Recruiting talented employees is more challenging than ever. Today’s talent knows the job market has swung in their favor, and they have their pick of great positions. Employers are aware of this fact and are willing to recruit top talent with above-average compensation, perks, and company culture.
This so-called “war on talent” can mean bad news for your business. You can no longer count on an enviable market position to attract top candidates. Companies have to get out of their comfort zone to prevent their competitors from poaching away successful candidates.
One way to do that is by breaking the bank. Organizations can successfully hire top talent by offering them eye-watering packages. However, since not every company out there is Google or Facebook, we’ve developed some cost-effective employee recruitment techniques for you.
Here are seven tips for recruiting employees:
1) Create a Strong Employee Referral Program
According to a study by Ohio State University and Workplace Management, referral program hires perform up to 15% better than other types of new hires. They are also more likely to accept offers, stay on the job for longer periods, and help you cut down on your recruiting costs.
Here’s how you can build a strong referral program to recruit talented employees:
- Incentivize employees. You could offer referees gift cards for referrals that pass the first interview stage and cash rewards for successful hires. Other incentives include remote working opportunities and paid leaves.
- Create brand ambassadors. Offer your employees the content they need to distinguish your brand in front of job-seekers. Hold employee referral training sessions and provide materials to help them best position your company. Let them be a part of your employee recruiting team.
- Be transparent. Let your employees know how their referrals are faring in the application process. Tell them the number of candidates competing for a particular job and how long the selection process would take.
- Provide feedback on the quality of referrals to the referees. Tell them why their referrals are/were excellent or average. You’d be doing this to help them hone their referral skills over time. They’ll be recruiting talented employees in no time.
2) Provide Competitive Compensation
Recruiters can quickly get away with offering less-than-competitive salaries to new hires, especially if the company’s brand appeal is massive. However, the downside to underpaying employees is that people who know they’re underpaid might not think it’s worth their time to bring value to the table.
Usually, underpaying recruits employees who see their next employer as a stepping stone in their career. Most of them might simply be saying “yes” to the job offer with the knowledge that with more experience, they’d be able to grab a better-paying opportunity in the future.
3) Sell Your Work Environment and Company Culture
Research shows that nine out of ten employees wish to be recognized quarterly for their efforts. One recruiting tip is you can sell your work environment to potential employees by showing how your company acknowledges and rewards excellent work through social recognition or monetary rewards.
Here’s another way you can sell your company culture: give examples of employees who your company initially hired for the job opening currently being advertised. Highlighting their career progression plan might convince the new candidate to further their career with the employer.
You might also want to publish the internal and external training programs you organize for your employees on social media. Any savvy candidate will immediately grasp that these programs will help them develop the skills they can put on their resume.
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4) Create Fringe Benefits Packages
Most of your competitors are already offering benefits packages to attract top talent. How can you set your business apart? By tweaking your benefits programs to the type of employee you’re trying to recruit. Let us explain this piece of advice with a couple of examples.
For a senior employee who is likely older and more settled than a professional just entering the job market, a retirement program might be more enticing than paid time-off days. Similarly, an employee relocating for an office-based job is more likely to be lured with the promise of a below-market housing loan.
That, however, won’t be the case for a remote worker, who might find performance-related bonuses more appealing. For an example of how to recruit good employees by creating job-specific benefits packages, you don’t need to look any further than Google.
5) Offer Remote Work Options
Recent research has shown that one of the most powerful tips for recruiting employees is to let them work from home. Remote work attracts and keeps talent. One survey found 65% of respondents indicating their desire to be full-time remote workers after the pandemic, with another 31% claiming that they want to work from home at least part of the time.
So important is their desire to work remotely that almost one in every three respondents claimed they’d willingly take a pay cut to avoid the daily commute to the office. And a whopping 81% claim that they’d be more loyal to their boss if provided with flexible work options.
All these statistics make one thing clear: you might have to give your workers the chance to work remotely if you wish to attract and retain top-notch employees. Doing so won’t cost your business any profit, too, – as the remote work statistics in 2020 proved.
6) Polish Your Online Presence
One thing that is common among all talented job seekers: they do their research before sending out their resumes for the vacant role. You want to ensure candidates like what they see after they Google your business. That, in turn, requires polishing your online presence. Here’s a recruiting tip about how you can do it.
Make sure your social accounts and website look presentable. They should provide adequate information about your organization. You might also want to discuss your business’s culture on social media – it will help the prospective candidates align with your company’s ethos.
Lastly, follow Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, in applauding your employees’ accomplishments on social channels. This recognition will tell the people who want to work for you that your business acknowledges its workers’ achievements. It will also enable them to picture themselves with your employees.
7) Simplify your job applications
An often overlooked tip for recruiting employees is simplifying your job application. Did you know that six out of every ten job searchers quit while filling out job applications? The form’s length or complexity – in other words, the time or the effort required to fill out the details requested – drains their energy levels and convinces them to try their luck somewhere else.
That’s precisely the reason why you might want to reduce the time required to fill out the application form to five minutes or less. Doing so could increase the form completion rate by 3x, according to Appcast, an online recruitment service.
Also, make sure that your job applications are mobile-friendly. That is imperative because almost 60% of job seekers look for new opportunities on their form, with more than half (36%) filling out the application forms from their phones too.
Conclusion
You now know seven great tips for recruiting employees. Implementing the above mentioned recruiting tips would help you hire employees that would blend in with your company’s culture, increase its competitiveness and boost its bottom line. If you need help finding and hiring employees for your business, check out our HR Service and Recruiting Partners. Our local partners have the expertise you need to transform your recruiting process and quickly hire the best employees for your business.
