If you want to be successful as an entrepreneur, you need them.

Talented employees.

You don’t want to find just any employees. You want someone who fits into the team and brings the essential skills.

And then there’s the skills shortage that everyone is talking about.

And finding employees in times of skills shortages?

That’s nearly impossible.

Or is it?

Not necessarily. Because with a modern and diverse recruitment strategy, employee recruitment can be successful.

You create a plan in which you define the ideal candidate. You describe why you are looking for this new employee and determine how you want to win them over.

Strategic employee recruitment leads to the right candidates and prevents a flood of unqualified applicants. In addition, a recruitment strategy helps avoid wrong hires, increased turnover, and high costs for the training and development of a failed employee.

Therefore.

Stop wondering how to attract talent to your company. Instead, read this article to the end. Because it provides you with tips and innovative strategies for employee recruitment.

Let’s start with eight effective methods of personnel procurement that will help you find suitable employees.

Ideas for personnel procurement

Employee recruitment in times of skills shortages is currently the topic in the business world. Because competent team members are missing, employees fail to meet deadlines and struggle to meet customer expectations. An increasingly exhausted and demotivated staff hampers productivity. The work atmosphere and general mood plummet like a dove shot in flight. And the vacant positions? They remain unfilled because qualified applicants are missing.

Here’s what you can do.

1. External personnel placement

You can outsource your search for new employees to personnel placement agencies or headhunters. This is especially useful when you have hard-to-fill positions. You save your own internal HR department and can likely fill the position in a shorter time.

2. Internal job postings and training

Post the open position internally and promote your employees. This way, you can retain them and fuel their ambition and career. 

If applicants only partially meet the requirements of the advertised position, it is worth investing in further training and developing qualified employees internally. Especially if it increases productivity and relieves your team.

3. Online job portals

Post concise job advertisements that are informative, precise, and exciting on job portals, job boards, or industry-specific job boards. 

Formulate a specific title, list main tasks, hard and soft skills, and daily activities. Specify requirements and payment terms. Be transparent. Describe the role in a way that appeals to job seekers. 

Highlight the culture of your company. Let it resonate in the text. 

A tip.

Posting job offers on popular websites will reach numerous applicants. However, not only applicants with your specific requirements. Before you click through endless resumes of unsuitable applicants, use industry-specific job boards.

4. Social media recruiting

Don’t just publish on online job portals, but also use social media. With social media recruiting, you interact with potential candidates and share your open positions with your team’s entire network and beyond. 

Additionally, you can use social recruiting to present pictures and videos of company events, different workspaces, daily work routines, and challenges. 

Don’t limit yourself to just posting your open positions. Create reach by showing how employees work in your company and how your company’s values are lived daily. With this so-called employer branding, you communicate an authentic image and convey your company culture to the outside world.

5. Partnerships with educational institutions and universities

Through contact with educational institutions or universities, you can find young talents that you can hire for internships or entry-level positions. Students may have skills that older employees do not possess. If an intern has high potential, you can train and qualify them specifically for future areas of work. 

You can reach students through job fairs at universities or through in-house career services. Another option is to post job advertisements on a bulletin board on the university campus.

5. Professional conferences

By attending professional conferences, you can establish personal contacts with potential candidates. Since professional conferences are more specialized than job fairs, you will meet only professionals from your industry.

6. Qualified applicants from the past

Review applicants from previous recruitment processes. It may well be that a different role in your company now suits one or the other applicant better. 

These applicants have shown interest in the past, are familiar with your company, and may have acquired new skills. They could be a perfect match.

7. Former employees

Of course, you wouldn’t want every former employee back. But there are also those who left on good terms. Since leaving your company, they have learned new skills and gained experience. 

When you rehire a former employee, you save yourself a three to six-month onboarding time and shorten the learning curve.

8. Passive candidates

Passive candidates are not actively looking for a new position. Nevertheless, they are willing to leave their current job for your company because they find the new career step with you attractive. 

This strategy is especially necessary when most talented candidates are already employed. You can reach passive candidates through social media platforms, headhunters, and recruiting databases.

9. Implementation of an employee referral program

Exactly, the name tells you. Your employees refer candidates to you. Because they know your company best. Therefore, you should encourage them to recommend suitable candidates to you. 

This way, you can expand your local pool of applicants, provide a preselection by the employees, involve your employees in the hiring process, and improve team dynamics.

Ideas for applicant screening

The first list shows you that there are several ways to advertise a position. Which recruitment methods you choose depend on the department and function you are looking for.

Here are five ideas on how to screen your applicants.

10. Applicants are like customers

Look forward to your applicants, whether you get to know them in person or through video calls. One of the best recruitment tips is to treat the candidate as you would treat a customer. 

Behave respectfully and appreciate that the candidate takes time for the interview. Be punctual, and if you are running late, let them know. Your candidate should feel comfortable. Offer them a drink and introduce them to other team members. 

Treat the candidate like a customer even after the interview. Maintain communication. Thank them for the interview, confirm that they can ask questions at any time, and follow up when you have made a decision.

11. Structured interviews

In structured interviews, candidates are asked the same questions in the same order. You evaluate them using a scorecard. This way, you objectively decide who has mastered the screening phase.

12. Video interviews

Video interviews are an alternative to in-person interviews. Additionally, they expand the geographic search area and increase the number of potential applicants. Some video platforms analyze verbal response rates, eye movements, and body language, which helps you assess the candidate more objectively.

13. SMS texting

SMS texting is used to contact younger applicants. This ensures fast and efficient communication. Interviews are scheduled, feedback is provided, or other administrative steps are planned.

14. Virtual reality

Forward-thinking companies use virtual reality (VR) to enable tours or simulate the work environment.

Idea for process optimization

Regardless of how you find out which applicant is best suited, it is important to treat every applicant like a customer and offer them a simple application process.

Here are four innovative ideas.

15. Data-driven processes

Collecting data about the recruitment process will let you know what works and what doesn’t. It is important to establish key indicators that you regularly measure. Only then can you react and optimize.

16. Candidate database

Maintaining a database or talent pool allows you to find known candidates with the desired skills and experience. This saves you from constantly searching for new applicants, helps maintain relationships with specific applicants, and provides a pool of top-notch candidates to draw from.

17. Mobile-first candidate experience

Make it as easy as possible for your desired candidates. If you create hurdles, they will abandon the application process. 

So, optimize your application process. 

An innovative idea is the mobile-first candidate experience. The younger generation does almost everything with their smartphones or iPhones. Nowadays, even an application can be completed entirely through a mobile device, from submitting the application to the interview and signing the employment contract.

18. Collaborative hiring

Members of different departments are asked to evaluate the candidates and express their opinions. 

This method combines the team’s expertise and ensures consensus on who is best suited.

Ideas for employer branding

Since the rise of social media, employee recruitment also involves nurturing and marketing the work environment. As a modern company, you therefore implement employer branding that reflects your company’s goals, values, and culture. 

With consistent employer branding, you convince top talents who align with your team and your company to apply for your open positions. 

You address the question of why someone should work for you instead of the competition. Additionally, you establish a good reputation as an employer, which attracts job seekers to your company and encourages existing employees to stay. 

Here are two tips to improve your employer branding.

19. Authentic stories

Tell authentic stories of satisfied employees, as well as daily challenges and successes. Convey real experiences and emotions, which are precisely what interests applicants today. 

You can start an incentive program to motivate your employees to share personal stories and thoughts about their everyday work life in your company.

20. Additional benefits

These refer to additional offerings beyond salary. Such additional benefits strengthen the employer brand. 

These may include covering moving costs, flexible working hours, home office, and hybrid work models. 

You should know what your applicants need and what problems they have. The goal is to reduce stress and promote a healthy work environment for your employees.

Conclusion

Employee recruitment has taken on a new dimension with social media and requires innovative strategies and effective methods due to the current skills shortage. It is no longer just about finding new qualified employees but also about developing and promoting the existing workforce and continuously communicating the work life of a company to the outside world.

Whatever you do and regardless of which employee recruitment tips you implement, always keep your company’s goals in mind. Only when your activities align with your goals will you be successful. 

If you choose social media recruiting as your method, contact us.