Recruiting is not what it used to be. The recruitment field has changed a lot due to the evolution of social media, mobile networking, big data, and digital tools. As a consequence, it’s time to develop new strategies. Here are a few ways you can update your recruiting strategies:

1. Understand the job position – Often, when there is a job opening, recruiters will only check the job title and set up an interview. Before employees leave the organization, you can talk to them and get to know the daily activities they used to do. If you don’t use concrete terms and clearly delineate your job description, you can potentially confuse prospective new hires. For example, many companies refer to their sales personnel as a “Marketing Executive”, but the same position could have a different meaning in other organizations. That’s why it is important to know a position before hiring for it. This will help you finalize an accurate job description for the position.

2. Diagnose the existing team – According to the Hudson Leadership Survey result 2016, HR analytics is the lowest priority for HR. 

Performance = Ability X Motivation
(From “Developing Management Skills” (8th  Edition) p.27, by David A. Whetten and Kim S. Cameron.)

When someone in your team is performing poorly, it’s important to diagnose the reasons behind their poor performance. You don’t want your new hire to be affected by a negative atmosphere. If you find any gloomy employees, talk to them and find out what is it about the company that they feel should be changed. If they are not performing and still carry a negative attitude towards the company, then you can consider laying them off.

3. Transform the way you write JD’s – There is a plethora of ways to write a job description. We recommend you use a definitive format like HR.Blr.com has mentioned in its article Tips for Creating a Standard Job Description Format. In addition to having a standardized format, you can also use software like instaTalent that automatically creates standardized job descriptions for you. instaTalent allows you to put the skills and attributes you’re looking for in a potential candidate and to construct an easily understood job description that you can use at any time.

4. Get the word out – Finding the best candidate for a position is difficult. The goal is to promote the job position in the right places. Use your existing employees to advertise the available job position by making an employee referral program (ERP). Some of the benefits of an employee referral program (Source: ERE Media)include:

1. The quality of referred candidates is much higher because they are prescreened by employees who know the company well.
2. ERP helps employers use their management time optimally by generating fewer weak candidates.
3. ERP will help you improve employee retention rate.
4. Referred candidates tend to adapt faster to the company culture.
5. ERP is cost effective because referral bonuses usually cost much less than executive search and agency fees.

5. Digital HR Strategy – According to Potentialpark’s survey, 80% of job seekers use a career website to get information about a potential employer, and 47% of them use it to find jobs, making it the number one channel between employers and job seekers. Therefore, it is important to keep your career website up to date and simplify the online job application process to attract more candidates.

6. Select vision over education – A strong vision for a business can create energy and the drive needed to push and pull teams and organizations forward. There are many situations when a candidate has a strong vision for success, great leadership skills, and intelligence  but doesn’t have a master’s degree. Having a master’s degree doesn’t always mean a candidate has the vision to lead the organization.

7. Hiring for culture fit and job fit – Top multinational corporations are hiring based on culture fit. According to the personality-job fit theory, a person whose traits match those of a company is more likely to perform better and be satisfied with the work environment. A cultural mismatch could be disastrous. Corporate culture is more of shared values and expectations. Corresponding expectations enable people to work more productively towards the success of the organization. The easiest way to analyze the culture-fit of a candidate is to try out online talent acquisition platforms like instaTalent. instaTalent is the only solution that leverages big data analytics and cognitive computing to connect all professionals in the talent industry with the best-fit candidates for their precise needs. For a recruiter, instaTalent is exactly what the doctor ordered.

8. Maintaining the budget and time – Maintaining the budgeted time and money for hiring is a strenuous task. According to Glassdoor Economic Research (2016), it takes almost 22.9 days to hire a new employee in the U.S. So how can you budget your time for hiring? instaTalent provides a solution to enable you to identify top talent that fits your job description, recommending best-fit candidates in minutes. instaTalent saves you time spent on going through job boards and social media to find the best candidates.

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