5 Tips for Recruiting Great Employees

The recruitment and hiring process can be a daunting one. Whether you’re looking to quickly fill a position of a key team member who left for another opportunity or you are trying to add to your staff as your business grows, it is important to find the right person for the job.

The desire to find the absolute best fit can cause many companies to take too long with the recruiting process, losing the interest of valuable candidates along the way. But you don’t want to move so quickly that you’re careless and end up hiring the wrong person. It’s a balancing act to be sure, and an important one to get right.

Here are some tips for recruiting and hiring correctly and coming out the other end with quality employees.

Tip #1: Organize Your Recruiting Funnel in Advance

You need to be as organized as possible, and have everything set up so that you can hit the ground running as soon as you announce the open position. First thing’s first, make sure that you write the perfect job description so that you attract the right people for the position.

Once you feel ready, announce the open position across multiple channels, including job boards, your careers page, social media, and throughout your network and that of your employees.

You should be ready to handle the onslaught of applications and resumes, and make sure to keep the process both streamlined and focused on the candidates. Every candidate should know where they are in the process at all times. From the submission of their resume to final interviews, communicate as much with each candidate as you would with a potential customer you were trying to attract.Read more about how to organize your recruiting funnel.

Tip #2: Don’t Ignore Passive Talent

Especially with the low unemployment rates of today, many of the most promising candidates for your open position may not be actively looking. This doesn’t mean, of course, that they are totally unavailable — it just means that you must focus on the passive talent pool.

One great way to access passive talent is through recruiters. Recruiting firms maintain databases of all of their current and past job seekers, and know who to reach out to for every type of job opening. They also scour LinkedIn and can contact members whose profiles allow for recruiter contact even if they are not actively job seeking. This will open up a whole world of qualified candidates you might otherwise miss.

Another great source for passive candidates are your own employees. Employee referrals are one of the most common sources of great employees. In fact, a study by JobVite revealed that 46 percent of employee referred hires stayed with their new employer for at least one year after being hired, as compared to 33 percent of new hires from career sites and 22 percent from job boards.

A third way to access passive talent is via your social media. Followers of your company on social media sites might be compelled to apply for open positions if they are otherwise engaged with your social media presence and the employer brand you project.

Tip #3: Offer Competitive Salary and Benefits

This one should be a no brainer, but you might be surprised how many companies approach the recruiting process with a mindset of “how little can I pay for a good employee.” You must remember that you get what you pay for — that’s just how things work. You might be able to find someone who is in a unique situation and ends up accepting less salary than the job should pay, but over time that person will likely grow bitter about the situation, and either leave or underperform as a result. Considering that it can cost 2-3x a person’s annual salary to replace them, these things all even out in the end if you choose to underpay the first time around.

Do market research and offer both a competitive salary and benefits package. If you can afford to, pay above the market average for the position in order to attract passive applicants who are already working in the industry or perhaps in the same position for another company, and will need some incentive to move to your company.

When it comes to benefits, you might be surprised how much benefits affect the way employees view their total compensation package. If you are providing great medical, dental, and health, make sure to explain the value of that package.

Additionally, less traditional benefits are becoming more and more popular, and make a big difference to some employees. Offering flexible hours, work-from-home arrangements, or extra PTO can be a game changer, particularly for working parents or those who are actively seeking better work/life balance. Also, perks that make your office and culture more vibrant and fun can make a difference here, too. Let potential employees know all of the perks of working for you, as every little thing counts.

Tip #4: Maintain a Positive and Active Online Presence

It should come as no shock that your online presence matters in today’s job market. Make sure that your presence is similar across all social media platforms. Engage with your followers when they comment on your page (good or bad), and actively post things that align with your brand image.

Additionally, social media is a great place to promote how great it is to work for you. Posting pictures or videos from company outings or information about charity or volunteer work your office is doing lets people know your core values and what it might be like to be part of your office.

Make sure to keep everything positive when it comes to social media. There are trolls out there looking to fight in every comment thread, so make sure you have someone with an even head and an upbeat voice responding to comments. Some companies can balance sarcasm with their brand, and if you can do that well, that is fine, but make sure that you never resort to interacting in a negative way with trolls on your posts.

Tip #5: Prioritize Intelligence as much as Experience

Deep Patel, Forces contributor and bestselling author of A Paperboy’s Fable: The 11 Principles of Success, suggests that experience isn’t all that matters when it comes to hiring. In fact, he recommends that unless a position specifically necessitates certain experience that intelligence matters more.

It is important to remember that being experienced doesn’t always mean that a candidate will do well performing that job for your company. For instance, if someone has 20 years of experience in a specific method of sales, they may be stubborn and not want to adapt to the way your company does things.

Of course, some technical knowledge does need to be in place in advance of hiring for certain positions, but even there, technology and business practices change so quickly that just because someone knows how to do something the old way doesn’t mean that they have been keeping up with industry changes or that they are adaptable.

An intelligent and adaptable hire who is excited to learn can take on and adapt to whatever your business throws at them, and that is often a great substitute for some amount of experience.

You are only as good as your people, and hiring great employees is one of the most important things you can do for your business’s success.

If you find that performing this process to the standard it needs to be performed is too much for your already busy HR team, or if you simply need some help along the way, CulverCareers is here to help. Our specialty is recruiting the very best people for your business. Contact us today and we will help set up an efficient and effective recruiting and interview process for your open roles.