Is it time to hire new talent for your business? The hiring process can be tedious and drawn out, but thankfully, there are strategies you can use to make these tasks easier. Here are some proven human resources recruitment and strategies you can start implementing today.
Invest in Your Human Resources Recruiting Team
Your human resources (HR) team is the heart and soul of your recruiting efforts. If you want better talent in your organization, focus on investing in the HR recruiting team.
Invest in HR Staffing and Their Education
First, invest in hiring excellent people for your human resources team. You need the right people in place here because that fuels the success of the rest of your hiring and retention process.
Once you have the right people on your team, provide them with the education they need to do their jobs well. Encourage them to pursue ongoing training, and consider offering a stipend to help pay for that training. You will reap the benefits when they come back to you with additional skills to help your team stay happy and satisfied.
Post University has several programs designed specifically for HR professionals. Our Bachelor of Science in Human Resource Management is a comprehensive degree that provides a solid foundation for success in the HR field. If your team already has degrees but wants to gain additional leadership skills, consider the HR Management Certificate, which provides instruction on how to lead others successfully.
Utilize HR Software and Tools for Tracking and Automation
HR software can give your team a leg up on their work. Give them access to tools they can use to track employee behavior and satisfaction. Provide software that will automate some processes the HR team must tackle. By helping them do their jobs more efficiently, you will reap the benefit of a more satisfied and efficient HR team. Using proper software can free your team to focus on employee retention efforts rather than paperwork.
Get Clear on Who You Are and Who You Need
If your company does not have clear goals for your workers, you will struggle to get the top people on board. The best talent wants to work for a company that knows who they are and what they need so they can picture themselves fulfilling a vital role in the organization.
Define Your Employer Branding and Company Culture
Take some time to define your brand as an employer. How do you want your employees to see you? Get this definition down, then build a company culture around it. You will attract people based on this company culture, so give it some thought, then actively work to attain it within your organization.
Define Your Ideal Candidate
Next, define your ideal candidate. The perfect candidate will be unique to the positions you have to fill, so give it a little thought. Some questions to ask yourself include:
- What education should they have?
- What experience should they have?
- What personality traits would work well with our culture and our existing team?
- How teachable should they be?
- Do you need leadership abilities?
Answer these questions and build a persona around your ideal candidate; then, you will more easily be able to find someone to fit that ideal.
Use Your Biggest Asset: Your Employees
Unless you are starting from the ground up, you already have a team of employees working for you. These are your most significant asset when it comes to recruiting. Happy employees not only stay on board but also replicate themselves. They tell their network about what a great place your company is to work, which will draw better applicants when you have a job opening. Here are some strategies to turn your employees into recruitment assets.
Employee Referral Programs
One idea is to ask your employees for referrals. Ask them to invite their friends and family to work for you. Create an incentive program for when the company hires someone based on a current employee’s recommendation. When combined with positive company culture and a great work environment, your employees will gladly help you achieve your recruitment goals.
Publicize Employee Testimonials
When employees tell you how happy they are working for you, publicize those testimonials. Have somewhere that employees can post about their work experiences online. Use sites like Glassdoor for employees to talk about their work environment and how much they enjoy working for you. The more people see your company as a great workplace, the more top talent you will recruit. In addition, sites like Glassdoor can be used to review negative feedback about your company, and that knowledge can be used to make changes to address those issues.
Consider building a career page on your company website where you can showcase employee experiences and testimonials. Use headshots of your employees, so readers know they are authentic, live people and not just some made-up testimony you paid a copywriter to craft for you.
Promote a Culture of Internal Opportunities
Recruitment does not always have to come from outside your organization. If you already have good people working for you, build a culture that allows them to move into better roles within your organization. This will help you retain the best people because they will have growth opportunities without looking for employment elsewhere.
Maintain Relationships with Past Employees
Few people stay in the same organization forever. If you have employees that have moved on, do not cut all ties with them. It is possible to maintain relationships with past employees.
Maintaining these relationships will help you in two ways. First, if that employee decides they want to return, and you want them back on your team, the process becomes more manageable. Second, even if that employee is no longer interested in your position, they will recommend you to friends and family who are a good fit, helping you recruit great people.
Similarly, if you have people who applied for a job but you did not hire them, add them to your relationship maintenance list. If they made it to the final rounds of the hiring process, they might be a good fit for a future project. Do not overlook them later on.
Revamp Your Outreach Strategies
Hiring from within and supporting your HR team are great strategies, but sometimes you have no choice but to look outside your organization to find the best people. You can find qualified candidates just about anywhere, and you need to have a process in place that reaches people on the outside. Revamping your outreach strategies can help, and the following tips can get you there.
Use Social Media
A social media presence is essential for modern businesses. Chances are you already have one. Now, use it to advertise your potential job openings when hiring. The people who follow your company may also be interested in working for you, so learn to use social media to help with your recruitment strategy.
Do more than just post your job openings. Use social media marketing to get information about your job opportunities in front of as many people as possible.
Attend or Host Industry Events and Webinars
Industry-specific events and webinars are helpful recruitment tools. They tend to draw people who are passionate about your organization’s offerings. For example, if you run an education tech company and want to bring in some education professionals, you could attend teacher’s conventions. If you are large enough, you could even host an event. If you need to do something smaller, host a webinar, which will cost less, and use it to help recruit new applicants.
Be Present at College and Career Fairs
The best young talent will often come straight out of college, so head to the college and career fairs at the schools you want to recruit from. Set up a booth, and take some time to talk to qualified candidates more casually. If some seem of particular interest, invite them to fill out an application or drop you a copy of their resume. Pick up some applications through this process, and then call back those you feel are the best possible fit for your business after the fair.
You can also build relationships with trade schools or universities in your target niche. They will sometimes send fresh talent directly to your organization through their career guidance offices. Building this kind of relationship can take some effort out of recruiting while injecting new, fresh energy into your organization.
Offer Internships
Offer internships, and use them as opportunities to get to know some up-and-coming talent. In many industries, an internship is vital to finishing the degree. Some of your interns may turn into employees after the internship is over, and in the meantime, you can get some new people on your team with less financial commitment and time spent on actual recruiting efforts.
Explore New, Niche Job Boards
If you are actively recruiting, you probably already have your job posted on the major job boards. If this has not brought in suitable candidates, consider increasing your reach by finding new job boards or job boards in a particular niche. These will have less traffic, but they may have more highly qualified candidates, particularly if you are in a specialized field.
Invest in a Recruiting Consultant
Finally, if you are still struggling to bring the people you want to your organization, consider hiring an HR recruiting consultant. A recruiting consultant works to bring together organizations with the talent they need. They take the time to get to know your business and what your ideal candidate looks like, and then they get out there into the market and find them. Sometimes the HR consulates can be pretty aggressive, too, looking for people who are not actively looking for work but would fit your needs well. An HR consultant can help you get the word into the job market about your needs to people who are not yet aware they are interested in a career switch.
Recruitment and retention are not always easy tasks. A well-trained HR department will be one of your most available recruitment strategies. If you are looking for training opportunities for your HR team, contact Post University to learn more about our undergraduate and certificate programs in human resources. See how we could help you reach your goals as you move forward.
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