Finding good employees has never been an easy task, but finding good employees in a candidate-driven job market can seem nearly impossible.
In this new job market, fewer people are looking for work and more jobs are available. In fact, 34 percent of employers plan to hire full-time, permanent employees in the third quarter, up from 31 percent last year, according to CareerBuilder’s 2015 Midyear U.S. Job Forecast.
But you’re probably wondering:
“Even if more jobs are available, shouldn’t I still be able to find good employees?”
The answer to this question is yes and no. There are still top candidates out there, but they’re now harder to find, less likely to be looking for a new opportunity and are no longer interested in just any job.
It is going to take more than a simple job posting or Indeed search to find top talent. But there’s hope:
The people who do succeed at finding good candidates start by doing these three things:
- First, they change their mindset.
- Next, they create a deliberate sourcing strategy.
- And finally, they learn to get creative.
Keep reading to learn how you too can find good employees by following these three steps.
Change Your Mindset
The first step to finding the right talent is getting in the right mindset. No longer are top candidates going to accept a job offer just because they need a job or will they flood your inbox with resumes just because you posted an opening on your website. You need to get aggressive, tenacious and be able to offer candidates a unique look into what makes your company stand out.
Also, it’s important to be able to sell the position and a career to the candidate without being too salesy. Candidates will pick up on this and turn their attention to other companies.
Create a Deliberate Sourcing Strategy
For every new opening, there should be a deliberate sourcing strategy and defined tactics. Each position has it’s own unique challenges and requirements so the sourcing strategy changes for every job. Identify a strategy that makes the most sense for your position and the dedicated resources who will be performing the search.
Examples of a deliberate sourcing strategy:
- One way to find good employees is by identifying competitor companies and soliciting candidates with similar titles and roles. While these candidates could bring previous experience and industry knowledge, most of them are likely to be passive candidates and will need some convincing to accept a new position.
- Another strategy is using third-party databases like Zoominfo.com, contact databases, and LinkedIn to perform targeted search to find specific candidates based on location, experience, or job title.
Get Creative
With such a small talent pool to choose from, you might find yourself really having to think outside the box in order to find good candidates to fill a particularly difficult position. That being said, we recently had to think of some unique strategies when trying to fill a professional, six-figure B2B sales role.
We went into Starbucks, dry cleaners and Panera where these professionals frequent and posted a flyer highlighting the benefits of the position and a QR code to take them to the full job description on our website. We had to get in front of this audience and recruit passive candidates for this position and it turned out to be an effective sourcing tactic that warranted much success.
In this candidate-driven job market, employers, hiring managers, and recruiters need to approach how they find good candidates differently than they have in the past. Changing your mindset, creating a specific sourcing strategy, and getting creative will all help you reach good candidates in this shrinking talent pool. At Naviga, this is how our recruiters find candidates, and can assist you in your talent search. Contact us today for recruiting help!
