Hiring and retaining top talent is the secret sauce to any successful business. But there’s no easy formula to predict you’ll attract the best candidates each time you have a job opening. Creating a consistent recruiting strategy that can be implemented at multiple levels is essential. Here are several categories to focus on when designing your recruiting strategy.
1. Employer branding – When it comes to branding, it’s all about consistency and transparency. With the advent of social media, it’s become commonplace for advertising departments to collaborate with HR to ensure your regular advertising and recruitment advertising are folded into the same employer brand. Treat your consumers as though they would be potential candidates, and vice versa. Whether you’re tweeting, on Facebook, or creating groups on LinkedIn, you’ll want to establish a common theme or message in order to engage followers and get people talking about your brand/company.
2. Advertising – Developing a multi-pronged approach for advertising is essential in recruiting, especially if you’re focused on diversity hiring. Purchasing online job posting ads on niche sites like ours and other specialty job boards will ensure your postings are publicized to a highly specialized group, such as women, minorities, veterans, or disabled candidates. But buying the job posting is just the beginning. You should also consider other vehicles like banner advertisements as an additional means of exposure. The key to recruiting success is to go where your ideal candidates are looking and advertise on those platforms too.
3. Proactive recruiting – Good recruiters are always recruiting, even if there are no jobs open at their company. Keeping the bench warm with top talent ready to jump in at any moment is the key in a successful recruiting plan. Always purchase job postings in bulk so that you can post at a moment’s notice, especially if you manage a larger workforce. Proactive recruiting is especially important on college campuses in order to promote your employer brand to the talented youth entering the workforce.
4. Metrics – Measuring the success of your recruitment activity is important to discern what recruitment channels are working for your company. Rather than post and pray, applicant tracking systems and other tools enable companies to gain a line of sight into what’s working for them. First decide what metrics are the most important for your company. Whether you’re focused on cost per hire or employee retention, innovative technology has allowed companies to uncover the best and worst talent management tools for their particular organization, which is especially significant since many employers are restricted by limited budgets.
5. Onboarding – Until recent years, onboarding has taken a back seat due to nearsightedness. Now employers are realizing the effectiveness of implementing a strong onboarding program. Attracting top talent is just the first step. Now you must ensure they are adequately equipped to address their job duties, and that you have performance indicators and reviews in place to determine your candidate’s eventual career trajectory and success.
6. Succession planning – Planning for the future should always be at the forefront of your recruiting initiatives. As baby boomers begin to retire, gaps in management and executive-level job titles will reach a critical mass that could be detrimental to many companies, both globally and in the U.S. Succession planning is different for every company depending on its size, but there are a few universal initiatives companies can implement to lessen the impact of retirees. Having mentors in place and a career plan outlined for younger staff will help plug vacancies as they begin to crop up.
7. Reporting – Almost every organization must keep detailed records of their hires and terminations. As diversity hiring becomes even more paramount in every organization, it’s important that you document your job advertising efforts to ensure you’re following compliance rules. For federal contractors and subcontractors, specifically – who have a mandate by the Government to abide by OFCCP Compliance Regulations to make job opportunities available to diversity candidates – minorities, women, veterans and others, this is even more important.
