This post is really simple.  The happier your employees are and the more they enjoy what they are doing, the your recruiting can and will be.  You can keep employees happy in a variety of ways including:

Competitive Salaries - Employees like to be paid what they are worth and if you keep your salaries competitive with other companies in your industry it will definitely help keep them happy.

Special Perks - Free Lunch / Coffee Bar, More PTO, Company Outings, Free DayCare, Company Subsidized Education can all be great perks that will make your employees love working for your organization.

Meaningful Projects - Provide employees with the chance to work on and lead meaningful projects at your company.  Make sure work is fullfilling.

Advancement - Make sure that top performers are rewarded and have paths mapped out for top employees in certain business disciplines.

Ask Them - Ask employees what they want and what motivates them.  You may be surprised with what you hear.

There are a number of ways to keep employees happy and it differs for every organization.  The key is to understand what your core employment value proposition is to employees and determine benefits that you can fit around it.

Happy employees are not only more productive but they also can have a significant impact on your recruitment marketing strategy.  Here are a few ways happy employees can help your recruiting:

Employment Branding - Getting your employees involved in branding your career opportunities is much easier when they like what they are doing.  Have them write about their experiences at your organization and appear in videos for your Career Site.  Your employees should be the face of your recruiting organization and it provides for a much more compelling value proposition to qualified job seekers who see your job ads.  Your job distribution campaigns will never be the same.

Referrals - You ever talk to someone that really loves their job.  Their excitement makes you want to work for that company.  The happier your workforce, the more and better referrals you’ll receive from your employees.

Most importantly, top employees that like their job want to work with other top candidates.  So it may even cut down on the number of “bad” referrals you receive.

Word of Mouth - It’s one thing to hear one person talk about how much they love their job but totally another to hear 9 to 10.  The more employees that are excited about working for your company, the greater the reputation of your employer brand and the more qualified applicants you will receive in your ATS.

It’s simple.  Happy Employees leads to more qualified candidates applying for your job openings.  Not only will these initiatives help in retention but they can have a great impact on your recruiting as well.

Originally posted on the SmashFly Recruitment Technology Blog.