Finding the best candidates means exploring all potential channels, and from there deciding which professionals are perfect for your vacancy. If you stick to just one outlet for posting a new vacancy, potential star candidates might miss your job listing. Just as job seekers must use every viable method to discover the right vacancies, recruiters must consider all job posting opportunities. Here are the top 3 ways of discovering star talent (and no, the answer’s not simply LinkedIn):
1. Post vacancies on alternative sites:
After posting a vacancy on Indeed, LinkedIn and sharing it via your Twitter and Facebook pages, don’t just stop there. It’s vital to extend your reach outside of your community, exposing the opportunity to those that may of not heard of your company. Posting a the position on a site that’s specifically related to your industry will likely attract candidates with skills relevant to the position.
A great way of discovering new talent is by posting in job boards, in community forums, or on sites such as Gumtree and Craigslist. The basic, straightforward nature of these two sites, for example, makes it simple to post vacancies and for job seekers to engage with a vacancy fast.
There are a huge amount of users looking for employment on these sites. Gumtree is the UK’s largest website for local community classifieds, plus in the top 30 websites in the UK with 14.8 million monthly unique visitors. US site Craigslist boasts over 20 billion page views per month, placing it 37th in the most visited sites worldwide. Don’t ignore the inherent potential that these sites possess – keep job postings simple on here and expect big results.
2. Track influential social media users:
If you’re looking to hire an industry expert, it helps to keep a close eye on who’s intrinsic to the online communities related to that topic. Follow those that tweet frequently and have high engagement with other industry professionals. There are communities on LinkedIn, Google Plus and Facebook that will have professionals constantly active. Monitor organised Twitter discussions to find passive candidates with an genuine interest in your industry. Also, forums related to your industry are likely to be full of enthusiastic professionals who will be genuinely interested in a relevant vacancy. Here’s an example of a Tweetchat discussion taking place:
Facebook Groups are fantastic for initiating quick conversations, as everyone is notified when a new update is created. On LinkedIn groups, you can instantly view the top contributors to the group. Google Communities are also a great place for industry-specific conversations.
The most active social users with the highest engagement are typically the big influencers within a community. This is a great, organic way of discovering talented professionals with a genuine enthusiasm for your industry.
3. Make your hiring process inspiring:
Once you’ve got your candidate shortlist, it’s vital to choose the correct person for the job. To test the abilities of applicants, setting some kind of miniature project will surface candidates seriously dedicated to landing the vacancy. The challenge, that must in some way relate to the job in question, should be a brief, fun exercise that should test abilities of applicants but not be too challenging. This mini project should give candidates a glimpse of the work that you want the successful candidate to consistently produce.
For example, if you’re hiring for a writing position, you could ask candidates to write a short article on a specific topic. If it’s a media-related job, ask candidates to design something simple-yet-creative. Creative video or presenting on camera is also a great way of assessing a candidates abilities.
How do you make sure you get the very best candidates? Do you post in alternative job boards, or do you challenge your candidates with miniature projects? Let us know in the comments!
