How To Define the Perfect Recruiting Strategy for Your Company

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A Step-by-Step Recruiting Strategy

In this day and age, a high-quality recruitment strategy centered around the needs of candidates is essential to inspire and attract potential employees. The way candidates look for new jobs has changed dramatically, and the demands placed on potential employers are increasing. To maintain competitiveness, companies are taking targeted, coordinated steps. The focus should be on the following aspects:

1. Defining your ideal candidate

Just like any other corporate project, recruiting requires a well-crafted and thought-out definition of ideal candidates. The following should be noted here: even if the qualification requirements for the various individual vacancies differ, all employees should share corporate values ​​that are lived daily as the foundation of the corporate culture. Only then can it be guaranteed that employees feel comfortable at work and remain loyal to their employer for many years to come. 

2. Creating an Internal Recruitment Plan

After the ideal candidates have been defined, it is important to create an internal recruitment plan. This provides an overview of all the steps that have to be taken in the context of successful recruiting. It also specifies who from the HR team is responsible for which tasks, and how the recruiting process should be run exactly. Important information about recruiting channels, time frames and candidate selection should also be included.

3. Preparing the Job Advertisement Content

Companies can only effectively target the desired applicants if the job description is clear and understandable. This primarily entails including a job title, core tasks and other activities, expectations and targets as well as qualifications and experience. The requirement profile should clearly distinguish between what is a “must-have” and what would be a “nice-to-have”. It is also a good idea to integrate a corporate mission statement and an organizational chart into a job description.

4. Carefully Choosing Marketing Measures

Publishing a job advertisement on your own website is not enough; in order to achieve your desired visibility in the digital space, further marketing measures are required. It is definitely worthwhile to promote a new job advertisement on appropriate job-searching platforms. Additionally, it is important to adapt the application form provided to the candidate profile and your target group, customizing it accordingly. Last but not least, important key figures for the recruiting process must be collected.

5. Activate Networks and Grow Them in a Targeted Way

Alongside the marketing measures in the digital space that are associated with the respective recruitment project, it is important to continuously establish and maintain professional networks. This is about looking out for potential employees on a daily basis, and includes having an active presence at job and career fairs, specialist conferences and young talent networks.

How To Define the Perfect Recruiting Strategy for Your Company

An Overview of Modern Recruiting Methods

There is no clear-cut recipe for successful recruiting. Several factors play a role. The ever-increasing demands on candidates and employees are causing employers to rethink. Gone are the days when companies could post a job advertisement and passively wait for applications. In order to be able to withstand the tough competition, companies have to use modern recruiting methods.

1. Active Sourcing for Better Efficiency

In the past, companies published their job advertisements and generally did not take any additional measures to further attract candidates. However, today’s shortage of skilled workers and increasing labor mobility are prompting companies to rethink their recruiting strategy. It is no longer about informing job seekers about a current job advertisement. Rather, it is about finding promising candidates and addressing them directly, before the competition does. This recruiting method is called Active Sourcing. Different communication channels can be used depending on the company’s needs. Business networks such as XING and LinkedIn as well as social media are of great importance in this regard, as are CV databases. 

2. Mobile Recruiting for Younger Applicants

It’s no secret that Millennials and Generation Z expect a high degree of flexibility in their professional lives. New technologies make it possible for you to apply for a new job on your smartphone or other mobile device with just a few clicks. If the application is very time-consuming, there is a risk that younger applicants will quickly lose interest. For recruiting companies, this means that they should adapt the nature of their recruiting process to the needs of ideal candidates so as to not lose their tough battle for young talent.

3.Searching Amongst Former Candidates

As part of recruiting processes, a few highly qualified candidates are usually shortlisted. Even if a company has only one vacancy, it should keep in mind great candidates who couldn’t be hired. A good solution here is to set up a talent pool that includes former candidates, among others. If a new position is advertised after a certain period of time, it is advisable to get in touch with former candidates from the talent pool to draw their attention to the current vacancies. This approach certainly makes a good impression and gives a feeling of appreciation.

4. Building a Strong Employer Brand

Employer branding, which is a bundle of measures that aim to present a company as an attractive employer, is becoming increasingly important. It is suitable both as a recruiting method and as an instrument for employee loyalty. The idea behind it is to gain the full trust of potential and existing employees by means of a strong employer brand. Marketing experts leave no doubt that a company with a strong employer brand attracts highly qualified specialists and talent more than a company that does not know how to stand out from its competition in the job market. The emotional bond that strong branding creates for prospective employees with the (potential) employer is a strength.

5. Using the Potential of Internal Recruiting

If a position needs to be filled, a company can- if possible- carry out internal recruiting. This has many advantages, including costing less and being more efficient. It can also boost employee engagement by allowing ambitious employees to realize their professional development within the company. A promotion, a raise, new tasks and more responsibility are exactly what many highly qualified employees- but especially millennials- want in the workplace today. An internal job posting can be effectively communicated via your own intranet or on the notice board in the office corridor. 

6.Drawing From Employee Referrals

Many HR experts agree that skilled workers recruited through employees remain loyal to their employer for much longer. That is one reason why employee-referral programs are so popular. They have several advantages for the recruiting companies, from a simplified application process to lower recruitment costs. Additionally, the onboarding process and the introduction to the team can be carried out more quickly. It is also worth mentioning that specialists recruited through employee referrals identify more strongly with the corporate culture and are consequently more loyal. Employees who actively participate in employee-referral programs act as brand ambassadors and partners on an equal footing.

How To Define the Perfect Recruiting Strategy for Your Company

Conclusion

Contemporary recruiting requires a well-designed strategy that includes important factors influencing recruiting success. The classic job advertisements no longer work in times of a shortage of skilled workers and high labor mobility. In order to maintain a strong market position, it is necessary to rethink an existing recruiting approach and adapt it to new circumstances. Active sourcing, mobile recruiting, the search within former candidates and the development of a strong employer brand are now effective methods with which companies can attract highly qualified specialists and young talents. In addition, many employers use internal recruiting and employee-referral programs in order to be able to withstand the tough competition.

Further information can also be found in “Recruiting with Employee Recommendations“.

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