Recruitment Strategy: 

Recruitment Strategy

Most of our clients limit their recruitment strategy to a) posting the position and b) contacting us. 

When are these two steps enough? And when will they fall short when it comes to attracting top talent? 

While a simple definition of a recruitment strategy is a plan for identifying and hiring high-quality resources for your open positions, it is important to understand an effective strategy goes well beyond that. 

An effective recruitment strategy starts with a review of your company’s online reputation and perceived brand.  

Analyze Your Company’s Online Reputation

In today’s digital age, it is easy for employees to broadcast negative comments or write damaging reviews on your company. These types of websites (think Glassdoor and other similar forums) have changed how many people search for positions. 

I recommend you have a standard schedule and process to search for comments or reviews on your company—just like a potential candidate would. When you find online feedback, respond appropriately. 

Not defensively. Appropriately. Answer the reviews in a professional and problem-solving way, showing that you, as a company, are open to continual feedback and constant improvement. 

Alternatively, consider fostering a campaign to encourage your team members to share behind-the-scenes content about the company to demonstrate that it’s a desirable place to work. You can do this by publicly recognizing team members for their accomplishments. For example, post a ‘team member of the month’ on LinkedIn, giving public kudos for their work effort. You can highlight awards, new certifications, completion of degrees, or other achievements. Other team members will jump into the celebration and this positivity will draw applicants to your company.

You can also consider adopting hashtags. L’Oreal and its global employees use hashtags like #lifeatloreal, #meettheinnovators, and #lorealproud on Instagram to paint a picture of what it’s like to work there.

Fine Tune your Company’s Brand

Your company’s brand should be positioned to attract talent as well as clients. Employer branding is a key part of your overall recruitment strategy as it will impact candidates’ perception of you as a potential employer. When developing a brand to attract high-quality talent, consider questions such as: 

  • Why would someone want to work for this company?
  • What diversity and inclusion goals does the company have?
  • What percentage of your current employees would recommend your company as a great place to work?
  • What perks, rewards and benefits does the company offer to their team members in exchange for strong performance? 

The answers to these questions should align with the business’s mission, vision, culture, and philosophy. Once you have answers to these questions, check that your business’s “about” page, social media profiles, and advertisements align with these details.

Another great way to enhance your employer brand is to post content that shows your company is actively engaged in activities that reflect the company’s values. For example, if your company supports a specific charity or cause, share photos or videos of a recent campaign that your organization spearheaded. 

Diversify Your Hiring Strategies

It can be challenging to fill highly skilled roles; especially when the roles require specific degrees, licensure, or specialized experiences. By diversifying your hiring strategies, you can reach a broader group of jobseekers while enjoying multiple benefits:

  • A larger candidate pool enables you to select from an increased number of applicants who meet your requirements. 
  • More choices in qualified candidates means a shortened hiring cycle.
  • You will experience an increased company awareness which will expand to potential clients as well as prospective candidates. 
  • A shorter recruitment lifecycle will reduce hiring costs. And when you have more high-quality candidates to choose from, you don’t have to settle and you can reduce your attrition rates

Here are some approaches that you should consider adding to your recruitment strategy. 

Create captivating job descriptions.

Your job descriptions should speak to the company’s brand. They should be professional but show the company’s culture and personality. Writing a unique yet thorough job description is an important step in your recruitment strategy. 

When drafting your job descriptions: 

Pay particular attention to titles. 

Some experts will tell you to make titles as specific as possible. But in our industry, titles aren’t consistent across companies, so being too specific may limit your candidate pool. 

On the other hand, you should consider what your ideal candidate is searching for. In this case, the more accurate your title, the more effective you’ll be in piquing the interest of quality job seekers.

So use your judgment, being sure to captivate the function of the position in your title. 

Sell the position in the opening summary.

When writing the position’s summary, consider the primary reasons someone is actively or passively looking for a new position (outside of being unemployed, of course).  

Does the position offer growth potential? Sell it. Is the company stable and well-recognized in the industry? Sell it. Are the team members collaborative, creative, and innovative? Sell it. Provide a summary that will excite job seekers about the position, team, and company. 

Ensure your Job Description is thorough.

While no state or federal laws require you to have a job description, know that when you do provide one, there are multiple legal requirements to consider. 

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) advocates that every job description must cover a complete list of essential functions. Be sure to outline the required hard and soft skills and always include the role’s core responsibilities. I also like to explain how the position fits into the organization. 

The goal is to give potential candidates enough information for them to visualize themselves in the role. 

Don’t underestimate social media. 

I think it is smart to leverage social media to source talent, advertise jobs, and communicate with potential candidates. Our firm experiences great success in finding quality talent on LinkedIn. And the plus is that we can build a network of exceptional professionals who will quickly respond to future job posts. 

Note that the ‘network’ term is key. Recruiting through LinkedIn has enabled us to facilitate two-way conversations with potential candidates. We can share postings with our entire network and often our network will refer colleagues they know will be a perfect fit. 

Other industries strongly leverage platforms such as Facebook and X. But before you start posting job descriptions on social media, make sure your company’s presence on relevant social media platforms properly represents your brand. 

Implement an employee referral program. 

Ask your current team members who they know that may be a perfect fit. There are several reasons this is a terrific idea:  

  • Your team members will appreciate being engaged. Respecting their recommendations is a terrific way to empower them to influence the team’s direction. 
  • Employees hired through a referral program tend to stay at the company longer, thus reducing your attrition rate. 
  • Internal referrals will reduce recruiting costs by eliminating the need to advertise the position or pay a recruiting fee. 
  • When your employees reach out to their network, your brand gets boosted, which means more candidates and clients will become aware of your company. 

Consider offering a finder’s fee for employee referrals. You can even make it fun by setting up a contest so more employees become excited about providing referrals. 

Revisit previous “not the right fit” candidates.

When you treat applicants well by continually providing status throughout the process, you build a fan base of candidates. And when you respect them enough to reject them honestly and gracefully, you can easily contact them for future positions. 

After all, just because an applicant wasn’t the right fit for a past position doesn’t mean they aren’t a perfect fit for a current job opening.

It is smart to capture applicant details so that you can compile a database of candidates from past job openings. You should also add notes from past interviews. You can then search through this talent pool to find candidates who are qualified for your current roles, even if they weren’t a good fit in the past.

Engage passive candidates.

Your recruiting strategy should include searching for actively looking candidates as well as passively searching candidates.  Passive candidates are those who are currently employed and therefore not actively in the job market.  However, they can be your dream hires. 

Why? 

Because they don’t need a new job. They will decide to work for you because they see the true benefits of the position and/or company. And, of course, this is what you want!  When a candidate chooses your opportunity because it aligns with their career objectives, it is a win for all involved. 

When Should You Review Your Recruitment Strategy?

Always. Strategically, you want to appeal to top talent the same way you attract and captivate new business. 

Analyze how your company differentiates from its competitors. Treat the applicants with respect, ensuring they have a positive experience. Tweak the recruitment process as necessary while staying true to your company’s vision, mission, and goals. 

And reach out to craresources if you need help. We can help you create or improve your current recruitment strategy.