4 Essentials to revamp your old-hat recruitment strategy!

Ever fly fished for hours, and found a moment’s consolation in the form of a lone trout or a salmon? Fishing for the ‘right employee’ for your firm can be like finding a needle in the haystack.

Though there are rules, do’s and don’ts, and various checklists to assist you; recruitment can get tricky, and trickier for certain profiles.

If that’s the pet peeve of your organization too, it’s time for an audit of your recruiting strategy.

1. Go Social– Don’t miss the Biggest talent Pool

In December 2012, Jeff Vijungco, the head of recruitment at Adobe Systems quoted to Bloomberg: “I think job postings are such old news. Social is the hot new industry.”
Traditional ways of hiring a recruitment agency’s services are fine, but give equal emphasis on talent networks like LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Facebook and Twitter.
Unless you live under a rock, you must be aware of LinkedIn’s phenomenal growth in the recruitment market. During 2011, when it held 5% of the $5.4 billion online recruitment market, LinkedIn brought in features like ‘Talent Pipeline’, that enabled employers to track and keep in touch with the candidates. Then in the 3rd quarter of 2012, the online recruitment division of LinkedIn raked in $138.4 million, which was 55% of its entire earnings.
Likewise, in a survey by Jobvite, during 2012 at least two-third of the organizations used Facebook for talent mining and around 54% took Twitter’s help in knowing about their prospective  candidates.
The power of these networks is such that even after finding a candidate through an agency, around 73 percent of employers will look them up on social sites.

2. Have you looked around lately?

Pearls aren’t just found in the deepest seas, they might be lying right under your nose. In 2006,  Michael G. Homula, the director of Talent Acquisition at Quickens Loans (a regular in Fortune’s 100 best places to work), told the New York Times how they try to find people in the most unconventional places, looking for them in retail stores and eateries. They send their employees to talk to them and offer an interview to those who they think have talent potential.

Such practices are best suited to industries like retail, hospitality or call centers as learning the work process isn’t as critical as enthusiasm.This is because most things are automated in these industries, right from assigning shifts through staff scheduling software to having a billing/invoice software for the payment.
Also, you must keep your eyes open; whenever you receive an impressive service from a retail staff member, restaurant/hotel etc., think of how they’ll fit into your firm’s environment. Looking for talent is a perpetual process.

   3. Career Fairs–They aren’t over yet!

Contrary to the belief that they’re passé, Job fairs can be actually be helpful. A keen eye at work can help you spot that one person, who’ll be passed off as a regular jobseeker by most. Most importantly, get rid of the trite notion that good ones (who’re already taken), do not  attend. Instead they are the ones’most concerned about keeping up with the trends in  the Job market.
Besides, being outside the four walls of your office would take the load off your mind, making it a good time to strike up candid conversations.
Although most would have you believe that job seekers coming to career fairs come prepared with an elevator speech (an nicely packaged brief introduction) to put their best foot forward– but if you’re armed with the right questions, nothing can get in the way.

Attending virtual Job fairs is another great way to engage yourself, since it calls for a very low investment. You don’t have to send any company reps. If you find a great candidate you can immediately start a live chat or audio/video conversation. Virtual  fairs are gaining huge popularity, due to the convenience they offer.

   4. Turn to Referrals & Rejected/Abandoned candidates in the Past

Referrals have a reason to be effective. The employees who refer, know the environment and the policies of the company, so referred candidates are aware of what’s in store.  It’s a  cost-effective method in comparison to taking up a hiring agency’s services. You may even extend it to your loyal customers, suppliers or vendors; these are the people who understand your business. Financial or non financial rewards for your existing employees will encourage them to be your eyes and ears. Employee referral has been one of the most effective recruitment tools of all times.

You can also revisit the Resumes of those who once came close to bagging the position, but didn’t quite make it. It might have happened from your end or theirs, during salary negotiations or due to a snap judgement (since we’re all so good at it); but something that might’ve disrupted an ideal scenario then, may not get in the way now.
Making a simple call won’t hurt anyone.

Final Thoughts

Going to college campuses for recruitments is another time tested way.
In 2011, Mark Zuckerberg returned to Harvard–this time as the official face of Facebook to connect with computer science and engineering students.

Offering Internships is a way to sign up some excellent, budding talent. You can offer a work opportunity to those who show great potential. Tap into their zeal,  sometimes fresh talent can accomplish what experienced ones’ can’t.
Besides, a lot depends on the ability of your recruiting staff. Spotting someone suitable on a social networking site might be simple, but to bring the discussion around the table requires skill.
Lastly, don’t put too many filters to shortlist people. The smarter ones’ would slip through your fingers by the time you decide to finalize them.

‘Let us not be too particular; it is better to have old secondhand diamonds than none at all.’
– Mark Twain

About the Author

As VP of Marketing, Bimal Parmar manages the global marketing strategy and execution at Celayix. With over 20 years industry experience, Bimal is responsible for making sure the world learns about the benefits of Celayix’s solutions that include: advanced employee scheduling, time and attendance, employee communication as well as integration modules for payroll and billing.

Before joining Celayix, Bimal was Vice President of Marketing at Faronics, a leading provider of IT solutions for the Education vertical where he helped grow revenue over 50% and launched exciting new solutions. Prior to that Bimal held senior marketing and product roles at technology companies such as Business Objects and McAfee Security where he gained significant international experience working with global companies such as Microsoft, Dell, Sony, HP, Orange, Telefonica and Ricoh.

You can visit his LinkedIn profile http://www.linkedin.com/in/bimalparmar

educate@celayix.com