Recruiting Top Talents and Employees in the Digital Age

Evolving Online

As in so many areas of our lives, recruiting employees has largely gone digital. Although finding the perfect fit is key to your company’s success, the recruiting process can be expensive, time consuming and—let’s face it—downright frustrating! That is why we asked our TAB members and business coaches for business tips to help create this edition of business tips from the top. Today, we are focusing on how businesses have evolved their recruiting practices to take advantage of the tools and services available to us.

It should come as no surprise that LinkedIn (as well as other social media channels) has become a great recruiting resource. The best way to get started is to post an update letting your network know that you are looking to fill a position. You may not directly know someone who would be a perfect fit in your network, but friends-of-friends are great resources to get started with. Also post to the jobs section of the LinkedIn groups your are a member of, allowing you to reach a larger audience.

The Advanced Search function on LinkedIn can be used to search for people within your network that come up using relevant keywords. For example, if you need to hire an accounts receivable specialist, type “accounts receivable” into the search field to find connections in your network that have “accounts receivable” in their profile. This takes a little bit of time and effort, but does not cost a dime and can be very effective.

Job Sites

The next level in recruiting activities includes posting a paid job post on sites such as LinkedIn, Careerbuilder, Monster.com, or Indeed.com. Most of these sites provide different posting package levels for you to choose from. When choosing a job post site, consider:

• Job post reach: Some services, such as Monster.com, have partnered with other websites and local online publications to provide their client job posts greater online reach. Research whether your job post will just be visible on the specific site, or if they have partnered with other websites to promote job posts.
• Pricing structure vs. your budget: Job posts can become pricey, so taking your recruiting budget into consideration is a must. Pricing structures vary greatly. Indeed.com, for example, uses a pay-per-click pricing model, while others will charge a flat fee per job post.
• Pricing structure vs. your recruiting needs: Consider the number of positions you are looking to fill. Most job board websites will provide a discount for purchasing multiple job posts at once to be used within a pre-determined period of time, usually 12 months.

Pro Business Tip: Branding your business for employee recruitment can be every bit as important as branding for awareness and client acquisition. Think about how your company’s social media pages and website communicate company culture and work environment to potential recruits.

Stay tuned, because next we’ll talk about qualifying and interviewing candidates. But for now, TAB’s Tips from the Top series is all about sharing advice. It’s your turn to share your advice with us! What recruiting techniques and tools are you using to find and attract the right talent?