If hiring the next person who shows up on the company doorstep seems like the only solution to your staffing hardships, resist the temptation. The relief of filling that vacant position may be short lived. It can be expensive to hire the wrong candidate, so it is important to place emphasis on hiring the right applicant, the first time. Today there are many tools and resources to utilize in your recruiting efforts that are not only cost effective, but timely too.
Recruiting Methods
It is arguable that recruiting is the most important task within the company. Recruiters are your life source; employees are an essential part of the organization’s success and finding worthwhile talent can be a struggle at times. Over the years, the following traditional recruiting methods have been our go-to for reliable candidates:
• Classified Ads
• Agencies & Headhunters
• Job Sites (Monster, CareerBuilder + more)
• Job Fairs
• Referrals
• Networking
Due to the rise in technology there have been many new sources developed to recruit top talent. Some new, non-traditional, methods include:
• Email Marketing; Create custom ads using email campaign marketing sites such as Constant Contact & Emma.
• Event Branding; host events highlighting your companies brand, culture & style.
• Strategic Advertising; use platforms your candidates frequent.
• Alternative Job Ads; Create a YouTube commercial or a podcast describing the position & company culture.
• Actively search social media profiles.
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Social Media
Social media may not be the newest form of recruiting, but it is most definitely the most popular at the moment and is favored as a platform for more non-traditional recruiting methods. These days it is important to integrate all of the major social media platforms into your organization’s recruitment strategy. Sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and more specialized social networking sites are being strategically utilized to extend the organizations global reach, speed recruitment sourcing and cut costs.
The benefits to social media recruiting include:
• Search for job candidates based on location & skills.
• Social media’s high usage rate and immediate response time allows for jobs to be filled more quickly.
• Your Return on Investment (ROI) will be much greater due to social media’s low to zero cost.
• Increases the employer’s online brand visibility.
• Attracts a larger pool of qualified candidates.
Social media is a one-stop-shop to combine your needs to control recruiting costs and find high quality candidates. It is not recommended to make your recruiting protocol social media only; you should still continue utilizing your current recruitment efforts and once you have created an effective social media campaign you can determine which efforts to decrease or enhance based on your organization’s needs.
Staffing From Within
Most importantly, never forget to curate internal talent as well. When internal candidates exist, filling positions from within may be an efficient and effective way to staff your open roles, as well as, send a positive message to the workforce about the chance for upward mobility. Your organization has already made a considerable investment in its employees, so using your Human Resources efforts strategically and developing this investment through training, education and inevitably promotion into more challenging roles is the most logical next step forward. Advancement opportunities are generally a strong motivator for employees. Making the effort to focus on developing and communicating opportunities for career progression, plus provide employees with the resources needed to compete successfully for other positions within the company, may save valuable time and resources from a recruiting standpoint. Additionally, hiring from within allows management to identify those who may be interested in career advancement, learn more about employees’ background and capabilities through the interviewing process and determine the interest level of staff members. Other major benefits include already knowing the job history and work ethic of the candidate and substantially less time will be needed for the on-boarding and training process. Members of the Employers Association Forum (EAF) are encouraged to review our National Business Trends Survey for current data on recruiting, staffing, pay strategies and more.
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Job Descriptions
The key to recruiting suitable candidates for your roles is the job description. It is important that your job descriptions are precise and properly worded to describe the qualifications for the role. The job description will determine compensation, evaluation criteria for performance, reporting protocol and required skills.
The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) provides an outline for job description writing;
1. essential job functions;
2. knowledge and critical skills;
3. physical demands;
4. environmental factors;
5. the roles of the ADA and other federal laws such as the Occupational Safety Health Act (OSH Act); and
6. any explanatory information that may be necessary to clarify job duties or responsibilities.
Including essential functions and physical demands of the role may also prove useful in providing a defense against charges of employment discrimination beyond the recruiting process. Accurate job descriptions will assist in providing reasonable accommodations for anyone in need of utilizing the Americans with Disabilities Act or any state disability laws. Consider conducting a job analysis to determine what to include in the job description as well.
EAF members may also utilize our Job Description Writing Tool located in the CCH HR Library of our members only homepage. There you will be able to easily create job descriptions using the job questionnaire that auto-populates the job requirements based on your organizations need.
Our People Experts at EAF are knowledgeable about Recruiting and can answer your organization’s pressing questions on this topic. To learn more about EAF’s hotline, please call or email us at 407.260.6556 or [email protected].
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