Hiring the Best: Be the Company People Want to Work For

487773995Competition to attract and employ high-caliber candidates is tight and now more than ever it is imperative that companies have efficient and effective internal recruiting and hiring practices. A first step hiring departments should take to ensure they are bringing on the best talent is to establish and/or reorganize internal procedures aimed at streamlining the recruiting and hiring process. This proven approach can be broken down into the following five steps:

1. Analysis and Goal Setting — Identify the roles you need to fill, while describing the performance requirements for every position within the company (including those currently filled). Your analysis should also include an evaluation of your corporate culture and compensation spectrum (compared to the competition). This allows you to set expectations from the beginning — both from an internal perspective and for candidates.

2. Evaluate your Interview Process — During this step, you need to take an honest look at your interview process. How has it worked in the past? Did it yield the right people? Did participants enjoy the process? After this analysis, think about other interview options you should add to the mix: phone interviews (to pre-screen candidates prior to in-person interviews), online personality testing, group interviews, etc. Also, if there is a hiring team, take the opportunity during this phase to ensure goals are aligned among all team members.

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3. Internal Critique — The important part of this phase is to ask yourself: is your company’s positioning truly desirable to potential candidates … and would you want to work at your company? There are two important determining factors: your corporate website and overall company visibility. With regard to your website, make sure it is up-to-date, user friendly, mobile enhanced and that all current job openings are posted. As for company visibility, having key executives and managers involved in the community and having a presence at industry events is important in building visibility (and relationships) with the most desirable candidates.

4. Maximizing Sourcing Channels — Today we have access to such a wide variety of effective networks that can be utilized for sourcing and recruiting. Social media applications such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are powerful resources that can be very effective when trying to increase engagement with candidates. It’s important to keep content fresh and original and do not overlook the powerful value-added services available from these mediums (e.g. LinkedIn Recruiter). In addition to social media, consider leveraging the thousands of job board sites available (selecting only the ones that best fit your needs). Also, partnering with a staffing agency can prove to be a valuable resource by offloading the stress and workload for hiring managers — especially for the harder-to-fill roles. And of course, never forget the power of referrals.

5. Onboarding and Laying the Groundwork for Long-term Success — Once you have successfully converted your chosen candidate to company employee, remember that the work does not stop there. Ensure a fulfilling employee onboarding experience with a positive first day. Have a formal employee orientation process/training program in place that encourages interaction with employees within the same department. Also have an open discussion about the job including expectations, goals and a check-in schedule to track progress. Other items to have in place: a pre-determined schedule of meetings, a process for completing necessary paperwork and documentation and a fully functioning desk/computer up and running from the minute they start.

The recruiting and hiring process you establish is truly an investment in your company’s future. These five steps are designed to align your company’s recruiting and hiring goals and assist in ensuring that everyone involved, not only has the right attitude, but more importantly enjoys the recruiting and hiring process of potential new employees. The more engaged in the process you and your hiring team are, the more success you will have in attracting quality candidates. And remember, you could be working with your new employees for many years to come!

MORE: Using an ATS to attract top talent

Beth Tucker
Beth Tucker is president and CEO of KNF&T.


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One Response to “Hiring the Best: Be the Company People Want to Work For”

  1. […] Competition to attract and employ high-caliber candidates is tight and now more than ever it is imperative that companies have efficient and effective internal recruiting and hiring practices.  […]

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