7 Innovative Ways to Attract Top Talent to Your Company

Freshteam : No. 1 In Recruitment Software

Every company wants to attract the top candidates in the market.

With such fierce competition, it can really get hard to fill a position that best matches their skills.

So how do you stand out in the crowd?

Did you know that in 2018 alone, 41.4 million U.S. workers voluntarily left their jobs?

Having a high employee turnover rate can affect your employee morale and your company’s reputation as well. Besides, it can turn into an expensive affair.

That’s why, while hiring a candidate, they should be the right fit for the job.

Let me share some tricks from my book that can prove worthy. If you want to attract, hire, and retain the right candidates, you need to have a strategy in place.

Here are a few smart ways that you can attract top talents to your company.

1. Taking Advantage of Social Media

Let me start with the obvious.

More than 3.8 million people have a presence on different social media platforms. They are not only using social media for leisure time but are also actively looking for new job opportunities here.

If you want to seek out candidates actively, social media is an excellent place to start. You can leverage LinkedIn, Facebook or even Twitter to look for candidates.

As a recruiter, you will need to find out which platform these job seekers are spending time on. Post your openings at different channels to get their attention.

But it is equally important that your brand has built a good social media presence. It ensures trust and candidates might be eager to apply to your company.

2. Leveraging Technology

As a recruiter, I am sure you would agree. Acquiring the right talent is not an easy task.

Even after spending $140 billion alone on recruitment activities, 63 percent of HR companies said that their searched candidates didn’t match the position.

The problem is that many employers go through the hiring process without giving any consideration to competencies. This is generally due to the shortage of resources. It often leads to hiring the wrong candidate in the wrong position.

Today, the world is leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning into their system to source and attract the top talent. There are tools available that help makes smart hiring decisions, including applicant tracking systems (ATS), recruitment agencies, and job boards.

• • • Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
      An ATS is a software that helps streamline and automate the recruitment process. It acts as a centralized database for all possible candidates and helps filter the application based on the predefined keywords and phrases and relevancy. When an employer has clearly outlined the job description, it makes the whole process of hiring much easier.
    • Recruiting Agency
      There are many recruiting agencies that have a large database of job seekers. Employers need to provide these agencies with the requirements of their candidates. Then, they help build a talent acquisition strategy to help source, attract, and recruit quality candidates.
    • Job Boards
      Companies like Monster and Indeed are the digitized recruitment platform where you can connect with a huge number of possible candidates. Companies post on these job boards, and candidates can directly apply here.

3. Building an Employer Brand

People are more willing to work in a company that emanates a better culture.

So how do you develop one?

Firstly, you need to have an engaging environment for your employees. Companies that focus on people and reward their performance facilitate a better employer brand. It makes it compelling for top talents to work in your organization.

Creating a people-focused culture can attract talents from various nationalities and backgrounds.

Secondly, if a talent resonates with your company’s vision, they automatically get attracted to your business.

Today’s youth know what they want exactly. If they know what your business does and what makes you different from others, it makes it easy to source and attracts the right candidate.

Your website and LinkedIn page are some of the great places where you build your employer branding. For instance, if users have a poor experience on the career section page, it might receive fewer applications than expected.

Thus, building an employer brand is a critical part of a recruitment strategy. You should be able to demonstrate why your company is a great place to work.

4. Networking at Candidate-Specific Events

Networking is not only beneficial in landing clients but can help secure new candidates as well.

You should tap into local communities, attend meetups, and industry-specific events or conferences, where you can easily build up your network.

Those events are where you will find people from similar backgrounds. Highlight your work at those events if you want to attract candidates to your company. If people can relate to your company work culture, they will definitely come forward to apply.

Furthermore, you can join appropriate groups on Facebook and LinkedIn that fit into your criteria. This way, you tap into a specific talent pool, which can help produce great results.

5. Implementing a Referral Program

The employee referral program is one of the least utilized resources. However, it is considered as one of the most effective tactics.

Look at this way – when your employees refer someone to their company, of course, they won’t refer to a poor candidate. They might know what that person stands for.

However, the challenge lies in the fact that you need to encourage your employees to refer to others. They don’t consider it as a part of their job.

Unless you offer a beneficial referral program, they won’t be encouraged to reach out to their personal network.

Fostering positive word-of-mouth about your brand or company can help secure top talents in the industry. It is one of the cheapest yet reliable ways to source the right candidates.

6. Reaching Out to Previous Employees

I know this might surprise you.

But it is not a bad idea to reach out to employees who left your company in good terms.

The first thing you need to do is find out why they left the company. Was it because they wanted more money, or did they get a better opportunity?

If you really valued their work, you can try to rework those terms and see if they want to rejoin your company.

Yes, not every employee will be willing to come back, but for those who might, it can save you a lot of time and money. You don’t have to go through the process of onboarding once again, save on training costs, and much more.

7. Retaining the Existing Employees

The most obvious way is by retaining your existing employees.

If you have a high employee turnover rate, this might leave your company in a bad position. Candidates might not like to come work for your company.

When employees leave more frequently, other candidates might think there is something wrong with the company culture.

That’s why your candidate outreach strategy should include focusing on retaining existing employees. Create a positive environment in your workplace, hold regular meetings with your employees, and recognize their efforts to keep your employees happy.

If you can retain employees, it will automatically attract new talents.

Wrapping Up

To conclude, the talent acquisition strategy must align with the organization’s goals and priorities. As a recruiter, your job is to find out the desired soft skills, technical requirements, and much more that will serve well into the company.