In 2022, you have to be pretty resourceful as a recruiter. Knowing how to use tools at your disposal and how to strategize around them can be crucial in terms of building the candidate pools that you want to. Whether you’re an agency recruiter or in talent acquisition, you can utilize these three different strategies in order to get more candidates, better candidates, and retain more candidates throughout your recruiting process.
1. Getting More Candidates
Yes, generally casting a big net can help you find more job-seeking candidates. However, this is often easier said than done. Whether you’re in an agency or an HR professional, doing some research and finding the best candidates can be too challenging at first and it’s better to find a large group of candidates first. Here we’ll highlight some ways you can get more candidates in your database quickly!
Niche Recruitment
When you’re candidate-searching for a certain job order or position, the role or skills can typically fall within a specific industry. This is often really beneficial for recruiters to be able to find a sweet spot of candidates. Utilizing things like LinkedIn groups or Facebook groups can be really helpful to find them in one area. These candidates will be a great source, however they might not all be interested in pursuing new roles.
LinkedIn Feed
The social media platform designed for professional work and experience sharing has become a source for great recruitment. With people’s work experience and skills on display, this can become a beneficial way to find qualified candidates.
The best part about a LinkedIn feed is that it is dynamic and always changing based on what your connections interact with and comment on. Being vocal and social on LinkedIn about what sorts of positions you are seeking to fill is a great way for referrals and connections to happen. Through those, you will be able to build talent pools and relationships that could fill a position for you in the end.
Utilize a Split-Network
For many recruiters, split-networks are the best way to go. Most networks, such as Top Echelon Network have millions of candidates for your choosing. Instead of struggling through a process, being able to split with a recruiter who has already found a great candidate on the job market can be a huge time-saver.
Not only that, but being able to form relationships with other recruiters in a network can give you an edge in future cases when you need help. Some people have even attributed most of their career success to being in a network, based on the relationships and candidates they have found because of it!
2. Getting Qualified Candidates
Sure, getting more candidates can work for you to get a database or Applicant Tracking System chock-full of talent. However, if you really want to get the most of your recruiting process – you should really aim to get the qualified candidates you need to fill your positions. There are a few different ways you can ensure that you’re getting top notch talent you need.
These recruitment strategies are constantly developing and changing to due different technologies and processes that are evolving. For the most part though, here are some of the best practices when it comes to finding the best candidates.
Utilize LinkedIn Tools & Strategies
Linkedin is a very powerful tool when looking for top talent and candidates on the job hunt. There are a few ways you can really narrow in on people in the field you’re after, as well as ways to find people looking for new roles.
By searching skills for individual roles, you can really hone in on which candidates you’re after.In order to find someone in a certain field, you can actually search by skills or hashtags at the search bar in LinkedIn.
Another way to utilize LinkedIn is to find people who are #OpenToWork or have granted invitations for new positions. This is a relatively new feature to LinkedIn and really got put to use during the pandemic. As people were constantly searching for work, banners on profiles got used to notify anybody in-network that you were #OpenToWork or finding a position. Recruiters can still find these candidates and use the information to try and find a best match!
Perfect Your Outreach
This goes hand-in-hand with the previous strategy, and will make a huge difference when it comes down to making a good impression on talent candidates. Many outreach messages on LinkedIn can often be pretty stale and uninviting. Maybe the numbers and facts about a position can speak for itself, however this is usually not the case.
Especially for younger professionals who look holistically at a company before applying, they’ll care about what kind of message you’re sending out into the world and how your employees act. For that reason, perfecting your outreach to potential candidates can greatly improve your ability to lock-down great talent. Personalizing it with compliments or taking the time to look through someone’s whole profile or portfolio is a great way to be observant and let the candidates know they’re treated as human beings!
3. Retain More Candidates
The best approach to any recruiting process should take the “Candidate Experience” into account. Being able to really ensure that the candidate has a great time throughout any hiring process has become increasingly important in recent years. In order to really hit home that you’re the company for them, this is something that many recruiters and hiring managers have had to get right. Here are some ways to do just that:
Don’t Ghost
Boo. Not the fun kind of “boo” either. We’re talking about the tomato-throwing and get-off-the-stage kind of booing here. For many, ghosting has become a normalized part of any interview process. Experienced by both recruiters and candidates, it has become this way because of the very nature of communicating through email and social media. BUT, there are some ways to make it better.
As was mentioned earlier, making messages personalized helps people feel more connected and allows for the potential for open communication with a recruiter or manager. Taking the time to respond to questions or details also really helps ensure that there is opportunity for the connection to happen. Really, just being available and giving timely feedback where necessary means a lot to candidates – whether or not they are making it to the final offer stage.
Utilize Candidate Management Tools
Recruiting and recruitment processes can often lead you to have a lot on your plate. With many candidates to sift through and find, it can leave you with no time and way too much to deal with. By using something like a Recruiting CRM, you can ensure that you are always keeping tabs on your top talent.
Along with that, you can also keep in close contact with them throughout the entire process. Utilizing tools such as Texting, Email integrations and calendar sync, you’ll be able to stay on top of your recruiting desk with ease.
