What greatly benefits a company or organization? Its employees. With the right talent, the work environment is a lot healthier and less stressful. And less stress produces the best results!
So when there’s a job opening you need to fill, the goal might be to “find the right talent” or “hire the best talent.” We always want what is best for the organization or company that needs them.
It may be harder to “find” the right talent than only “wanting” to hire them but it’s not impossible.
Here are some of the tips on how to find the right talent:
1) Create An Attractive Job Ad
The attractiveness of a job ad is critical to be effective in finding the right candidate. An effective job ad should contain the following:
- Role
- An exciting invitation to apply
- Job description
- Requirements
- Benefits
- You contact information
- Phone number (optional)
- Other details
- Bonus skills (skills that are nice-to-haves but aren’t required.
- Details about your company
- Location
- If the job is open for remote work or not
Be direct on what you are looking for. Make sure your ad is clear and describes the role you need to fill. You can add bonus skills and strengths you look for in a candidate, such as the ability to work under pressure or to handle multiple projects.
It’s easier to find what you look for if you know what you really want.
2) Start Your Effective Search
When it comes to searching, make sure you are “fishing on the right pond.” Meaning you do it right.
There are many ways to do your search, but here are some of them:
Post Your Job Ad on Social Media
79% of job seekers use social media to find a job, and 84% of organizations recruit using the same way.
Due to the pandemic, the hiring and application process of most are conducted online. So it is critical to look for where your candidates are.
The top social media for recruitment include:
But take note that posting your ads on your social media profile wouldn’t be enough—unless you’re Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg. Remember, fish on the right pond.
On LinkedIn and Facebook, you should join groups related to your job opening. Of course, if you are looking for a developer, you can’t post your job ad on a cooking group.
On Instagram and Twitter, use the relevant hashtags. Again, of course, related to your job opening. Don’t use #plumber if you’re looking for a Java developer.
Use Job Boards
Job boards are used by employers to advertise their company’s job openings to job seekers. And according to a 2021 report by Zety, 50% of applications came from job boards. Here are the top job boards to present:
- Indeed
- Glassdoor
- Google for Jobs
- Monster
- ZipRecruiter
- Simply Hired
- CareerBuilder
These sites already have data of the right candidate you are looking for; make use of them.
Ask For Referrals
Use your network! You have it for a reason. Ask for referrals from friends, acquaintances, or even your friends’ friends. They may have the right talent you are looking for. Even if you meet people who aren’t qualified, it’s still good to expand the pool of candidates—which you can contact someday if there’s a role they are more qualified for.
Utilize Your Employees’ or Co-Workers’ Network
It’s also a way to ask your employees or co-workers if they have someone in their network who they think would be qualified for your company’s job opening. Since they are part of the company, they know what it is looking for.
Send them the job ad you made and kindly ask them to post it on their social media. They may have someone in their circle which fits the role and would be interested in applying.
3) Get the Most Out of Your Interviews
You’ve created a job ad, you’ve posted them on social media and job boards and even asked for referrals from your network and your employees or co-worker. You have reviewed their resumés, and now, you have quite a number of candidates who are ready to be interviewed. Make the most out of them.
Of course, the resumé wouldn’t be enough to evaluate and mark someone as the “right candidate.” You need to look past the resumé and talk to them to get to know them.
Here are some of the ways to know your candidates better:
Previous Work or Company
Ask your candidate to tell you something about their previous job. What they liked, what they disliked. Why they left the company or why they were fired—if they were.
Behavioral Assessments
You can give your candidates true-to-life scenarios they might encounter during their time in your company and ask them what they would do in a specific situation. Give them possible work issues or problems, and ask how they would solve them.
Just them answering what they would do in a situation that hasn’t happened yet, wouldn’t be enough. So ask about something they experienced before, situations they thought they couldn’t get out of or handle, issues they thought they couldn’t solve. Ask what happened and what they did to get out of those situations.
Productivity
It’s also good to learn how productive your candidate is. Ask them how they try to focus on a task or how fast they finish one. If they are assigned to multiple tasks, how do they prioritize?
This also helps you to know if they will be a blessing or they will just be a stress to the team they will be working with.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Knowing your candidate’s strengths can help you better utilize them when they are hired. And when you know their weaknesses, you will know in what area they need help and improvement. Asking your candidate what they do to overcome their weaknesses is another way to know them better.
The more you know about these things, the easier it will be to pick the right candidate.
Test their Skills
Their skills are already on their resumé. But this doesn’t mean you couldn’t ask for a simple test of skills. If they are Java developers, you can ask them to simply show you how they code or directly ask them what you want them to program. You can also ask for projects they worked on—if they haven’t mentioned them before the interview.
You can also ask them what they learned on each project, what are the struggles and solutions, and if they finished a project they never tried before but were able to adapt well.
4) Take Important Notes
This is one of the most essential things in an interview; your notes. Your notes will help you pick the right talent, especially when you have hundreds of applicants.
The easiest way is to just have a candidate list and cross out candidates who aren’t qualified. Besides their names, add notes on why a candidate is qualified or why they aren’t.
You can also go all out by having notes for each candidate. Write what you liked or disliked about them. Were you feeling good talking to them? At the moment of the interview, do you think they are the right candidate or not, and why?
Your notes will play a vital role in selecting the right candidate because they will help you evaluate and choose better.
5) Make a “Top List”
The shortlisting process will help you narrow down your options. This is where your interview notes will come in handy. From there, you can know if specific candidates fit the role they’re applying for.
When making a list, you should consider these questions:
- Can this candidate do the job?
- Do they match your requirements?
- Are they teachable?
- Are they interested in learning new skills?
- Can they adapt to any situation?
For future references, you can also list down the candidates who are qualified but aren’t as qualified as the top list. This will make the search for the next job opening that they are more qualified for easier.
Remember
Recruiters or interviewers are like gatekeepers. Your job is to make sure that the candidate you will pass is qualified.
Before hiring, remember that they should be someone who can make things better inside your company, someone who is an asset, and someone who will prove to you that you picked right; you just can’t help but pat yourself in the back and say,
“Yeah. I picked the right talent.”
