Attract the Right Candidates
Given the increasing volume of applications most organizations receive for every job posting, it’s not enough to attract a wide net of candidates into your talent pool. You need to narrow your quantity while growing the quality – a highly difficult feat for any recruiter.
Explore how to walk the delicate balance of attracting the right candidates to your open roles.
“If you’re narrowly focused on “I have to fill these racks, I’m going to open the opp, I’m going to get five hundred applications,” you’re missing out on the bigger picture to build your brand as a company and to build a talent flow into your company that can be beneficial for years to come.
In our talent attraction space, we’re working with a number of different recruiting partners to not just put our jobs on job boards, but to also provide a value by doing things like talks, mentorships, hiring fairs, and just finding different ways to engage with potential candidates way before we might even have a role open for them.
The other thing that we’re doing is ensuring that our content is telling the story to those who can fit in at Zapier. What’s the story that we want to be telling candidates in terms of who could be a great fit? And we work on that with our CEO and our executive team to ensure that the people that we’re bringing in know what Zapier is, and if it could be a good fit for them.”
Zapier, Global Head of Talent
Unlocking Top Talent: Expanding Your Talent Reach to Attract Your Ideal Candidates
A mis-hire or poorly-fit hire can negatively impact your organization in several critical ways. Avoiding this begins with knowing how to effectively attract the right candidates to build a team that drives immediate and long-term organizational success.
Attracting top talent is the lifeblood of any successful organization. But in today’s competitive landscape, simply posting a job description you grabbed for a simple position isn’t nearly enough.
In this chapter, we’ll guide you through essential strategies for crafting compelling job descriptions, selecting the right platforms, and proactively sourcing quality candidates. This includes:
- Exploring how to transform traditional job descriptions into candidate-friendly advertisements that resonate with your target ICP (Ideal Candidate Profile).
- Highlighting the importance of your Employee Value Proposition (EVP), which showcases what makes your organization unique and desirable.
- Navigating the world of job boards.
- Discussing the pros and cons of paid vs. free options.
- Demonstrating how to effectively manage your job postings through an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) – and if you don’t have one of these, learn why you may want to consider integrating with one.
The Ultimate Guide to Hiring Software
Let's Talk Hiring: Advice From a Pro on Evaluating and Finding the Right Fit Hiring Software
Best Practices
Crafting Effective Job Advertisements
Transform Your Job Descriptions into Engaging Candidate-Focused Ads
Move beyond basic qualification lists or laundry lists of every single thing you would love in a candidate. Focus on crafting job advertisements that resonate with your Ideal Candidate Profile (ICP). Use compelling, action-focused language and structure to attract qualified applicants while clearly outlining requirements that will deter unsuitable candidates.
Emphasize Your Employee Value Proposition (EVP)
Integrating your company’s unique EVP — benefits, company values, and culture — directly into your job descriptions and advertisements is crucial. Candidates are evaluating your organization as much as you are evaluating them. A strong EVP can be a huge factor in attracting top talent and preventing qualified candidates from seeking opportunities elsewhere based on an unclear or nonexistent EVP.
Job Board Strategies and Management
Align Job Board Selection with Budget and Hiring Needs
Strategically select whether to utilize paid vs. free job boards based on your approved hiring budget (refer back to Chapter 1 on the importance of defining this early). From there, conduct a thorough needs assessment to determine the most effective combination of paid and free job boards, prioritizing platforms that align with your specific hiring challenges and target candidate profiles. This will help you avoid an overwhelming quantity of options that may not host the most suitable candidates for you.
Explore an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) for Centralized Job Management
Integrating an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can help streamline the management of job postings across multiple platforms. This centralized approach reduces missed opportunities due to slow response times, enabling your team to more quickly review applications, manage multiple postings, and communicate with candidates to enhance overall hiring efficiency.
Proactive Sourcing and Employee Referrals
Conduct Targeted Research
Invest time in thorough market research to identify the most effective job posting channels and platforms, always keeping your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) at the forefront. Tailor your sourcing strategy to meet your target talent pool’s requirements and preferences – not every job board or platform is built to serve every industry or role type.
Craft Compelling, Targeted Messages
Recognize that job advertisements and outreach messages are critical first impressions. Invest time crafting well-defined, compelling messaging that resonates with your ICP to attract high-quality applicants and discourage those who are not a good fit.
Leverage Employee Referrals
A highly effective and often underutilized method for proactively sourcing top-tier candidates is a robust Employee Referral Program. There is tremendous value in your existing employees as talent ambassadors. Develop a program that will incentivize and encourage them to recommend qualified peers who would be a strong fit for your organization.