How to attract the best candidates
Attracting qualified and motivated candidates is essential for filling any role, but how do you ensure that you are attracting the best candidates? Let’s look at tips and strategies that your business can put into place to ensure you’re maximising your ability to attract the best talent in your industry.
Establish an effective EVP
An effective Employee Value Proposition (EVP) should be an essential part of any company’s hiring strategy. An EVP is a statement that clearly defines the values and benefits of working for your business both for current and future employees and is the key to helping to attract and retain the best candidates available. Your EVP should communicate a positive work environment, culture, benefits, and career opportunities within your company and help to set you apart from competitors by making your business more attractive to top talent. It is important that your EVP clearly defines the values and goals of your company so that your recruitment efforts can be targeted towards those individuals who not only have the skillset, but the mindset and coinciding values to work effectively and contribute positively to your company.
Set up an internal referral program
An internal referral program is an important part of attracting the best candidates because it encourages current employees to refer their friends and colleagues for open positions. As well as creating valuable awareness of internal employment opportunities, it also provides a powerful incentive for employees to share the opportunities with valued connections. Successful internal referral programs can also lead to increased engagement among employees as they often feel more connected to one another, morale increases, and loyalty to the workplace also increases. When your employees actively advocate for their workplace and the company culture, this allows your company to better attract the interest of the top talent in the industry.
Create a detailed and transparent job description
A detailed and transparent job description is important in attracting the best candidates as it provides a clear understanding of what the position entails. It should include information on the expected daily tasks, core responsibilities, hard and soft skills required, potential for growth within the company, and an indication of salary level. Unfortunately, even the best positions and workplaces can gain a negative impression with a poorly written job description, while on the opposite end of the spectrum, honesty with applicants from the beginning allows them to only apply for a job they clearly understand and want rather than accepting a new position only to find out weeks into the role that it isn’t what was described and look for alternative employment.
Simplify and streamline the recruiting process
By streamlining the recruitment process, businesses are able to save time and resources while also ensuring that only appropriate candidates make it through to the interview stage. Ensure you are prepared for face-to-face interviews. This may mean informal telephone interviews as a starting point to screen applicants and better determine your shortlist. Ensure you have a list of questions specific to the role and the culture and values of your business. It is also important ahead of time to determine what the maximum salary and benefits are available to the role so that you are only spending time interviewing people whose expectations fall within that range. One of the key points of streamlining and simplifying the recruiting process is to make it a better experience for everyone, including the candidates. No one benefits from interviewing a candidate who expects more money than a position can afford to pay for or doesn’t have any of the relevant skills to make the position work.
Be open to flexibility and work-from-anywhere options
If there’s one thing the last few years have confirmed, it’s that life is unpredictable. Having the flexibility to work from home, and offering flexible hours is becoming increasingly important to all employees, and not just the people juggling families. Having the option to balance professional and personal lives is non-negotiable for many candidates and appeals to the best candidates and top-tier talent who are looking for a company that supports them as people, and not just employees. By offering flexibility and options to employees, companies can attract candidates who they might otherwise have missed out on due to rigid policies including those from diverse communities, or employees from other cities and locations. Not only does this flexibility in work options help a company stand-out at the recruitment stage, but it also goes a long way to foster a culture of positivity, support and understanding between the company and employees as it shoes the company values the well-being of their employees and trusts in their ability to contribute to the business.
Partner with a recruiting firm
Partnering with a recruiting agency is a great way to gain access to better talent within your industry. Recruitment agencies can provide access to an extensive network of candidates, many of whom may be passive job seekers who may not apply if the position was simply advertised on job seeking networks. Recruiting agencies also have specialised skills and resources that enable them to attract and source the most qualified candidates for any given position. Working with a recruiting agency helps to simplify the process by narrowing down the search for candidates and finding the perfect fit for the role.
Utilise social media
Social media is a powerful tool to engage with potential candidates and build relationships. By taking advantage of the various capabilities of social media, businesses can access a larger pool of talented candidates and further their reach to finding the most qualified candidates. Social media is also a great tool for businesses to use to ensure their brand and values are accurately portrayed and to give a behind-the-scenes glance into what the culture is like within the business. By maintaining a positive online presence, businesses can create valuable networking connections with potential candidates that have suitable personalities, interests, and values.
Treat candidates with respect
While this should be something that goes without saying, unfortunately it isn’t always the case. To attract and retain the best talent, a business needs to treat all candidates like they would a client or customer. This means personalising correspondence and respecting the candidate’s time- run on time for the interview process, respond in the timeframes you have given them and most importantly, show candidates that you know their time is as valuable as anyone within the company. Remember that if you expect the best candidates to want to work for your business, your business needs to have a good reputation.
The success of your business relies on having an exceptional team. Attracting the best candidates for your business requires a comprehensive, big picture approach. The goal should be not only to attract candidates, but to attract the best candidates your industry has to offer that are also the right fit for your company’s culture and values. It is important to know that attracting and retaining the best candidates is an ongoing journey which should be assessed and reviewed at all points.
If you need guidance on recruiting the best for your business, contact the Peoplebank team to discuss your needs.