Finding the right candidates for a certain job opening is easier said than done. The difficult process of delivering a perfect placement to a company has a lot of steps, many of which are not necessarily obvious, even for professionals who work for a recruitment agency. Looking for people whose expertise fits the description you were given will not satisfy most employers. And even though you’re probably familiar with the biggest platforms like LinkedIn or even Github, there are plenty of other opportunities to look for potential talents. Let us take you through a foolproof agenda that will possibly lead to pleased clients.

Define who you’re looking for

Establishing a persona is the first step towards finding the right person. Companies usually provide you with a list of skills required for the position, but you can always specify them during a meeting. Do they value multiple years of experience or knowledge itself? Are they looking for a team player or someone who is able to work alone? Are they open for remote candidates or do they prefer working from the office? All these questions lead to stated skills, qualifications and traits of individuals, and if they are defined in detail they will make your search a lot more effective. You can also establish a no-go list: ask your client about the attributes they cannot tolerate in employees: this saves you from sending non-fitting people to rounds of interviews.

Do your research

After brainstorming with your client, it is most professional to do your own research. This step is crucial. A skillset is not only defined by abilities, it must also match the market the candidate wishes to enter. There are countless materials like journals and articles available on the internet that you can establish an overall sight of the position. You can look through the average salary range, the state of a certain market, technological skills that can be used and anything and everything that means an advantage. Don’t be afraid to use your network as a source of information, since professionals in the specific field may know things better than any outsider. Most agencies tend to skip this step, but it’s essential if you don’t want to flood the company with applicants that will not meet the requirements.It’s also detrimental to waste the time of candidates, as this only ensures them turning to other agencies in the future. A good recruiter is characterized by being looked at as a partner by both sides: companies and individuals.

Decide where your ideal candidate is available

If your persona is complete and ready, you should start thinking of it as a person. Business and employment-oriented websites are generally a great start, and so is your network if you happen to be a more experienced recruiter. Still, thinking outside the box is essential if you want to conduct a complete search on the market. Some professionals prefer to use social media as their self-branding platforms, others are not even registered on any platforms. Here’s when your creativity comes into picture: information is present in the online world, you only have to know how to find it. Reference works, former employee lists of companies within the given industry and award ceremony pictures can be a great source of information if you know how to interpret them.

Use advanced settings on recruiting platforms

If you work for an agency, these subscriptions are probably paid for you. However, you should pay special attention to the keywords you use during a search. You should be as specific as one can be while describing an element of your already established persona. Make sure to include tags like the title of a certain position to refer to professional experience and always include multiple synonyms of the same position. You can search based on skills and location as well. The more time you put into it, the more specific you can be, but always double-check the search results. Using knowledge on the specific domains separates good recruiters from average ones.

Collect referrals from your network

The best way to deliver candidates is through a personal acquaintance. By knowing someone you are aware of their strengths and weaknesses, so there will be no surprises during the interviews. When your network has a certain width, you can easily collect referrals of people who are outside of your usual reach. Professionals who are not looking for new opportunities can also recommend other great candidates they know, as their network tends to be wider within a market. Recommended applicants also tend to have a stronger effect on company leaders than those who apply the regular way. Our network is also one of our biggest strengths: here at IseeQ we keep in contact with all the people we have previously worked with, so when they decide to take the next step in their careers, we can easily refer them to new opportunities.

Recruit the job to a good candidate

It happens quite often, that there’s no opening for someone that asks us for help. This usually causes disappointment but can mean something extremely positive. Employers are usually happy for talented individuals joining their team, even though they might not specifically be on the lookout for it. The market is full of average employees and to have the opportunity to acquire someone who is beyond great at the job they do pleases most of the companies. If you happen to find someone that has an amazing skill set and/or referrals, don’t be afraid to send their profiles to your client. They either re-define that there’s no opening that would be suitable or invite them to interviews. If the sympathy is mutual, it is most likely that the company will come up with an opening for the person, and they might even define the exact tasks and responsibilities together.

Negotiate

In the previous article of our series, we mentioned that negotiation and persuasion skills are important in recruitment. If you represent both parties, you are the person who holds most information about a specific project, because you get to converse with all. Naturally, your goal is to achieve a successful placement, but this is rarely an easy process. Sometimes you have to negotiate salaries with the employer, sometimes you need to provide a confidence boost to the candidate. It’s best if you are well prepared for every possible drawback with applicable solutions you can argue. Your ultimate goal is to achieve the perfect placement for both parties, but honesty is the most important, even if it’s about admitting you failed. IseeQ usually provides clients with 3 months of guarantee time after each placement: just enough for them to see if we really made the right decision.

Never forget the atmosphere check

This is the part that may distinguish between a good and a great recruiter. We spend a lot of time on getting to know a certain company before we recruit for them. Many cases, we even spend a couple of days there as an employee, so that we are familiar with the atmosphere, the team and leaders. This helps us understand what kind of qualities we are looking for in a candidate, and helps the future applicants fit into the team more easily after they are given an offer.

Read more Recruitment related content

We hope you enjoyed this article. Recruitment Tips is a monthly series in our blog, so if you are interested in topics that can be of help for recruitment agencies, companies, and individuals interested in headhunting feel free to check our other contents.

Reading from the corporate-HR side? Teaming up with a recruitment agency, you spare the time for the majority of the tasks mentioned in the article. IseeQ can help you find the missing links in your professional network, so that you can have a more united and skilled team than ever. If you ever wish to work with us, you can reach us through any contact opportunity on our website.