5 Recruiting Tips for 2019: How Find and Hire More Candidates and Employees

For the first time in history, there are more jobs than people to fill those jobs!

Recruiters and HR are struggling because traditional approaches aren’t driving in enough job applicants, or the right job candidates, to solve the problem.

Our marketing agency (BCG) has been working with a variety of brands for the last five years to help them reach and attract more ideal job applicants, and I do keynote speeches on recruiting, corporate culture and generational differences.

The good news is: whether you’re a human resources professional or you’re a recruiter, the latest Internet tools and strategies can help you attract more ideal job candidates and get them to apply.

There are search and social tools that can increase your effectiveness at getting more candidates into the right jobs.

There are also some lessons and takeaways we’ve learned that will help you in HOW you approach sourcing and placing job candidates.

In this article, we’ll give you 5 simple tips to get you bigger results.

#1. Become More Likable and Attract More Candidates

I know, you’re already pretty likable!

But how can you make hiring managers and candidates like you more?

If you’re more likable while working with candidates:

• More people will respond to you
• They’ll give you more info
• That info will be more accurate
• They’ll be less likely to “ghost” you (ghosting is when they suddenly stop contacting you without explanation)
• You’ll place more of them in the right jobs that will make them happier long-term

That’s why when you’re networking and phoning, you need to be likable.

So how can you be more likable?

Here are a few of the most important things:

• Smile and be warm
• Be positive
• Be interested in others
• Be reliable
• Be generous

Likability improves all your relationships. Some people are naturally likable…

The rest of us find our attractiveness increases when we continuously work on it.

Increase your likability every day and you’ll attract more people!

Are you showing how likable your corporate culture is?

Why should people work there? Strive to answer these questions with text and images of your workplace:

• What are the teams like? How do people work together? Will they include me?
• Who works there? Are they like me? Will they like me? Will I like them? How diverse is the workforce?
• How formal or casual is it? How do they dress? Does it fit my personality and lifestyle?
• What is the leadership like? How do they manage? Do people like them? How do people feel working for them?
• What are the mission and values of the organization? Are they for real, or just words? How does that play out in everyday work?
• How are customers treated? How do employees feel about that?
• What are the hours, flex time, remote work, vacation and benefits like?

Make your company culture visible and you’ll attract the right people to it!

#2. Grab More Attention With Better Content

If can’t get people’s attention, you can’t get anything done!

If you can’t grab candidates’s attention, you have no chance of them getting interested enough in your opportunity for them to desire to work there.

Hiring managers are busy, too… just like everybody.

We all have all kinds of things pulling at our attention all the time.

There’s a global attention deficit.

If you don’t stand out, you don’t stand a chance.

Boring people and companies get ignored.

So, how do you break through the noise and get the attention of hiring managers and candidates?

Depending on how you get in front of people- phone, in person, LinkedIn, Facebook, advertising, search marketing, email- you have different options.

• If you can use images, use faces, because they attract the eye like a magnet.
• If you’re fun, that can a nice change of pace. Fun in the right context is a real differentiator.
• Use the likability techniques mentioned above.
• Create authority by developing and displaying: education, degrees, experience, testimonials and references, popularity, media mentions and association or work with famous brands or people. The more your “credibility markers” come from the industry of your target person, the more authority you’ll appear to have.
• Create content that’s helpful and easy to digest. The most popular format are: blogs, videos and whitepapers.

Do something to stand out more today, and you’ll attract more candidates.

#3. Reach More Candidates With Search Marketing

How do you get in front of more candidates?

There are two major ways to reach people online: search engines and social media. In this tip, we’ll talk about search, and we’ll talk about social in the next one.

Many people automatically SEARCH Google or Bing or Yahoo when looking for things. That includes searching for jobs, recruiters and employment.

Are you showing up in the search engine results when they search for that stuff?

If you’re not, you need SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or you should be placing search engine ads via Google and Bing.

Search engine optimization can be a long, challenging adventure. You should definitely work on it, but it’s a long-term investment. Expect for it to take years to pay off big, even if you’re a rock star at it. Here are some of the things you need to think about for SEO:

• What keywords are job candidates searching for? Are they on your website? Research the keywords with Google Ads’s Keyword Planner tool.
• Do you create new, useful content frequently? Do you have a blog? Create one and blog at least weekly.
• Are authoritative websites linking to your website and increasing your authority in Google’s eyes? Share your blog posts via your social networks, and use HARO to get your opinions in blogs and the media, which will get you new links frequently.

If you can afford to spend money on Google Ads, you should.

Showing up for the keywords your candidates are already searching for is critical.

Google Ads are complicated, and you will need training or you should hire an expert freelancer or agency. Try a site like Upwork if you want to find a freelance advertising expert.

Show up when people search for keywords and you’ll attract more candidates!

#4. Reach More Candidates With Social Recruiting Ads

Not all of your ideal candidates are searching the search engines.

To reach many of them, you’ll need to get in front of them even when they’re not looking.

I think of this as interruptive marketing. You’re showing up for the right people with an important message they need to hear.

Maybe it’s a message that will really help them, but they didn’t think to search for it. You’re helping them out by interrupting them.

Interrupting may sound bad, but it’s ok to interrupt if your message is relevant and helpful. It’s being interrupted by irrelevant things that we really dislike. If you’re solving a career or life problem for them, they may love your ad! They’ll be grateful for it.

One of the best ways to do this is to run ads on social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook that can target people by job titles, education, seniority and industry.

Business-to-business social advertising targeting of this sort is very powerful… because you’re getting in front of your ideal job candidate.

Naturally, you need to interrupt them with a compelling message: what’s so great about your job or your corporate culture? Convince them. Use video if you have to.

When you interrupt the ideal candidates with compelling social ads, you attract more ideal employees! 

#5. Learn and Improve Your Approach By Listening To The Data

We’ve all heard about big data and algorithms. You probably have access to some data.

But are you using data to improve your business results?

These days, data is a powerful way to listen to people’s behavior and preferences.

We can look at data to see if people are responding, and how much.

We can find out if our approaches are good enough and if they need to change.

So, ask yourself: What data do you have? Are you using it?

It’s different for everybody…

In recruiting, we frequently find data insights like:

• How to get more job applications: Website analytics can tell us which web pages and blog posts drive more job applications, and which ones don’t.
• How to make your workplace sound more compelling to candidates: Advertising analytics can tell us which things about our workplace culture are more attractive to candidates than others.
• How to understand your candidates and influence them: Social engagement data that tells us which feelings and problems and desires have the biggest emotional charge for candidates.
• How to know which recruiters are most effective so you can increase your organizational effectiveness: HR CRM data that tells us which recruiters convert the highest percentage of candidates into placed employees.

When you find insights in the data, you increase your power to attract more candidates and employees!

Wrap Up

We’ve covered the five most important things you can do to solve your workforce resource problems. If you:

1. Increase your likability to attract more candidates
2. Grab more attention with better content
3. Reach more candidates with search marketing
4. Reach more candidates with social recruiting ads
5. Learn and improve by listening to the data…

Then you’ll attract more job applicants, more ideal candidates and more people who already like the organizational culture. They’ll come in excited and ready to grow it. And that will empower the entire company achieve its mission and goals.