Most companies today practice a reactive recruitment approach. They wait for a position to open up and believe that simply posting the job online will bring in enough applicants to effectively fill the role. So, we have put together some proactive recruiting tips- building a killer bench six months to a year before you need them.
Proactive recruiting is a much more effective method. Ask yourself these questions:
How will employees know that they are perfect for your company? Are you actively promoting your company culture and values on your blog, on social media, and in your community?
If not, you’re using a reactive recruiting approach and some adjustments to that approach can yield much better results!
Do you want to hire the best, most aligned employees in the industry? Implement these tips to start!
How do you begin to proactively recruit potential employees? Start by talking to your leadership to understand what their ideal candidate might look like. Create a persona from the answers you receive. Once you have a persona to go by, you can begin to find similar people on social platforms, within your database, within your community and on Zoom networking events.
Start attracting the attention of these top prospects by asking what they are looking for in a company. Role alignment is key to employee success. Learn about prospective employees to see if your values are aligned. It is important to utilize the form of communication that works best for them, this could mean text, emails, calls, or in-person meetings (though it might be best to settle for Zoom for now).
Once you make the initial point of contact, nurture your relationship with potential candidates. Do this by providing content, sending an occasional email, sharing insights, sharing company achievements, or other ideas to help the candidate connect with your company on a deeper level. A proactive recruiting strategy looks at the long game. Nurturing relationships with top performers over months and even years can set you up to fill a vacancy when one arises down the road.
Once you have fostered the relationship with your prospective candidate, it’s time to pull the trigger. Create a more in-depth map of what their roles and responsibilities are. Align your benefit offerings with their priorities, remind them how interested they were at the start of the relationship and that your company culture is the place for them to thrive. Clarify pathways for growth and promotion in the company.
Be open with candidates who are value and role aligned. Give them the insider track for interviews and share insights into your company’s best practices. Even if this specific position isn’t the right fit for them, they may be a great fit for another role within your company either now or in the future.
These are just a few tips to help you begin to proactively recruit great employees. The recruiting process should begin about 3-6 months before a position opens. Building a talent pool can help with this, as you may not have that much warning before a valued member of your existing team leaves the company.
At Culture Works, we are recruiters focused on value and role alignment. We perform culture, talent and HR assessments to help optimize your internal talent strategy and prepare your company to attract (and retain) the top talent. Want to learn more? Reach out!