Guest PostRecruiting new employees can be a time-consuming task. Recruiting effective employees can be even more of a challenge. However, a thorough recruitment strategy is essential for ensuring the right people are hired for the right positions at your organization.
Effective employees will bring the knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm your organization needs to thrive, whether your team is five people strong or 50,000 people strong. They’ll ultimately contribute to a well-rounded team that pushes your work forward, so you need creative ways to capture their attention as they browse open positions at different organizations.
A speedy, proactive, and unique recruitment process is a must for continually adding star talent to your team. If you’ve found yourself in a hiring rut recently, try analyzing your recruitment efforts to see how you can tweak them and boost their effectiveness.
Luckily, there’s no shortage of creative ways to recruit new team members. As long as you’re up for some extra work, your organization can really benefit from these seven unconventional tactics.
Advertise opportunities on your organization’s website.
By now, organizational leaders understand the importance of having a strong web presence. However, many don’t stop to anticipate just how important a website can be when it comes to recruiting.
Your organization’s website gives potential hires a sense of your team. What matters to your organization? What types of projects are you working on? What are your team members like?
If your site doesn’t match what your organization’s brand is all about, it’s time to make the necessary adjustments so that the two align.
From here, create a career page that lists open positions. When promoting positions on your site, you’ll want to:
- Use a clear headline and a detailed job description that thoroughly lists qualifications.
- Highlight the key benefits of working with your organization, such as salary, perks, and growth opportunities.
- Include a call to action that encourages potential applicants to apply.
- Use visuals such as images, videos, or infographics to attract candidates.
Just by looking at your website, a person who’s interested in working for you should get a good sense of exactly what your brand stands for and whether they’d be a good fit. Then, when they’re inspired to apply, they can visit your careers page to browse opportunities.
Leverage social media.
Social media is a hotspot for recruits. Potential employees already spend their free time on social media, so if you want to reach them effectively, you should be active there, too.
Join in on conversations, make it a point to develop authentic connections with people, and find out what matters to those you’re trying to recruit. A few ways to pull social media into your recruitment include:
- Create a profile on popular platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. Use your profile to share information about job openings, what makes it a great place to work, and other organizational news.
- Use targeted ads to reach job candidates. If it’s in your budget, investing in paid ads can be a great way to connect with potential employees.
Remember, social media creates a direct line to consumers and prospective employees. Respond to comments and use the direct messaging function to answer recruits’ questions about your organization. Some organizations use social media simply to blast out their marketing messages, but these platforms are much more effective when they turn into real conversations.
Go to events in your community.
While sending a bunch of emails and hoping someone gets back to you is time effective, the most powerful recruiting occurs when you build face-to-face connections with people.
Find out about networking events in your community, and attend at least a few each month if possible. Reach out to universities and colleges to organize (or, at the very least, find out about existing) on-campus job fairs. At these events, you can stand out from the crowd by doing the following:
- Put thought into your setup. Proactively promote your organization and job opportunities. Have branded signage and hand out materials like flyers that share key information.
- Engage with potential candidates. Take the time to get to know them better by asking questions. Take their information and offer them your business card to make a memorable first impression.
- Follow up with candidates. After the event, email candidates or call them to learn more about their interest in the job. This is also a great opportunity to find out more about their skills and experience. Being prompt will ultimately speed up the hiring process.
Over time, you’ll cultivate real relationships with professionals in your area, which can help make it easier to recruit new talent for your team.
Use your building to advertise open jobs.
If you’re actively trying to hire, ditch the boring “Help wanted” sign in the window and try something a little catchier. Colorful signs with quirky language hanging in the window will certainly catch someone’s eye as they walk by, particularly if your organization is in a high-traffic area. This is a classic yet effective recruiting technique.
Depending on your building’s structure, you can also place large posters or banners in your building’s entryways or hang job postings in elevators or other high-traffic areas. Get creative, and you’re more likely to catch prospective recruits’ eyes as they pass by!
Develop an employee referral program.
An employee referral program is a great way to incentivize current employees to refer their friends and former colleagues to your organization.
Sourcing candidates through this channel can be one of the most effective ways to connect with motivated prospects — you already know and trust existing employees. When they refer someone to leadership, they put their reputation on the line, so you can trust that they’re referring someone they genuinely believe is a good fit.
Plus, rewarding existing employees for a job well done is a great way to boost retention! Not to mention, individuals sourced through this strategy are likely more motivated to get started, contributing to a speedy hiring process.
Level up your recruitment materials’ graphic design.
Whether you realize it or not, your materials communicate a lot about your organization. A colorful flyer that thoroughly explains your mission and position requirements says much more than black ink on an otherwise blank piece of paper.
Work with your in-house graphic designer or a third-party designer to create visually-appealing job postings and materials. There are plenty of great tools like Canva you can use to make your materials stand out.
To get started, here are few areas where graphic design comes into play:
- Your careers webpage. Start with a clear layout, high-quality images that showcase your workplace or employees, and colors that draw attention to key information. A video about your organization with testimonials from employees can go a long way in communicating workplace culture, too.
- Physical handouts. Whenever you hand out materials to candidates, make sure the design looks professional with your logo, official colors, and modern typography. Having handouts is essential for making a lasting impression at career fairs and other events.
- Banners at events. Graphic design plays into your event setup, too. Stand out from other organizations with an attractive booth at career fairs. A simple banner with your logo and colors is a great way to level up your appearance.
Everything from your organization’s logo to your social media posts should communicate professionality. Not only will well-designed materials be visually appealing, but following graphic design best practices can make your content easier to understand and easier to retain. In the end, professional designs will help attract talented candidates.
Implement hiring tests.
Even after you’ve interviewed a prospect, the recruitment process isn’t quite over. Post-interview, you’ll want to gauge prospective employees’ personalities and whether they’d actually fit into your organization.
More often than not, a candidate can look absolutely perfect on paper and ace the interview, but they turn out to be a terrible fit for your team. Consider implementing creative hiring tests to truly reveal the talent behind the candidate you’re considering and have them prove their skills before you actually commit to them.
Final Thoughts
It’s no secret that recruitment can be a challenge. With so many organizations vying for candidates’ attention, you need to take every step you can to stand out. By experimenting with some creative strategies, you can make your organization stand out as a stellar place to work.
Making meaningful connections during this process will ultimately lead to more qualified candidates and eventually happier employees in the long run.
