During a recent meeting, a manager asked where to find qualified job candidates. Her experience was that a posted requisition often produced few or no qualified job candidates. “I hear managers complain that it gets harder and harder to find qualified applicants,” she said.
As we pointed out in last week’s blog, it’s important to write an effective job description that’s more than just a list of tasks and requirements, but paints a picture of a day in the life.
Your job description should be an invitation to qualified applicants to apply. Post your job opening on the job boards that are out there. Some of them require payment and others are free. Look at industry-specific sites, too. For instance, healthcare job boards, IT job boards, etc. Sometimes the lack of applicants is the fault of a job description that misrepresents the real job.
If your company has an ATS (Applicant Tracking System), use this tool to screen possible candidates to determine if they have the qualifications, skills and expertise.
One of the best ways to recruit qualified job candidates is to foster and promote an attractive workplace.
If your employees speak well of your company and brag about their job satisfaction, it goes a long way – a very long way – to promote your business. You’ll have interested job seekers sending their resumes unsolicited. Word spreads about good benefits packages, the ability to work remotely, having the latest technology, and professional development and education opportunities.
When I served as a recruiter for a high-tech company early in my career, I developed relationships with local colleges and universities. Our internship program was held up as one of the best. One year we hired 16 out of 17 interns because the students were exceptional and the work of onboarding them and getting them familiar with the company was already done.
Remember that your staff is a source of new hires. Tap into their networks of friends and associates and reward referrals if that is something you can manage. Your customers are also a recruiting source, but be careful to take care not to strip customers or vendors of their workers. It will certainly not endear you in the marketplace. Practice the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” If you start stripping your vendors of their employees, they will likely reach out to your top performers and lure them away. Respecting each other’s boundaries is a good practice.
Another practice is to ask your recent hires how they found out about your openings. Knowing the sources that work for you is a good thing! Use social media wisely. LinkedIn is a great network, and it’s worth having someone on staff who does this sourcing as part of their job.
Sometimes revisiting past candidates can be a gold mine! I found several good hires by going back and making a few phone calls to see if there was any interest in a newly opened job. When you end up choosing one candidate over another, It’s important to end things in a positive way so that the candidate you didn’t choose this time will be open to considering a future job opportunity with your company.
It’s important to get it right. This is the title of our new book, Get It Right, available on Amazon in which we describe the hiring process so you can enjoy bringing on a contributing team member to fill your job opening.