Michael Scott may dub your kind the "fun police," but we know recruiters are down with the get down, and sometimes, staying on top of your A-game can fizzle out, sourcer's block kicks in, and more great candidates pass up your equally great offers day after day.
Frustrating, isn't it? Shake up your techniques and try one of these solutions. Sourcing talent can be a ball. You should try it sometime.
Go undercover.
Want to see top talent in action? Try visiting your favorite shop or restaurant to scope out the company's next hire. Recruiters at First Merit Bank often wander through retail shops, conversing with sales people, buying and returning goods to learn more about a potential candidate's abilities to sell, upsell, and handle a difficult customer. Volkswagen recruiters are famed for sticking job ads under damaged cars to find talented mechanics at dropoff service shops.
Even if you're not looking to hire a salesperson or mechanic, an individual who's able to interact with others, resolve an issue, and strives to address a need can easily be trained and transferred into a similar customer service role. Who knows? You might even luck out and find a candidate with some impressive closet-engineering skills.
Bigcommerce is anything but shy about their poaching strategies and practically hover around San Francisco's most technically talented bus stops advertising new job opportunities. According to the article, the somewhat kitschy move is working; they've hired two, made offers to six, and talked to 1,000 candidates.
Host an event that's actually fun.Forget job fairs. Toss out those two drab words from your recruiting vocab and engage talent by hosting an event you and your colleagues would be more than happy to attend. One-up the affair by including these these universally loved things: Music, food, and booze. (+10 points if the last two are from Costco.) Get team members across all departments involved with your recruiters by allotting them with invites for several of their plus-ones (ample opp to build your referral network!) and encourage them to mingle with attendees to let them know about the open positions at the company.
Remember to share a few reasons why you like working for the team and make sure to give candidates the company's contact info. Handing out business cards is one way, but what about something more unexpected and memorable like logo-encrested baked goods, free photobooth pics with a careers page link at the bottom, or a mixtape of raps by your recruiters?
These events can ease Step 1 of the screening process, filtering in talent who attest they're interested in the company simply by showing up. They also have the potential to communicate an exciting company culture, gives candidates a chance to meet their colleagues and managers, and allows them to learn more about open opportunities at the organization in a fun, casual environment. Turn off "interview mode" and scope out talent in a more relaxed social setting.
Give your brand ambassadors a little bit of leeway with the budget for merrymaking.
Alternatively, you could give candidates a taste of what they could be doing on the job by making a good time part of the duties. Here's one spin on the idea: Lyft's DiscoLyft is a community of dedicated, decked out ridesharers who know how to have a good time on four wheels. One of them even showed up to spin some tracks at this year's Coachella event! Where can we sign up?
I found Kidnapped Domo at @coachella ! cc @lyft pic.twitter.com/CEp42v1zut
— DiscoLYFT (@DISCOlyft) April 20, 2014
What kind of wacky (effective) shenanigans are you and your recruiters up to to snag top talent? Drop a note to kathleen@entelo.com to share your stories and tactics.