Ben Franklin said it best: “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” It’s a buyer’s market for jobseekers and successful recruiting requires the right knowledge. These three successful recruiting methods will require an investment of time and possibility some money; however, the ROI is huge, and often costs only a small amount of your time. Successful recruiting can mean the difference between a growing, thriving business and one that is struggling.
If you have been finding it difficult to find qualified candidates, it’s time for a knowledge investment. Like investing in the stock market, it is something you must be vigilant about monitoring and keeping current to stay on top of your game.
Listen
Always be listening to what potential candidates want. The best candidates want meaningful work that matches their values and beliefs. Honestly communicate with them so they know what it will be like to work for your company. Your needs as a business owner must be in alignment with your candidates’ needs. When these needs are out of alignment, stress, frustration, and turnover happen.
Remember to also listen for qualities that you, as an employer, want even if you don’t have a current opening. Most candidates have transferable skills that may not appear to fit your industry, yet these skills can easily be transferred to work in your company. When you talk with candidates about their skills, keep your future staffing needs in mind. While you may not need someone with these skills now, you may need them in the future—which leads us to the next successful recruiting method.
Build Relationships
It’s a tough labor market and that requires creativity and thinking differently. Successful recruiting means taking the time to build relationships with candidates. Candidates want to be treated with courtesy and respect. Small things like responding to emails, answering questions, and giving jobseekers tips and feedback that makes interviewing easier for them and helps solidify relationships. Later, these candidates can be your future candidate pipeline. They are also a networking source for future referrals because they received something of value and were treated well.
Successful recruiting is like building a spider web; you are always throwing out things and creating new patterns and new ways to reach people. The best relationships are formed when both sides receive something of value. You can help candidates find their ideal job and get valuable connections and referrals from them in return.
Use the Right Tools
Choosing the right tools is essential to successful recruiting. You want to choose tools that are appropriate for your needs and help you find your ideal candidates. While technology and social channels can be effective for quickly finding and hiring eligible candidates, the old-fashioned word-of-mouth method can be just as effective. You may also need a recruiter. Recruiters can save you time and money when weighed against the time and effort that may be put on the shoulders of HR managers, who are not expert recruiters and who also have other demands on their time.
Remember that a tool that works for another company may be the wrong tool for you. Simple tools may work better than more complex tools. Costly tools may be ineffective and free tools may be more than adequate for your needs.
In my upcoming book, The YOLO Principle™, the recruiting process is broken down into a system you can easily use to hire confidently, with more clarity, and make the right hiring decisions for your business.
So, devote a little time this week to building your knowledge of successful recruiting methods. It’s my hope that you will find valuable knowledge to help you recruit the employees you need for your business.
Of course, you can always ask for help. If you need some insights to get started, schedule your insight session today, call me, send an email, or text RECRUITER to 44222 to get a free sample of The YOLO Principle™. And, the best part is that it’s FREE!