How to Recruit Top Talent for Your Company in 5 Steps

Recruiting top talent is important in every industry, and in some industries, hiring qualified people is especially competitive. There are certain strategies human resource (HR) professionals and hiring managers can use to recruit talented people. Understanding how to appeal to top talent and move them through the hiring process may help you increase the number of highly qualified employees at a company. 

According to Hamilton (2015) recruiting talent is the act of finding high-quality candidates to hire, either while working as a recruiter or hiring manager. Organizations generally want to ensure they have the best workforce possible, and finding, hiring and keeping top employees can be a complex process. Recruiting talent requires companies to not only select the best candidate out of a pool but also follow certain practices to attract the best talent and keep them long-term. This is often a combination of talent recruiting, talent acquisition and talent development.

1. Create a positive workplace culture

Neubronner and Lee (2011) express that one of the most important parts of recruiting and retaining top talent is having a positive workplace culture. Current employees may be more likely to refer their talented friends for positions within the company, which can grow the talent pool. The high-quality employees already have on hand can also develop their skills in a positive workplace, which grows your internal talent. While a positive workplace culture requires owners and executives to be involved, HR and managers also play an important role in developing a company's culture. Having policies to prevent and resolve problems quickly can help create a positive work culture. Ensuring the workplace is welcoming and free from harassment or discrimination is another necessary component (Neubronner and Lee, 2011).

2. Develop effective job descriptions

As Ahmed et al. (2016), job descriptions are often a candidate's first introduction to an open position, whether a friend sends them the information, a recruiter provides it to them or they find it on a career page or job site. The job descriptions created for a company are as effective as possible. While including a list of the role's responsibilities and qualifications is useful, it's also helpful to include information about what it's like to work at the company or how a candidate can benefit from working there. Ahmed et al. (2016) also stresses that top talent may be interested in a job description that discusses the basics of the job and includes relevant information about the company or industry. For instance, a software developer likely wants to know what training they need, what programming languages the company uses and what types of software the employer developing. These are all important pieces of information for deciding if a job is a good fit. Including what makes the company special and how an individual could thrive and improve the company can make the position even more desirable.

3. Know your best sources for talent

As Tamilia (2019) explains, there are many ways to find candidates for open positions, including the company's career site, job boards, external recruiters and employee referrals. How a company finds candidates is often unique to each company and industry. In a highly competitive industry, a company may rely on recruiters and referrals, whereas a company with a large, quality candidate pool may post job openings online. Effective recruiting usually involves targeting several talent sources and conducting regular analysis of what’s most useful for the company and the areas in which it could grow. If top talent isn’t applying to the company through its career site or job boards, you may need to concentrate on recruiting passive candidates, asking employees for referrals or using external recruiters (Tamilia, 2019).

4. Plan interviews based on talent

As Hamilton (2015) stresses, most companies have a standardized interview process all candidates have to complete. This might include a screening interview with a recruiter or HR staff member, any necessary skills assessments, an interview with the hiring manager and possibly their team, a reference check and an offer. While this is an effective method for most candidates, if you have a candidate you’re extremely interested in hiring and you want to move quickly, you might decide to change the process. Hamilton (2015) explains some ways that could do this include having the hiring manager perform the screening interview, having the candidate meet multiple team members at the same time or during the same visit and creating a standard list of questions to ask every candidate. Having a positive feeling about a candidate early on, employer could check their references while scheduling the next interview to speed up the process. Using professional recruitment software to track candidates and compare feedback from each interviewer can also help evaluating people quickly.

5. Stay in contact with quality candidates

According to Hamilton (2015) if there are high-quality candidates that would’ve been a good fit for the company, but they either declined the offer or the employer chose a slightly more suitable candidate, it's helpful to maintain contact with them. The employer may find a position that's a better fit for them, or they might reapply to the company in the future. They may also grow useful skills over time that could make them more valuable to the company. If the recruiter believe a candidate is the best talent in the industry, stay in contact with them and find a way to hire them later.

 

Reference

Ahmed, N., Khan, S., Latif, K. (2016) Job Description Ontology DOI: 10.1109/FIT.2016.047

Hamilton, J. (2015) Trends and Strategies in Recruiting and Retaining Talent DOI: 10.2118/0509-0034-JPT

Neubronner, M., Lee, Y.Z. (2011) Talent management and succession planning in emerging Asia DOI: 10.1108/20450621111149805

Tamilia, L. A. (2019) Entrepreneurs: Why They Are Essential to Industry Success, Global Trends and Opportunities and How to Recruit Top Talent 10.1007/978-3-030-12453-3_117