5 Strategies to Recruit With Purpose

Hiring can be like putting out a fire. You don’t think about it until a crisis occurs, then you must scramble to handle it quickly. This takes care of the immediate issue but not as effectively as you might have with a bit of foresight. By having a system in place, you can prevent fires – and talent shortages – or at the very least, deal with them efficiently.

Here are a few proven strategies to recruit with a purpose and achieve better hiring results.

Build a talent bench. Shift your thinking from filling positions as they arise to anticipating the areas of growth your company expects. What leadership roles could develop? What professional skills gaps may arise? Consider also the career paths of the current employees you are working to develop and how you intend to backfill those roles once the incumbents are promoted. A talent bench takes time to develop, so don’t underestimate the investment you need to make now to achieve a successful outcome.

Network with passive candidates. The best people are often those currently employed. Nurture relationships with them long before you need to add them to your team. As you get to know them and they understand your organization and goals, they will be eager to join your team when the time comes. With the groundwork you’ve laid, talented professionals should be able to ramp up quickly.

Make recruiting a team effort. Attracting talent should be on everyone’s to-do list. Engaged employees will be only too eager to bring talented others into the fold. As you extend recruiting efforts throughout the company, emphasize that employees should look for colleagues who would make a valuable addition to the organization, not just friends who need work. It’s critical to the organization that they focus on people they would want to work besides go to happy hour with.

Scale recruiting to need. Consider what you’ll do if you must quickly increase your staff. Even the most well-oiled HR department may be unable to keep up with a large hiring demand, such as opening a new office or expanding a department. Consider outsourcing recruiting efforts of this magnitude to a recruiting firm so you and your human resources staff can focus on core tasks.

Always be recruiting. Every business should constantly keep an eye open for extraordinary talent. By identifying parameters that make a good fit for your organization, you will always be ready to approach a likely prospect. If the right talent comes along when you don’t have a suitable opening, be prepared to create one or lose top candidates to your competitors.

Of course, your recruiting partner is always engaged in each of these activities as part of their profession. By consulting with a recruitment professional who is an expert in your industry, you’ll know that you have an expert constantly working on your behalf.

Recruiting with a purpose requires more groundwork to be laid initially, but can deliver a powerful long-range payoff. For more ideas on how to improve your recruitment process and results, contact the executive search consultants at BrainWorks today.