Where are all the candidates at?

Transcription

1 HireHive Handbooks 06 Where are all the candidates at? Things you can do to make searching for great talent even easier. 1 Where are all the candidates at?

2 Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it. Look for people who will aim for the remarkable, who will not settle for the routine. David Ogilvy 2 Where are all the candidates at?

3 It s difficult to find great candidates, particularly in competitive markets like London, Berlin and New York and even more competitive when recruiting in areas where supply is not meeting demand. In recent years there has been an increase in the number of companies looking to reduce their dependency on recruitment agencies, given the well documented issues afflicting the recruitment industry (ranging from high costs, to ineffective sourcing, to a lack of transparency). Now you find yourself responsible for in house recruiting, for the first time in a while. So what s a Recruiter to do? On average candidates use more than 10 different sources when looking for a job. Candidates are going to do their research and the tools are readily available to do that. This ranges from job boards to social media to direct contacts so it s never been more important to ensure your message is really getting out there. It s not just candidates who have got a range of tools at their disposal. Recruiters have a wealth of online resources to help them in their mission to find the best candidates. Here are some of the things that we think are beneficial when looking for talent to join your company. 3 Where are all the candidates at?

4 1 Meetups Go to where your candidates are. This doesn t have to be a physical meetup, although these can be great for networking with potential candidates, you might find online groups on LinkedIn or Internations (expat communities). There are groups about just about every discipline from areas in tech to sales and marketing and finance. Meaningful communication with potential candidates could be make or break when it comes to the actual deed of recruiting, so if initial contact makes a positive impression you ve got the advantage. Beyond LinkedIn groups for discussion, IRL meetups are another great way to find talented candidates. Utilising tools like meetup.com can help you find topical or relevant meetups in your area. You ll be able to find groups of people with the interests and professional skills you require. 4 Where are all the candidates at?

5 Even if staff from a particular department are in attendance, maybe advise them to keep an eye out for talented individuals in attendance. While they might not be actively seeking opportunities now, trading addresses or adding them on LinkedIn ensures that you keep some contact. A word of warning don t just blast these online groups with job postings, these platforms are about engagement so try to start conversations instead. If someone is not seeking a new job at the moment, fostering a positive view of your organization and its employees is extremely helpful. Visit: meetup.com 5 Where are all the candidates at?

6 2 Referrals You ve hopefully hired some really great people for your company. This is a very valuable resource that you should be using. Generally it s true that great people know other great people so why not set up a company referrals campaign. This will give you access to your employees own social networks and industry connections, giving you an exponentially larger pool to recruit from, which your employees will have already screened. Valuing your employees professional opinion will give your them the sense that they are really appreciated. Your existing employees will know your requirements and culture better than anyone, so they will be able to select suitable candidates instinctively. Referrals are among the most efficient, cost effective and successful means of sourcing candidates. 6 Where are all the candidates at?

7 The smallest number of applications, but the greatest number of hires come from internal referrals.they can improve employee retention and achieve diversity, with much fewer resource requirements for your HR department. Implementing a straightforward and easy to use process for submitting referrals is essential to maintain an effective referrals program. You can set rewards for interviews and for hires to engage your employees in the process. Alternative rewards, like additional holidays, and fostering healthy competition are both great ways of sustaining your referrals program. A referrals program can be simply and cheaply implemented, even if your resources are limited. Your recruiting software should have tools to set up your employee referral campaigns, ensuring that the program is monitored and consistent. By using your recruiting software to monitor referrals, you can pick out successful, prolific referrers and have solid data on your referrals program. Read Building an employee referral program, which is specifically for referrals. Read Building an employee referral program, which is specifically for referrals. 7 Where are all the candidates at?

8 3 Your Careers Site If you re sending candidates to your careers site to apply for your roles you need to make sure that it represents your company in the best possible way. Gone are the days of Add to Cart jobs listing as acceptable. Instead try to show what your company is about. Do you have a great team or a great company culture? Try to get this across with engaging images and some short text. Though this may be like stating the obvious, make sure your careers page is clear to see on your company home page and easy to navigate to. Take advantage of the curiosity of those visiting your homepage they re already interested in your organisation, so it s likely they would be a good fit. 8 Where are all the candidates at?

9 It's also worthwhile creating a social media presence in tandem with this careers page, to make sure you're reaching as many talented people as possible. Your careers site should be striking, so as to leave a positive, lasting impression. Video is a great way of showing what your company and your employees are all about and worth including in job descriptions. Candidates are going to do their research, so if they find your careers site, make sure it s easy to use and leaves a positive view. It's worth ensuring that your site is mobile optimised, as if it s not readable on mobile, it may as well not even be readable. The list of jobs is also important but should reflect the style of your company, are you an enthusiastic startup or an established corporate entity get the message right. Job postings say a lot about your values and ambitions as an organisation, so take some time to get it right. This is also essential for communicating your requirements to potential candidates. We really like Charity Water careers page. We really like Charity Water careers page. 9 Where are all the candidates at?

10 4 LinkedIn LinkedIn is the top social network for recruiters and job seekers, so it should be means of bringing those two groups together. LinkedIn Traditional Boolean search is a great way to find candidates on Linkedin but out-of-the-box Boolean can also be helpful to find candidates that are similar to those you are specifically looking for and therefore might also be a good fit. Look for people who have done similar work, but not exactly the same work. These candidates will not have the same keywords that you are using for specific candidates but may still be a good fit. For example people who worked in comparable technologies, vendors who might have implemented similar solutions with their clients, and consultants who worked on similar types of projects. 10 Where are all the candidates at?

11 Even the standard Who s Viewed My Profile tool can let you know if a candidate has expressed interest in your company. There are a number of LinkedIn tools which can assist in the process of sourcing. Candidates can even apply to job postings directly through LinkedIn. Recruiting software can also be used in tandem with LinkedIn, taking advantage of both tools to the fullest. Finding and screening candidates can also be done in one fell swoop with the resources provided by LinkedIn. Three in four full-time employed workers are open to or actively looking for new job opportunities so cast your net wide. 11 Where are all the candidates at?

12 5 Social Media LinkedIn isn t the be-all and end-all of social recruiting. Social recruiting is more significant than ever before, with candidates and recruiters, using multiple platforms to engage. When it comes to sourcing candidates, social media is a recruiter's best friend. From the lone recruiter, to the corporate HR team, social sourcing can be implemented. Social recruiting is ideal for smaller organisations as it can greatly reduce the time and cost of sourcing. It can be scaled and managed internally, by even the smallest team. With the majority of job seekers using both Twitter and Facebook, the importance of making your presence known is obvious to see. 12 Where are all the candidates at?

13 You may have seen your marketing and business development teams using these platforms extensively, as a recruiter your tasks are not dissimilar. Setting up dedicated careers Twitter and Facebook accounts is one sensible step to making yourself known to candidates. The creation of relevant content is essential for building your brand and getting your job postings out there. Focused, relevant and interesting hashtags are essential across a number of platforms for increasing your reach and getting seen by the right people. Taking advantage of your existing social network of acquaintances can help you find candidates, which greatly helps in making a good culture match. Advances searches of Twitter bios can help you find industry professionals, who have already expressed an interest in your company. Focused, relevant and interesting hashtags are essential across a number of platforms for increasing your reach and getting seen by the right people. Targeting that content is essential in getting seen by the right people. Posting frequently, using a variety of media, whether it be infographics, images, video, is the key in bringing people to you. 13 Where are all the candidates at?

14 6 Job boards Although there may be a lot of talk of job boards loosing importance they do still play a vital role in attracting active candidates, especially for entry-level and mid-level recruiting. They re still among the top results when using any search engine, they still are generating significant traffic, and they re still improving their search tools, so for general sourcing they still play a significant role. You may need to broach job boards a little bit differently nowadays. you might consider posting to multiple job boards, to get the full effect of any features they may offer, or be extremely selective about the job boards you use. Major job boards like Indeed and Glassdoor are valuable tools in your recruiting process. 14 Where are all the candidates at?

15 You can post to these job boards manually but your recruiting software will make this easier by posting your jobs automatically to major job boards - saves a lot of time spent copying and pasting job descriptions and details! Niche job boards are not to be overlooked either. Depending on the skillsset you require in a candidate, you may need to acutely target certain talent pools. In addition to this, recruiting software can produce reports on metrics and other data gathered, which is undeniably useful to sourcing, as well as future sourcing. You can easily determine the effectiveness of job boards to sourcing in your case, using these tools (more on this in a bit). As well as being a major job board, Glassdoor is a company review site. Many candidates will check out your company here before an interview. Positive or informative reviews will do an awful lot for your company brand. Encourage your employees to submit reviews and ensure company information is up to date to make full use of this resource. We really like Glassdoor. 15 Where are all the candidates at?

16 7 Metrics Finally, it s hugely important that you are a data-driven recruiter. Measure where the best candidates are coming from. Is there a pattern that emerges? Are you wasting money on certain activities and short changing others that are performing well? Are people looking at your jobs but dropping off during application? There could be an issue with the candidate experience of applying for your jobs. There may be too many clicks to get to a certain destination or you may have an outdated Add to Cart button that turns people off. Keep track of this data and refine your hiring process based on patterns and results that emerge over time. In addition to data on behavioural patterns or application completion rates while recruiting, you can determine time and costs of sourcing, then hiring 16 Where are all the candidates at?

17 suitable candidates. Getting down to the brass tacks of recruiting, you want to get things done as effectively as possible, with as little resource use as possible. This strategy is going to provide you with valuable information on KPIs and will let you know what methods of advertising are proving most cost effective. Which job boards are bringing you the most suitable candidates? Which sources have resulted in better candidate retention. Metrics are essential in achieving this. Even the number of candidates per hire can let you know a lot about the effectiveness how you advertise jobs and your visibility as an actively recruiting organisation. Things like compliance can be monitored at the earliest stages, ensuring that your methods of sourcing are being done in the most efficient way possible. Metrics are not just useful to the immediate task of sourcing candidates. The data you gather can improve your overall sourcing strategy in future. It s a valuable resource for learning and developing your techniques for sourcing top candidates. 17 Where are all the candidates at?

18 About HireHive We ve created easy to use software that helps you manage your recruiting from start to finish. Post jobs to job boards and social media channels with just one click and manage all your candidates in one place. You can set up referral campaigns and keep track of exactly where your hires are coming from. Unlimited admins Add your colleagues to HireHive and collectively manage all your hiring in one place. Discuss applications with your team using Job board posting Get the right candidates for your jobs with automatic job board posting. Unlimited Referral Campaigns Let your employees can help you find the best candidates with easy to set up referral campaigns for your roles. Candidate communication Send an to candidates directly through HireHive and easily keep track of all communication with each candidate. 18 Where are all the candidates at? Learn more at hirehive.io