How Can I Increase the Number of Prospective Candidates Available?
If you advertise, think about display ads and not only in local newspapers. Advertise in journals in the field. Check out Web sites that specialize in the field, too, and place ads there. Consider, too, your own corporate Web site.
Because recruitment information can be lost on your company’s Web site, you may want to have a separate recruiting Web site created for human resources. If you can’t do that, see if you can have designed a special recruiting page and put a link on the home page so applicants can easily access it.
Those organizations that have the most success with Web page recruiting are the well-known corporations. Job seekers turn first to them. But you don’t have to work for Oracle or Dell or Yahoo to attract job candidates via the Internet. To draw candidates to your Web site, add your Web address to offline help-wanted ads.
And, of course, don’t forget asking your current staff for recommendations. Most people in technical and other specialized work have friends and acquaintances in their own field. They belong to professional associations and attend conventions. Ask them for referrals. Some companies even have formal programs that offer cash bonuses to employees who refer new hires.
Not only will employee referral programs help you identify hard-to-find recruits, they also are one of the most cost-effective ways of attracting new talent. The best approach is to pay 50 percent of the award thirty days after the employee has started and the remaining 50 percent after the referral has completed a probationary period, from three to six months later.
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Here are some other strategies to find candidates:
Job fairs. Job fairs attract a diverse group of people. By careful selection of the fairs in which you participate, you can identify those prospects for hard-to-fill positions.
Alumni associations. These organizations put out periodic publications to their former graduates and can be a source to explore for describing your company. Schools also have student clubs and associations of minority and professional groups that can be good sources to notify about job vacancies.
Outplacement firms. Yes, you call these firms in when you need assistance in helping laid-off employees find new jobs. But the larger ones—like Drake, Beam, and Morin, Right Associates and Lee Hecht and Harrison—also are ready to work with companies to place individuals. So outplacement companies should be notified when you have a tough recruitment situation.
The military. Many people leave the service with a solid background of experience and training in medical, technical, and other skills related to civilian jobs. Military personnel are a continuous available applicant pool since they leave the service all the time. Contact the local military base with your recruitment need. You should also advertise in the Army Times, Navy Times, and Air Force Times, with worldwide distribution, since many people leaving the service are not tied to a particular geographic area and will go where the opportunities are.