Sadly, the best talent won’t just be falling into your lap when you are looking for them. If they did, that would be awesome and make life so much easier, but that just isn’t how things work in the real world. You might actually have to do a little work in order to find the new stars in your industry. 
Luckily, you don’t have to go to insane measures to recruit talent. But there are steps that you can take to help ensure that you do manage to recruit the top talent out there.
1. Thorough Job Descriptions
If you have done any hiring before, you know how frustrating it can be go through applicants for open positions that aren’t qualified for the job in some way. One way to make sure that you reduce the likelihood of that happening is by making sure you were extremely thorough when writing and posting the job descriptions. Be sure that you list the exact requirements you are looking for, all the way down to personality traits and behavioral characteristics. It might seem a bit extreme but if you know what you are looking for, why wouldn’t you want to tell people?
2. Ask for Recommendations from Your Top Employees
It often pays off to ask your most reliable employees for recommendations when you are looking to fill a company position that is open or will be soon. Most people are friends with people who are like them and have similar approaches to work, ethics, attitude and so on. Therefore, if you really like how a certain employee works, then the chances are really good that you will also like the way their employment-seeking friends and associates tend to be as well.
3. Use Social Media
Most recruiters are already using LinkedIn and other professional networking servies, which is a good thing. But it is important that you don’t underestimate the value of looking other places as well, like on Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus. Everyone tries to put their best professional foot forward somewhere like LinkedIn but they tend to be more themselves in places where they are interacting with friends, talk about their real interests and their real lives. This is a good way to get a feel for someone’s true character and personality.
4. Create a Website to Attract Candidates
Make sure that the pages on your website are doing their part to “sell” the company to potential employees. Personalizing your company in your text will also help a lot. You want to be sure that the copy and web content will give your organization a heartbeat that sets it apart from the other guys. Don’t forget to optimize it for mobile devices.
5. Utilize Your Own Contacts
Keep in touch with your other colleagues and business contacts. It can help to let them know that you are looking to fill an open position and see if they might know of someone who would be perfect for it.
Published by Conselium Executive Search, the global leader in compliance search.
