Recruiting and talent acquisition is a field where you need to keep up with current trends to create the most effective strategies and hire the talent your company needs. In 2017 new trends are already developing. You need information on these trends to stay competitive in the field. These 8 talent acquisition strategies build on the current trends in the market to enable your organization to find and hire the best talent available.
1. Branding Matters
Most businesses work to craft an engaging brand for their customers, but your employer brand is equally as important to be able to attract talent to your organization. Employer brand comes from your presence online and through your marketing efforts from a variety of sources. There are sources online for your employees to review your company. Glassdoor and social media are both examples of sites where your employees can create a positive or negative image of your organization as an employer. If you want to attract the level of talent you need to stay competitive, you need to make sure that you have an employer brand that new hires will want to be a part of. The easiest way to get this kind of employer branding is by improving your employee experience. We have a guide, Employee Experience: The Brand Strategy Your Company Needs, on the subject to help you get started. By creating a better employee experience, your employees will organically represent your employer branding in a positive light.
2. Adapt to the Gig Economy
It’s best to know what economic trends are affecting the current market when developing your hiring strategies. The “gig economy” is one example of an important trend in the market. The gig economy means that candidates may have less traditional experience and instead more short term temp work or freelance experience. Don’t be deterred, candidates are still qualified even if they have only worked "gig" jobs. They may have a more diverse skill set from their job history which may make them uniquely talented and qualified for a position at your company.
The gig economy also offers your company the opportunity to take advantage of hiring temp or freelance workers. When considering a candidate, but unsure if they will be a good long term fit, try out a freelance or temp version of the position to start. Many candidates are open to shorter-term, flexible opportunities in this gig economy and this will give your company an opportunity to test out how well a potential hire fits. The gig economy is a reality in the current market and the sooner your company accepts and adapts to this new trend, the quicker it can begin working for you.
3. Use Your Employees for Referrals
Any recruiter or hiring manager knows the benefits of an employee referral program within their organization. Referral is the ideal method for many employers to hire new employees because it builds the community within their organization, ensures higher quality candidates, and pleases employees with the incentives offered in return for referrals. Since this method has been proven effective time and time again, it’s time that businesses start really using it to their advantage. There are few things you can do to get the most out of your incentive program.
1. Assess your recruitment budget. Start out by looking at the money that your organization puts into talent acquisition. Know your numbers and you will better be able to assess where you have some leeway. You are probably putting more money into methods other than referrals, but by allocating more of your budget into your referral program, you will save in the long run.
2. Offer More Incentive. Forget $100 or $200 for your referral incentive, it’s time to throw some money into this program. Once you have looked at your general budget, consider how much your referral program can save you versus other hiring methods. Take some of the funding from those other avenues and put it into the referral program. The referral program will require fewer resources and have more long term benefits for your company.
3. Split the Payout. Provide part of the payout from the incentive bonus once a referred candidate has secured an interview. By providing your employees a bonus this early on, they will be encouraged to look for more referrals and give you more hiring options. Save part of the bonus for a checkpoint in the new employee’s employment with the company, like 6 months or 1 year with the organization. This extra bonus will encourage employees to not only offer you more options, but also to put more effort into finding the right candidates to get the full payout.
These three steps can really help to build out your employee referral program to get you the most from this hiring strategy. It can save you money, bring quality candidates, build your company’s community, and make your employees happier. Try out this new tactic in your employee referral program to get the talent acquisition results that you want.
4. Be Transparent About Compensation
Before considering any candidates, decide on a competitive salary and benefits package for a position. Once you post the job, be open about what you are offering. List your compensation plan on the position posting or mention it in the job interview. With the technology available today, it’s not hard for job seekers to find out the general salary range for any given position. Websites like Glassdoor also give employees a venue to post this information about any company and position. Candidates expect that potential employers will be open about the benefits and salary associated with a job posting, so implement this technique to get better results out of your recruiting efforts.
5. Gather Data and Use It
If you want to improve your recruiting efforts, gathering data on your current methods is a good place to start. Even if you need to spend money to gather the data on your HR metrics, seeing in the numbers what is working and what isn’t will help, but it doesn't end there. Gathering the data is important, but the next step is analyzing the data. You need to make sure you are drawing the right conclusions about your efforts. Put the time and funding into analyzing the data you have gathered and it will enable you to build the most effective and successful strategies possible.
6. Build Your Talent Network Before You Need It
With social media, companies have a new ability to connect to those outside of their organization or field. Most companies use a social media strategy to promote their brand to consumers, but there is much more than you can do with this technology. While you are creating your brand and image, work on building a talent network as well. The people who are interested in your brand will likely be interested in working with your company as well. Have discussions on social media, connect with your audience, and develop a community. Then, when you have openings, you will already be able to search your talent network to find the candidates that you need.
7. The Candidate's Impression Matters
Most businesses know that they need to make a good impression on customers to get their business. The same concept applies for potential employees. Treat candidates with the same level of respect that you would a potential customer. Job seekers choose their jobs as much as they are chosen by their potential employers. You need to make candidates want to work at your company and that starts with the hiring process. Communicate with potential employees and be as transparent with them as possible. Be kind and introduce them to your company's values and the employees who work in your organization. Even if a candidate isn’t the right fit for one position, if you handle the recruitment process well, they may be a valuable asset to you in the future. Potential employees that you have interviewed or considered can be added to your talent network to build those connections and make your company successful.
8. Get Tech Savvy
There is a lot of great technology out there, so use it and get the most from it. There are plenty of tools out there for metrics, analytics, and even general recruitment efforts. Do some research and see if there are any tools out there that can help you with your hiring process. Technology has also enabled a more global economy, so use technology to gain access to candidates from around the world. You aren’t limited to your location any more, technology can help you find the right employees anywhere in the world. Consider allowing more remote work options for your employees. This can open up your hiring options and the technology available has made it easier than ever for employees to work remotely and be successful.
Finding the right employees and having the top talent available will help your company stay competitive in your market. You need to have good options when hiring and you must be able to attract the talent that your organization need to stay relevant. These strategies build off of current trends in recruiting and hiring and the market in general. With these tactics designed specifically for the 2017 market, you will be able to improve your recruitment strategies and hire the right candidates to improve your company.
