The success of your organization comes down to one variable at the end of the day: your team. Finding, hiring and keeping the right people is the most important step you can take to grow your company. The whole process can also cost a lot of money, especially if fluctuation rates are continuously high. Even if you do have the budget to handle it, improving your recruitment’s effectiveness and efficiency is only going to help your business in the long run. After 10 years in business and countless conducted consultancies, we collected our 5 best practices that will help you stay on top of your recruitment game. We usually advise the same things to our clients as well, so make sure to read on!

1. Use your network

Your network may be your best chance of finding suitable candidates. People you already know and like are much more likely to perform well in a team with you than others you just get to know through applications. You can try to look at ex-colleagues, friends or acquaintances, or ask around in your circles. Building a network on LinkedIn is also a great option, you can get in contact with people from your own or your target industry, and select connections based on skills or interests. Establishing a referral system within your organization can also work if you already have a well-functioning team- this combines the networks of more people, which means a wider talent pool for you to choose from!

Our best advice is to build a pipeline of people you’d like to work with. This way, when matters become urgent, you don’t have to start your search from scratch, as you’ll have a list of potential candidates to reach out to. Many people don’t realize that sourcing candidates and actually hiring them is a very time-consuming process: it can stretch to weeks and even months if you’re only figuring out what to do. It’s best you prepare yourself for future situations, and evaluate your options before matters become pressing.

2. Keep the candidates in mind when designing the process

While writing job descriptions, publishing them on multiple platforms and establishing the onboarding process, always adapt to your targets’ perspectives. Include the elements that are relevant to them, and create a process that is transparent and easy for them to understand and go through. Make it as enjoyable as possible. Nicer experiences contribute to lower turn-down rates, and also make more enthusiastic and motivated employees.

3. Make sure to advertise effectively

Consider what platforms attract your top candidates, figure out where they are present, and post your open positions there. A good description of the job answers questions before they are even asked. Make sure to include the relevant skills, with special attention to soft skills. The headings should be clear, brief and foremost, and descriptions should also focus on the benefits each future employee gets. An ATS system can help you identify where the majority of your qualified applicants are coming from, be it your careers page, social media or job boards. This data helps recruiters determine which avenues are most successful and worthy of additional resources, and which they can pull back on.

4. Hire for character rather than experience

There’s a quote by Peter Schutz that says “hire character, train skill.” To put it simply, a candidate might have the perfect set of skills necessary for the job but be rejected after the team fit round of interviews – if they don’t have the cultural values, personality traits and work ethic, they will simply not fit into a group of people with different mentalities. We always preach that skills can be taught, but a fitting personality is super hard to find. We consulted multiple companies to introduce or improve several training programs for their employees to attend. This ensures that your company is able to accept the right candidates, even if they are not fully ready for their jobs at the time. The time and effort you put into your people will always be beneficial to the company as a whole, even if it requires extra attention in the beginning.

5. Attract the candidates with employer branding

Employer branding will help you hire the perfect employees, create a strong and healthy company culture and even reduce marketing costs. If your company seems attractive to the crowds, the right people will eventually come across its name, and may even want to work for you. It’s a great way for organizations to differentiate themselves from their competitors, create credibility and represent an image they wish to associate with. If you do it right, everyone will see clearly what you are looking for if a position opens, and you will be able to go through more fitting applications.

For further tips reach out to us via e-mail so we can chat, or you can even book a consultation!