Could your organization be missing out on a major recruiting secret?
4 Clever Ways to Locate Unconventional Candidates – Talent Intelligence
Hiring new employees often isn’t easy in today’s talent market.
As of last summer, employers around the world were facing the most acute talent shortage in more than a decade, according to findings from ManpowerGroup. Forty-five percent said they were struggling to fill positions.
Seventy-three percent of staffing and recruitment professionals who participated in a Bullhorn recruiting trend survey said they anticipate talent shortages will also be an issue this year.
Competition for traditional jobseekers is likely to remain fierce. While another pool of qualified candidates exists — workers who have, for instance, been training to transition to a different field, or took time off to care for an ailing relative — employers may have no idea who those potential hires are, or where to find them.
Job postings, employee recommendations and other methods companies typically use to locate jobseekers may not reveal some of the more unconventional candidates.
To uncover potential hires who have a non-traditional background, employers need to get creative and utilize resourceful recruiting techniques — such as:
Reaching out to career development organizations
Professional associations that relate to the industry and/or position you’re recruiting for — such as a membership-based association for manufacturing managers — may be able to help you connect with members who joined the organization to network and get up-to-date on industry issues because they’re re-entering the workforce after a long absence. Professional associations typically have magazines and other publications, events and other outlets employers can use to reach candidates in the field, including ones who may be new or returning to it.
Some groups, such as the Financial Women’s Association, offer specific initiatives designed to help men and women re-enter the workforce. FWA’s Back2Business Program helps connect jobseekers who have taken a break from careers in a number of industries with work opportunities at companies such as BNY Mellon, New York Life and Prudential.
Creating a career website or section
Non-traditional jobseekers, much like traditional candidates, will most likely conduct a Google search at some point to look for available jobs and/or companies in their desired sector.
The amount of relevant keywords a site contains can help increase its chance of being ranked highly in searches that involve related terminology. As a result, adding a page or section to your company’s site highlighting one or more open positions — or building a separate career website with information about employment opportunities — can enhance the likelihood unconventional candidates will find your organization when they search for words that relate to certain job titles, responsibilities and other keywords you’ve used. A SilkRoad study found career websites are one of the top sources for new hires.
Conducting a targeted social media campaign
Sites like Facebook and Instagram offer a way to reach out to highly specific audiences. Facebook, for instance, allows advertisers to specify their intended audience’s location, education and other characteristics, including pages they’ve engaged with.
In addition to posting job listings on your company’s social media pages, paying for a social media campaign that targets Facebook subscribers who are stay-at-home mothers might help you find candidates who left the workforce due to childcare needs but hope to return to it. Similarly, if a continuing education provider in your area offers a program that relates to a role you’re hiring for, specifying that you’d like your social media campaign audience to include people above the high school or collegiate age level who have liked the education provider’s page may help you find candidates who are attended the program.
To learn about other effective recruitment strategies and practices for tracking down unconventional candidates — and more traditional hires — read our blog posts on recruiting executives, ways companies are using AI and creative techniques in the recruitment process, making the most out of in-person recruiting events and the reason your company’s travel policy could help you successfully recruit and retain employees.