10 Recruiting Strategies for Hiring Great Employees

Recruiting top talent takes a combination of creativity and diligence. Technology makes it easier than ever to publish your job postings to a broad audience — but to really connect with qualified candidates and drive excitement about the role and your company, you have to find ways to stand out from other employers
 

Here are 10 recruitment strategies to help you immediately captivate job seekers, create a memorable first impression of your company, and successfully hire top candidates. Post a Job

What is a recruitment strategy?

A recruiting strategy is a plan of action to help you successfully identify, attract and hire the best candidates for your open roles. These are basic starting points that can help you recruit the job seekers you are looking for. They range from basic methods, like posting on job boards, to more advanced strategies, such as using a traditional recruiting agency or creating an employee referral program. You can implement recruiting strategies at every step in the hiring process.

1. Treat candidates like customers

Whether it’s a phone screening, video interview or an in-person interview, a candidate’s first impression of your company is critical. It’s important to make them feel like you’re just as excited about getting to know them as they are about being considered for the role. One of the best recruiting techniques is to treat interviewees the same way you treat your customers.
 

• Be respectful of their time. Whether it’s a phone call, video conference or in-person meeting, always be sure to show up on time. If you’re running late, let the candidate know as far in advance as possible.
• Be hospitable. When a candidate arrives for an onsite interview, ask if they’d like something to drink and show them where to find the restrooms. Make them feel welcome and comfortable.
• Make yourself available. Provide potential candidates with your contact information so they’re able to reach out with questions and concerns throughout the hiring process.

2. Use social media

Social media is a fantastic recruiting tool. Social recruiting allows you to share job postings with your entire network and encourages a two-way conversation. Even if the people you reach aren’t interested in the role you’re hiring for, it’s likely they may know someone who is a good fit. Plus, by sharing photos and videos from company events, your workplace, and/or day-to-day office life that align with your employer brand, you give potential applicants a glimpse into your company culture.
 

Read more: Social Media Recruiting Tips and Strategies

3. Implement an employee referral program

Great people usually make a habit of surrounding themselves with other highly capable professionals. While many employees may already be sharing open roles with qualified contacts in their networks, a well-developed employee referral program can encourage even more of your employees to refer the best talent they know. Consider providing incentives for referrals with bonuses and contests so you can create excitement around the program.
 

4. Create compelling job descriptions

Writing an attention-grabbing and thorough job description is one of the most important parts of the hiring process.
 
Here are a few tips to consider:
 

• Make titles as specific as possible. The more accurate your title, the more effective you will be in piquing the interest of the most qualified and interested job seekers.
• Open with a captivating summary. Provide an overview that gets job seekers excited about the role and company.
• Include the essentials. Write out the core responsibilities, hard and soft skills, day-to-day activities and explain how the position fits into the organization.
• Highlight your culture. 72% of job seekers say it’s extremely or very important to see details about your culture, so take the opportunity to highlight your values and your people.

5. Make use of sponsored jobs to stand out

Because there are thousands of jobs posted on Indeed every day, the visibility of your job listing can decrease over time. One of the best ways to make sure your job posting continues to stand out is through a sponsored job. These paid listings appear more often in any relevant search results and their placement won’t fall back in search results over time like free job listings—which can result in more high-quality applicants. You’ll also unlock Instant Match which immediately sends you a list of candidates whose resumes on Indeed match your job criteria as soon as you pay to post a job.

6. Check resumes posted online

Indeed Resume hosts millions of resumes from job seekers across nearly any industry and location. Employers can quickly find candidates by entering a job title or skill and a city, state, or zip. You can narrow down results by criteria like years of experience, education level, and more. You can also set up a Resume Alert to receive daily emails with links to new resumes that match the criteria for the positions you’re looking to fill.
 

To set up a Resume Alert:
 

1. Sign into Indeed Resume.
2. Conduct a relevant search.
3. Click “Get new resumes by email” at the top of the search result.

7. Consider past candidates

When you hire for a position, there are often a few talented candidates that end up not making the cut due to timing or other external factors. When you’re recruiting for a similar position, consider re-visiting the resumes of past applicants. These candidates are already familiar with your company and may have picked up new skills and experience since you last spoke.
 

8. Claim your Company Page

Job seekers often take time to research employee reviews, salary data, benefits, and more before applying to jobs. All of this information can be found on an Indeed Company Page. All companies with jobs on Indeed have a Company Page. By claiming your Company Page, you can respond to reviews, customize your page and add your employer branding. Find out how to claim your Company Page for free here.
 

Related: How to Edit Your Company Page

9. Attend industry-related meetups

While job fairs can be helpful for finding qualified candidates, non-recruiting-specific events are also an excellent opportunity to meet motivated industry professionals who are eager to network and advance in their field. For example, if you’re looking to hire a software engineer, find a local group, meetup or association focused on software development and attend a local meeting. The most passionate professionals will quickly stand out.
 

10. Include peers in the interview process

Sometimes the best person to interview a candidate is someone already working in the same or similar role. This employee already knows what it takes to excel in the position and can verify whether candidates have the skills and experience needed to do the job well. Current employees can also give an accurate description of day-to-day experiences and help candidates better understand what they can expect if hired.
 

FAQs about recruitment strategies

What is the full recruitment cycle?

Full cycle recruitment (also known as full life cycle recruiting) refers to every step in the recruiting process — from sourcing and screening applicants to conducting interviews to hiring and onboarding the best candidates.
 

At startups and smaller companies, one person is typically responsible for the full recruitment cycle. However, at larger companies, there may be several people involved as part of an HR team.
 

What are the most important recruiting KPIs?

Some of the most important key performance indicators (KPIs) you can track to measure the success of your recruitment strategies include a number of qualified candidates per job post, time to hire, offer acceptance rate, source of hire (e.g., job posting, social media), cost per hire and turnover rate.
 

How do you set a recruitment goal?

To help you create recruitment goals (and set yourself up for successful recruitment), follow the SMART goal setting framework:
 

• Specific – Start by defining your recruitment goal, such as building out a new marketing team of four people.
• Measurable – Establish specific KPIs to measure this goal over time. For example, one of your KPIs might be to speed up your hiring process from 30+ days to 14 days.
• Achievable – Make sure you have the resources you need to accomplish the goal.
• Realistic – Is this goal aligned with other business objectives?
• Time-based – When will you accomplish this goal?

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When it comes to finding and hiring great people, you have to be persistent and willing to think outside the box. By using these recruitment strategies, you can quickly discover highly qualified, passionate professionals ready to join your team.