Though the recruiting process has never been an easy one, due to recent economic factors which have played havoc with the candidate pool, many companies are now finding themselves overwhelmed each time they are forced to begin candidate sourcing procedures in the hiring process. However, as difficulty as these issues might have become, many companies have come to prove that with a bit of imagination and ingenuity, employers can reduce the level of hassle that so many are facing. Executive search firms have long been in the business of finding and implementing the most up-to-date hiring practices, and here are a few techniques they have discovered to be the most efficient in handling these less than ideal circumstances.
For starters, companies will need to begin going outside their traditional methods of candidate sourcing if they are to find quality individuals. So the first principle that companies need to consider is how best to begin looking for talent in unexpected places. One company recently began a campaign of sending employees out into the community to meet and interact with random individuals working in retain stores and restaurants around the area looking for talented individuals who would most likely have been overlooked through the more traditional executive search techniques. Those most exceptional of individuals were then offered interview opportunities with the company. One important fact that employers need to remember if they are to attempt such a strategy is that while you can teach an individual about an industry, what you cannot teach is raw talent and passion, and that is exactly what employers should be looking for in such candidates.
Along these same lines, companies looking to extend their search efforts while targeting more specific and talented individuals should consider sending employees out to events other than job fairs in order to source candidates. The fact is that sometimes the candidate a company is really looking for may already be working and not seeking other employment, and therefore would be overlooked by traditional search strategies. However, if such individuals can be reached and connected with through alternative means, they might then be sourced and drawn in to interviewing with the company. This means employers will need to begin sending out employees to industry related events such as seminars and conferences, and any other smaller meet ups for that matter, to begin networking and meeting talented industry professionals who can be contacted a position needs to be filled.
Finally, in the vein of stepping outside the box to reach potential candidates, employers should seek to make use of alternative mediums to help them stand out and draw people’s attention. One such example is through a technique quickly coming to be known as jobcasting. Where traditional text job descriptions posted to job boards and sites may not draw any great attention to the company, creating videos and podcasts that contain this information can certainly make these opportunities stand out. Such videos also provide the added benefit of allowing employers to communicate aspects of the company’s corporate culture, as well as reaching a much broader audience through video sharing sites such as YouTube.
Tough those these times may be on employers, by expanding their recruiting efforts through new and less traditional techniques, companies can overcome these current difficulties and find new and effective means of candidate sourcing to get the job done.
Published by Conselium Executive Search, the global leader in compliance search.
