Recruitment Blog
How to recruit employees: Designing a recruitment process that works
Recruitment is the process of sourcing, identifying and screening candidates for open positions or future positions at a company. When you think of recruiting, you may think of the hiring process, but hiring and recruitment are two separate things.
The main goal of your recruitment strategy is to develop a pool of the best candidates for future positions with your company. A streamlined hiring process combined with a strategic recruiting process quickly leads to hiring top candidates. Hiring fills a job opening with a qualified candidate while recruiting attracts top talent continuously.
More quality candidates will apply to your company when you design and implement a sound recruitment strategy. If you’re wondering how to recruit employees effectively, there are a few key things you can implement to attract and convert job candidates.
FREE EBOOK: The ultimate guide to sourcing talent
What does a recruitment process typically look like?
There are three main stages to recruiting: raising company awareness, sourcing candidates and engaging candidates.
- Raising awareness about your company: Increase candidate awareness by promoting your employer brand and culture, posting open roles on job boards like LinkedIn and building your online and social media presence.
- Sourcing potential candidates and fostering interest in your company: Attend career fairs, join industry groups, go to networking events and proactively search on LinkedIn and SEEK to find job seekers who could be a possible match.
- Engaging and nurturing potential candidates: Look over resumes and invite candidates to participate in the interview process. Select those who are qualified to be part of your talent pool. Even if individuals aren’t ready to apply, keep them interested by posting engaging and meaningful content to social media and regularly touch base with them through automated comms.
Recruiting tips: Critical steps that make your recruiting more effective
Knowing how to recruit employees is essential for the success of a business. Attract top talent by incorporating these recruiting tips into your strategy.
Use a wide range of candidate sources
Simply put, a candidate source is where you find your talent. Using a wide range of sources enables you to find more qualified candidates. Post positions on multiple job boards, create engaging content on social media, implement a referral system and attend networking events. The quality of your candidate sources can vary, so it’s best to diversify.
You can track potential candidates using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). This recruitment software collects data from each applicant, allows you to track them throughout the recruitment process and highlights which sources are most effective.
Build a talent pool and talent pipeline
A talent pool is a database of highly qualified candidates who applied for open positions, worked for the company in the past or were proactively sourced from platforms like LinkedIn. A talent pipeline is a group of job applicants ready to fill a position immediately.
Some recruitment software platforms (hint: JobAdder is one of them) empower you to easily add candidates to your talent pool through two-way integrations so you can quickly build your pool and retain all the data you need. It also enables you to keep track of passive candidates, individuals with desired qualifications who aren’t seeking work currently.
Creating a talent pool gives you access to great candidates, significantly increasing hiring efficiency and reducing your cost and time to hire.
For instance, our JobAdder agency users see huge differences in days to place candidates when proactively sourcing from their JobAdder database compared to using external sources like job ad posting.
| JobAdder user type | Days to place using the JobAdder database | Days to place using external sources |
| Australian agency users filling perm positions | 27.20 days | 42.40 days |
| New Zealand agency users filling perm positions | 32.0 days | 46.50 days |
| UK agency users filling perm positions | 33.6 days | 43.7 days |
| US agency users filling perm positions | 34.9 days | 47.7 days |
Make it a team effort
Current employees understand hiring needs because they’re on the ground floor, picking up slack where needed. Hiring managers should consult them about the open position, interview questions and critical skill sets. New hires are more likely to last when the whole team is involved in the decision-making process.
Implementing an employee referral program (ERP) is another way employees can help in the recruitment process. ERPs encourage current employees to refer qualified candidates by offering incentives. This recruiting strategy makes staff members feel involved and part of the organisation’s future.
Develop your employer brand
An employer brand refers to a company’s employment experience. When people think of an employer brand, they think about the business’s reputation, value and culture. Do the core values align with their business practices? Is it a good place to work?
Top talent in the industry will want to know what your company is about and whether they’ll fit in. If your business has a strong employer brand, qualified candidates will be more likely to gravitate towards it.
Check out our eBook on this topic for more info and advice: The essential guide to employer branding.
Make your job posting as detailed as possible
Writing high-quality job ads is essential in attracting suitable candidates. Whether you post on a career site, job board or social media, you’ll want your job post to be compelling.
Think of the job title as an advertisement. Its sole purpose is to hook the reader and sell them before reading the full post. Include the job location, skill set and a positive feature in the title of your post.
Most individuals scan a job description, so you must include bold font for keywords and incorporate bullet lists for snippets of important information. Include a lot of detail, but organise it in a way that’s easy to read.
We’ve got another eBook with more handy tips here: How to write winning job ads.
Promote your company culture
Company culture is the values, standards and beliefs of an organisation. It’s how members interact with each other and work together. A business with a strong, positive company culture values its employees and understands the need for proper communication and encouragement.
You can showcase your company’s culture on social media and job postings by incorporating employee testimonials, sponsoring community events and participating in team-building events. It’s vital to define a solid culture if you want to attract and retain great candidates.
Leverage social recruiting
Social recruiting is the process of sourcing potential employees through social media like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
Most of your top talent use social platforms to actively or passively look for career opportunities; you’re more likely to attract them when your company has a solid social presence.
Online platforms are also an excellent tool for your employees to look for potential candidates and share their referrals.
Focus on long-term retention
Retaining new employees (and current employees) can save your company from productivity losses, unsatisfied customers and a lousy employer reputation. A high employee retention rate signifies a healthy and successful business.
To keep new hires from leaving, ensure you have a smooth, streamlined onboarding process and that the new job comes with incentives, support and a solid team. Many qualified candidates want flexible work schedules, education opportunities and career advancement.
Recruiting FAQs
These are the answers to your most pressing questions on how to recruit employees.
How do you successfully recruit?
You can successfully recruit employees by utilising social media, posting descriptive ads on job boards, implementing an employee referral program and developing a talent pool using recruiting software.
Incorporate the positive company culture and work benefits into your posts and media content to attract high-quality candidates. You can also look at your in-house candidates to see if the perfect match exists in your organisation.
How do you recruit people quickly?
Ensure your job postings are clear, engaging and compelling. You’ll want to be selective in who you invite for an interview so that you don’t waste unnecessary time with unqualified individuals.
Use HR software to aid in your search and streamline the recruiting and onboarding processes. HR and recruitment tools can help you source candidates with desirable skill sets, manage your applicants and report essential insights.
Our blog, How to maintain efficiency throughout the hiring process, can provide you with more info!
Streamline your recruiting with JobAdder
If you want the best candidates for current and future positions within your organisation, you’ll need to use the essential recruiting tips mentioned above.
Also, use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) system (*cough JobAdder *cough) to streamline the recruiting process to ensure that you get the best applicants.
JobAdder is the perfect recruitment and HR tool for candidate sourcing, nurturing talent and streamlining the hiring process. Book a demo now to have a no-obligation chat with one of our friendly team members.
Need help building your talent pool? Download our ultimate guide to sourcing talent.
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