KCS Answers: What are the BEST Recruiting Techniques?
At Key Corporate Services, we sometimes have clients tell us one of the biggest challenges they face is getting enough (or even any!) candidates to choose from when recruiting. There is always the need to attract the RIGHT kind of candidate. Consequently, they may spend significant amounts of money buying job postings and sending Emails to try to find the candidates they need hoping someone good applies. While they are waiting, they are experiencing lost productivity associated with the open position.
If a company would operate like a top sales organization, that lost productivity could be minimized or even avoided entirely. Ask a top sales person when they start looking for their next deal (sale). Their answer would likely be “I never STOP looking”. Likewise, companies should never stop looking for top talent.
The secret is to have a consistent staffing plan and efficient interview process.
Too many employers wait until there is an immediate need before advertising a position or turning to an outside recruiting agency for help in filling it. While this reactive approach will work, it is not ideal. Better to have a relationship with a recruiter that you know has a finger on the pulse of the market who can de
liver solid candidates to you very quickly.
Advertising and LinkedIn messaging offers limited results as everyone has become inundated with offers to interview along with numerous other offers selling something through social media. Think about how many emails/Inmails you receive. How many do you just delete without reading or taking seriously? The fact is, we all have our own jobs to do and most highly productive candidates are busy doing their job, NOT paying attention to solicitations.
At Key, our approach is to directly contact those candidates with the “right stuff” through phone calls, emails, attending dozens of industry events and build relationships with them over time. On average, we know the people we place with our clients for over two years before we connect them on a position that is a fit and the timing is right. We take great care to cultivate relationships with everyone in your industry in the roles we focus on filling and we do it every day.
Everyone wants the same people you want!
A great challenge for companies today is that when you find a highly talented candidate, chances are your competitors need that person too. It’s just the way the market is right now!
The companies that are winning in getting the top talent are those that are prepared to move quickly to interview the talent and are decisive about their interest in that person. They have an interview strategy in place so they can quickly move from first awareness of a candidate to making a job offer if they want the person on the team. Great candidates are available only for a short time. If you are losing out on getting the top candidates, take an honest look at how long your interview process takes.
Proactive interviewing is one key to minimize competing for top talent.
Many of our best clients ask us to let them know when highly desirable and difficult-to-find candidates become available. We make them aware when someone like this is available and often arrange an exploratory meeting. The client then has a chance to decide if they should seriously look at adding this person to their team. The benefit to them is they can evaluate potential talent ahead of any competition. They may also gain competitive or market intelligence from the interview.
