A business can only excel and maintain its position on the market if it has exceptional people manning the ship. And to get exceptional people in key roles, recruiting strong talent is a must. Finding capable candidates is relatively easy. Well qualified applicants can be more challenging to get. But finding the best-fit talent, both in skillset and work culture, is something that very few recruiters have mastered. If your recruiters are doing all they can, but you still aren’t satisfied with the crop of available candidates, this article is for you.
To find good talent, you have to develop measurable criteria against which to assess potential candidates. You’ll then need to advertise your vacancies and make them visible. You also need to clearly state what you’re bringing to the table. Once you have a pool of applicants, simulated tasks help ensure that you only hire talented candidates who are the right fit for your company.
Qualify Your Talent
Talent is typically just a feel-good description for potential recruits. No two recruiters can fully agree on what talent is or how to measure it. The process of identifying “talent” is, therefore, subjective and open to bias. To find good talent, companies need to focus on getting candidates with measurable skills and other valuable traits, like diligence and well-developed communication skills. Set the tone for what the perfect candidate looks like. Be it someone with a nose-to-the-grindstone approach to things, an outgoing creative, or an uber-diligent craftsperson, put down the traits your company values. The next steps—creating job posts and interview questions—become easier.
Use the Right Job Boards and Online Communities
Most companies now look to find new hires through online job boards. If you’d like to walk the same path, you’ll find that there are many industry-specific job boards and online career communities. The key is to research, shortlist, and experiment with the most promising websites. To identify the best platforms, track the number of applicants you get and compare with the number of overall potential recruits. Also, keep in mind that posting on general boards will likely get you a weaker pool of potential candidates. Posting to specialized sites for your niche, however, attracts the best talent for the position. Guru helps you find the perfect freelancer for your job quickly.
Get Your SEO Right
With thousands of companies aggressively recruiting on different job boards, the best candidates may never see your job listing. Most candidates will use a search engine to browse for jobs. And if you don’t use the right keywords to target them, your potential candidates aren’t likely to find the job posting. SEO keyword optimization is an excellent way to make your listings more visible. So, get your SEO right and pack your job openings with as many relevant terms as possible.
Attract Up-And-Coming Talent
Pretty much every business prefers to hire capable employees who’ve already learned and made mistakes elsewhere and are now ready to hit the ground running. While experienced talent is great to have, it’s also very hard to find. On the other hand, up-and-coming talent can better learn, grow, and adapt to your company’s work culture.
Younger talent, however, has a different set of needs. For example, they may be willing to forego fat paychecks for more flexible schedules, flatter organizational structures, and more room to experiment. Companies, therefore, have to clearly articulate their value propositions to show what benefits employees receive by working there. When you empower your employees to take responsibility, grow in their skillset, and see the impact they are making, top talent will find you.
Test Skills With Real Work Simulations
Every recruiter knows that potential candidates can talk about their skills and experiences at length. However, when it’s time to perform, what you’ve heard may not always be what you get. With this challenge, simulations of the real work environment are often the most effective way to find good talent. An engineering company, for example, may find candidates that can talk about their past project experience. Posing an engineering problem, however, lets the most skilled applicants shine through. By testing a candidate’s skills on a real-world problem, you increase your chances of hiring someone who can add value to your company and not just vague promises.
Conclusion
Getting the best talent on your team will ensure your company’s success. The tips in this article can help you clarify the requirements you’ll need from potential candidates and improve how you find skilled employees. Finding good talent is, however, only one part of the equation. Once you find the right candidates, it’s vital to act fast and secure them before your competitors scoop them from under your nose.
