An application form specifically tailored for your company and the specific department speaks volumes of the company’s seriousness and thoroughness. If you keep it simple and relevant, you will get filled in forms.
Effective Recruiting Reaches A Larger Audience Including Passive Candidates
The recruiters have to remember that while there is always an unemployed population who should be reached out to, recruiters should not limit themselves to this alone. Recruitment efforts include reaching out to the already employed group, otherwise called Passive Candidates. Reaching out to them and developing a relationship with them is akin to opening a “bank deposit.”
Unlike hiring active job seekers, passive recruitment is more challenging. Passive candidates aren’t actively looking out and are in their comfort zone, so enticing them will be a great task. This is why it is important to build your network with the technically qualified but already employed candidate pool. When a niche requirement arises, this gives you the flexibility to dip into your “bank deposit.”
Creating a talent bank and keeping those connections alive through a timely touch base is the key to successful recruiting.
Effective Recruiting Publishes Attractive Job Posting
It is important that the job posting provides all information clearly without any ambiguity. However, clarity alone won’t suffice. When we draft the job posting, we need to keep in mind that it should be delivered to the right audience, i.e., pop up at the right searches. So while drafting the job posting, remember to draft it both for the candidate and the bot.
Now once it is served out to the right audience, it is also important that the job posting not only stands out among others but also offers all the answers that the candidate is seeking. Most job seekers need a job description with a list of duties that it entails and not just the job title. A clear-cut posting speaks of a company with clear goals and a clearer vision. An insight into who the person filling the position will report to also implies clarity in hierarchy and ownership of the company. Everyone appreciates simple language with a direct approach. This is true of job postings too.
Effective Recruiting Embellishes The Company Branding
Company branding includes the working environment and the employee growth prospects as perceived by outsiders. The perceived value that a company provides is, by and far, the major factor determining the worth of the offer. The company culture is part and parcel of company branding, as is the company’s relations with the employees. Any employee who is skilled and good at their job, would be looking at a complete package.
A study indicates the present trend of the components which contribute towards employee decision-making. According to this, 49% of the decision depends on the compensation provided, 33% depends on the career growth opportunity, and just less than 29% work-life balance.
Employees who look at all aspects are actually better because they are looking for a long-lasting relationship. To attract such employees, branding the company through HR practices is a must. Though this involves consistent efforts over a long period, the recruiting costs ultimately come down, and the company’s performance enhances.
A better brand attracts the best of talent and skill, which in turn increases the company’s value. Plugging in content about the company’s HR practices and career growth into the branding process goes a long way in building the company’s brand.
Effective Recruiting Taps On Employee Referrals
The impact of word of mouth is way better than any other form of advertisement. When an employee speaks about the company, it has the highest impact as it comes from someone who has “been there.” Encouraging your employees to refer candidates also imparts goodwill.
The employee who refers also tends to help the new hire, making the onboarding smooth and easy. Since the recruit is also aware of all aspects of the company, he would not be flustered by the teething problems and tend to stay for a longer period. Also, when employees join through referrals, they become a close-knit social group, increasing a sense of well-being, enhancing productivity.
Effective Recruiting Uses Updated Hiring Process
With an avalanche of technical advancement at every forte, the hiring world, too, has had its share of innovation. Many new processes like project-based hiring, hackathons, digital galas, numerous apprenticeships, and collaborative projects have come into existence. IT industry leaders like INFOSYS or TCS are actively come up with many annual work-galas that give a taste of the company culture and their environment. This, in turn, helps attract young, bright talent. In line with the “catch them young” mantra, every company is aware that a young bunch of associates can prove invaluable, but to do so, we need to tap into their platforms.
Effective Recruiting Provides Conscientious Response
There is no denying that digital platforms have helped us reach a larger crowd more personally. Also, responding to a recruiter and applying for any job post has never been easier, but the pitfall lies in the process after it. Most of the candidates are either not contacted or not updated about their applications. This should be avoided at all costs.
In Brief
Recruiting good employees needs long-term planning, sustainable strategy, and consistent application. And while you are developing all this, an easier way is to use platforms like Techfetch, a leading IT job portal in the US. It is always better to use the experts till the company develops the expertise of its own. Both startups and SMEs need a strategized approach to the whole recruiting process, and who, better than the experts, to do so?