As the competition for talent continues to grow, companies are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to find candidates. Fortunately, there are more resources and technologies available than ever before to attract top talent to your organization — but how do you decide what strategy works best?
Learn what fellow practitioners do to differentiate themselves in a competitive talent market, and discover how you can reinvent recruitment at your own organization.
We sat down with experts who are deep in the talent acquisition trenches — Jenna King, professional recruiter II at Medix; Valerie Davenport, director of talent programs at USAA; and Bryan Rice, director, global talent acquisition at Stryker — to talk about best practices.
Here are some of their top takeaways.
1. Always inquire about new ways to attract talent.
Jenna King: “When on a phone screen, why not ask talent where they’re posting their resume? What is the newest tool they’ve heard of? What are their friends using? Take that information from them and keep tabs for trends. Then go back to your leadership and ask to invest in new trends.”
2. Analyze what IS currently working for you.
Valerie Davenport: “Spend time taking a good look at the talent who did make it through to your organization. Find out what worked, what didn’t work and what about the hiring process they would improve.”
3. Don’t throw out all old-school practices that still work.
Bryan Rice: “Where has cold calling gone? We just don’t do it. We rely heavily on in-mails and emails. That’s something that’s missing from the candidate experience. I’m not saying every candidate and every rec should be called, but if you get to the top five or six candidates, nothing makes you feel good like even a voicemail that says, ‘Hey, I saw your resume, we’d love to talk to you about a job at Stryker.’ They’re more likely to call back rather than delete an email.”
4. Data is great – but make sure you’re using it wisely.
Valerie Davenport: “When someone asks you for data, first ask: ‘What are you trying to solve? What are you looking for with this data?’
We do a lot of data and scorecard tracking. Data can tell any story, so first find out what it is you want that data to tell you. On the sourcing side, you want ROI. What is this costing? Are strategies effective? As a recruiter, that likely doesn’t mean much to you.”
5. Enlist marketing to help you with your employer brand.
Valerie Davenport: “You can’t build an employer brand on your own — you need your company’s marketing team. USAA does a great job advertising to consumers looking for insurance to retired military. But some companies are able to do both in one ad: They tell the story of the company and culture as well as advertise the product or service at the same time. You need to sell your product from the employee’s point of view, which is why you need your CHRO to talk to your marketing team. You can do both and it will cost you nothing extra.”
6. Don’t be afraid to use social media.
Bryan Rice: “About 50 to 60 percent of what Stryker puts on social media is about culture. We also advertise awards, testimonials, etc. but we think first about culture. We want people to know who we are and identify with that.”
Valerie Davenport: “You need folks at the top who understand social strategy. If your company has a social team on the enterprise team, then start with them. What you want to do is arm your team with comfort and confidence to be on social. Tell them what the rules are for your company. Social media is your call center of the future.”
7. Develop your sales and business skills.
Bryan Rice: “Recruiters need to be able to negotiate and sell. We’ve got to be able to sell in a methodical way throughout the process, negotiate, and close. Another important thing is business acumen. We need to know about the business and company we support.”
Want to learn more about what candidates expect from you during their job search? Download CareerBuilder’s 2016 Candidate Behavior Study.
This article first appeared on the CareerBuilder website.
