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Effective Recruitment Strategies

Hiring new staff can be a painful experience for many managers. Ideally, it’s best to have a good network of people you have identified as potential employees to approach, as and when you need them. If you do get into the applications and interviewing merry-go-round, there are effective recruitment strategies and techniques that can help to maximise your chances of snaring the right person for the job.

Following are some ideas on how to attract candidates and a description of different media available to you.


FINDING PEOPLE THROUGH YOUR EXISTING EMPLOYEES

Work with your human resources department to develop an internal “Refer a Friend” scheme for your existing employees to refer like candidates. Check to see whether you have budget for this.


ADVERTISING - PRINT

The relative cost effectiveness of print advertising has been severely impacted by the advent of online job boards. Nevertheless, in some situations print advertising can still be effective. Following are some examples of where you may choose to advertise your print advertisements:

Metropolitan: Each city has main metropolitan newspapers like the Sydney Morning Herald, Melbourne Age, etc. and regional or local newspapers.

Regional: The regional and local papers are a more reasonably priced option when looking at print advertising - and they may be more specific when targeting the candidate groups you want to attract. The use of colour is more affordable in these papers.

Trade Publications: Consider advertising in appropriate trade magazine(s) developed for your industry. Alternatively, city life-style magazines may be a good option as these are distributed at main commuter points throughout the city and suburbs.

Develop the habit of regularly browsing these magazines to keep up with the articles and advertisements they contain. You might identify opportunities to reach a specific target group.


ADVERTISING - ONLINE

Internet or online recruitment is the fastest growing candidate sourcing medium available to both employers and employees.

Benefits include a “time to press” factor as advertisements can be placed in a matter of minutes and multiple changes can be made even after the advertisement is registered.

A key candidate benefit is that the Internet is relatively easy for candidates to browse in their own time with no added cost.


CANDIDATE PROSPECTING

You may already have access to many names and addresses of candidates who have applied to work for your organisation.

As many of these records will be quite old, it is possible that some of the contacts have changed address but there is still a chance you can contact them.

Step 1: Create a database (Excel or Access) of basic details such as name, contact phone number, address for all candidates who have registered for work in the past 12–24 months.

Step 2: Due to privacy laws you must contact and gain the individuals consent to send information or to be contacted by your company.

Step 3: Design a letter or flyer to be sent to all consenting contacts. The information you want to convey may include one or more of the following:

  • a description of the position(s) available
  • whether they or someone they know is looking for permanent or temporary work;
  • how to refer someone else for any of the positions you have available;
  • a phone number and email address to register their CV or interest
  • some form of incentive to encourage them to call or refer

Step 4: Maintain and keep the database up-to-date to contact suitable candidates for future positions or referrals.


USING A RECRUITMENT CONSULTANCY

Using a specialist recruitment organisation that knows your industry and the people within it is an excellent source to tap into when you are searching for permanent or temporary staff.

These companies use a multitude of techniques to build a database of candidates at all levels of seniority.  Often, recruitment organisations who recruit for your industry are in contact with the best candidates on a daily basis. They know who is actively looking and can identify potential candidates who may not be looking for a new position but could be persuaded.

A good recruitment organisation will undertake a thorough brief to understand your business needs and then work with you to identify the skills required to compliment the business. For example, Kelly Services will take a detailed job description of the job, skills and competencies required and conduct a site visit. Once these details are confirmed, the candidate sourcing process begins and your recruitment consultant will find, screen, interview, reference check and present a short list of suitable candidates back to you.

For any service there is a fee attached. Usually, you can expect to pay a percentage of the placement salary.

Hiring the right staff member can be one of the hardest tasks undertaken by any business owner or manager. You may know what you want in the perfect candidate, their background and ambitions, but finding them amongst the applications you receive sometimes seems impossible. By engaging a specialist recruitment organisation you can achieve a cost-effective solution.

A good recruitment partner will also offer you value-adds in the form of keeping you up to date with industry trends/issues. Often you can leverage their industry knowledge when planning your future workforce requirements or reviewing salaries based on their exposure across the industry.


MEASURING YOUR CANDIDATE SOURCING SUCCESSES

Tracking responses is essential if you are to maximise the benefits received from the cost of executing your own candidate sourcing campaigns. The following is a brief checklist when planning your next recruitment campaign.

  • Keep a record of the candidate sourcing campaign and cost
  • Track the response received
  • Record the number of interviews and track their outcome
  • Review the success of the campaign in attracting sufficient qualified responses
  • Review the effectiveness of the response process. Plan for improvement where necessary.
  • Refer to past recruitment campaigns and their results prior to embarking on the next one.


>>  As you receive resumes from your recruitment campaigns, qualify the applicants against your job description to select a short list for interview.  See our Tips for Interviewing Employees and Sample Interview Guide.