3 Recruiting Techniques to Try this Week

March 3, 2014 at 6:00 AM by Kathleen de Lara

If you have yet to get started on your New Years’ resolution, this month is more than a good time to start. For recruiters, the March madness marks a prime time for finding, engaging, and hiring qualified candidates to fill their open opportunities. Try adding one of these tactics to your sourcing strategy this week, and get ready to start crossing off a few (or many) to-dos from the list.

Train your team to learn how to cut through the bunk.

Over the weekend, user googleeng_throwaway from our very reliable sources at Redddit contributed an enlightening post on the CS Career Questions subreddit that offers his insights on the hiring process at, you guessed it, Google. Whether or not Mr./Ms. googleeng_throwaway is actually a six year software engineer veteran at the company, the insight to the company’s engineer hiring process speaks to recruiters in all industries. The main takeaway? If at first candidates clearly don’t succeed, move on.

Finding an engineer may be a dime a dozen, but getting your company’s hands on an engineer who can code like a boss and then some is quite the charmer. Google is notorious for their multi-layered, complex interview questions, and rightfully so — the process helps to quickly weed out unsuitable contenders and allows candidates to demonstrate their thought process and logic for building solutions. Build a team of recruiters who know how to stir up a candidate’s thinking, and they’ve nailed it. Offer a challenge that lets the interviewee develop a strategy and gives an in-depth understanding of their work habits that can help your team decide what the dealbreakers are when it comes to choosing who to hire.

Revamp job descriptions based on who you’re intending to hire.

According to a recent LinkedIn survey, 45% of professionals around the world are somewhat satisfied with their jobs and are not currently looking for a new job. They are, however, willing to hear more about other opportunities. Hiring for different levels requires a similarly different approach when writing each level’s job description. Writing a posting for an entry-level job, for example, may entail that you’re hiring a younger candidate who’s likely to have less experience than a candidate for a mid to upper level management position.

The survey reports that millennial candidates prioritize compensation as a factor in choosing a career and care less about having a work-life balance. Older professionals want a good lifestyle and are less interested in being able to advance from the offered position. Across the board, most candidates are the least motivated by their job title, office location, and the quality of their relationship with their managers.

Keeping these points in mind, consider your key audience when creating descriptions in your job ads. It’s a given to include requirements and duties, but here are some questions to help adjust your approach: Are you hiring for a team member or a team leader? What does your ideal candidate want to get out of the job? How does your job ad appeal to the candidate’s needs?

Optimize your application process for mobile devices.

As much as you hate to admit it, your cell phone is your best friend. Think about how many times you look at your phone throughout the day and you’ll get a reasonably good sense at how often a candidate is probably looking at their phones, too.

LinkedIn reported that 59% of candidates use their mobile devices to search for opportunities and 52% will apply for a job through their phone if they’re given the option to do so. Optimize your website to format properly on a mobile device. Make applying for a job accessible and easy by streamlining a process that allows candidates to scan through listings, contact the recruiter or hiring manager, and upload their cover letter and résumé — all in one place.

Avoid external links as candidates may lose interest in having to go to another website to retrieve the information they’re looking for. Engage with candidates in real-time by commenting on their LinkedIn discussions or having a Twitter conversation to show that your team is made up of real people who are responsive, tech-savvy, and care about their employees and consumers.

Mondays need not be mundane and applying even one of these tips to your current recruiting strategy can help rekindle your hiring fire. Want to learn more about optimizing your candidate outreach? Check out our latest, free eBook:

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