Recruiting isn’t just about filling a vacancy—it’s a critical aspect of growing your business. Whilst how we recruit may have changed, who we recruit remains of vital importance.   If we look at recruitment as marketing exercise we will end up with better team members than if we just fill a hole.

Getting a recruitment strategy that works and is repeatable across all vacancies and growth plans will enable you to become employee of choice in your marketplace.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have great candidates lining up and asking to come and work for you?

These seven steps will help you to build a better team from the start.

Clarify Your Ideal Candidate:

  • Define clearly the skills, attitudes, and experiences you need in a candidate.
  • Develop a detailed job description that not only lists responsibilities but also highlights the culture and values of your company.
  • Consider what sort of person would fit into your team – the wider business and the few individuals that they would interact with the most.

Develop a Strong Employer Brand:

  • Make sure your company’s mission and values are clearly communicated both inside and outside your organization.
  • Showcase success stories, employee testimonials, or community involvement to attract candidates who resonate with your values.
  • Younger recruits will be looking for more than just a paycheque and somewhere nice to spend 9-5. Make sure that your values are clear, and that your culture attracts the right people.

Utilize Multiple Recruiting Channels:

  • Don’t rely solely on traditional job postings; consider networking events, referral programs, social media, and professional groups.
  • Encourage current employees to refer candidates by offering incentives or recognition.
  • Consider your ideal candidate and make sure your vacancy is visible to them.

Systematize the Recruitment Process:

  • Create and follow a consistent process for screening, interviewing, and evaluating candidates.
  • Use structured interviews and clear scoring systems to ensure the best talent is identified objectively and efficiently.
  • The hardest person to recruit is the first team member, the second hardest recruit is the one you personally did not hire – having a system ensures that all hiring members of the team hire to the same criteria and system.

Sell Your Business Opportunity:

  • Remember that recruiting is similar to sales. You must effectively “sell” the opportunity to prospective employees.
  • Focus on what makes your company unique, the growth potential, and the support they will receive, so prospects see the opportunity as a win-win.
  • This is a two way dialogue, they want to make sure you are the right place for them and you want to ensure that they are the right person for the job.

Invest in Training and Development:

  • Develop a robust onboarding and continuous training program that can be marketed as a career advantage.
  • When candidates see that there’s a path for personal and professional growth, they’re more likely to join and stay with your company.
  • Recruitment is time consuming and costly, training and development is one of the best ways to retain your staff.

Evaluate and Adjust Your Strategy:

  • Track your recruiting metrics (how many candidates apply, how many interviews lead to hires, etc.) so that you can identify what’s working and what isn’t.
  • Stay flexible—if a certain channel or method isn’t yielding results, be ready to adapt your approach.

 

By putting intentional strategies in place and treating recruitment as an essential aspect of your business growth you can transform the challenge of recruiting into an opportunity to build a stronger, more aligned team.