Going Beyond the Basic Job Boards Will Help You Find High-Quality Candidates

In this current job market, business owners find themselves with an ever-shrinking pool of potential candidates to choose from. The high-quality people you would like to bring onto your team are harder to find and have more options. What can you, a business owner do to find, and win, those quality applicants? A great first step is to think beyond the typical online job boards.

The Basics. They are Still Important.

For many employers, the “go-to” place to search for potential new hires has been online job boards such as Indeed, ZipRecruiter, or possibly LinkedIn. These are just a few of the options out there, including some others that are industry-specific. While these should continue to be a part of your hiring strategy, there are others I would suggest you add.

What are Passive Job Seekers, and Where Can You Find Them?

An often overlooked avenue of recruitment is connecting with passive job seekers. These potential candidates are not actively seeking a new job, but they may consider your position if the opportunity sounds like a career fit. This is a good starting point for expanding your applicant pool. You can do this by having company profiles, posting, and interacting on social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram. This could be an excellent way to get your business out there and connect with potential employees in talent pools you may not have considered in the past.

Employee referral programs can be another excellent way to connect with the passive workforce. Does your company currently have a referral program in place? If so, it may be time to review it to make sure it is still relevant for the current market. Offer incentives to your employee when their referral results in you hiring someone. Providing easy ways to share about the company and open positions through social media will increase the likelihood your employees will pass the information along to their followers. If you do not have a referral program, now is the time to develop one.

How can Referral Sources Build Your Talent Pool?

There are also some great options for referral programs. By connecting with Veterans groups, two and four-year colleges, technical training programs, and even high schools, you will have the opportunity to tap into their networks. These groups may have their own job boards, internship programs, and job fairs where you can highlight your open positions and company overall. By networking with these organizations, your company becomes better known to passive candidates, plus these groups are more likely to refer talent to you if it seems like a good fit.

Take Simple Steps to Up Your Talent Search Game.

By expanding beyond the basic job boards and thinking outside the normal recruiting avenues, your company can up your talent search game and increase the candidate pool. The potential hires will have broader backgrounds and varied life experiences that can add to a more diverse staff. Imagine the collaborations that will take place when you have such a mix of varied individuals and backgrounds at the table.  

Tapping into these various groups and ways to build your applicant pool is all part of your hiring strategy. My recent LinkedIn article, The Best Time to Build Your Company's Talent Strategy is Now, can tell you more. If you would like help developing your strategy, contact Jill at Let’s Build Talent to learn more.