Current team members/employee referrals

Your current workforce is an important sourcing opportunity. In addition to the potential that exists within your team, their network is a great place to source talent. Think about it — the talent within their network already knows someone who works at your organization. They already have a connection, so today employee referrals (when current employees refer qualified candidates for employment at your organization) are considered one of the most effective recruiting sources. Few employees would risk their own reputation by recommending someone who may turn out to be a source of embarrassment.

Many organizations have instituted employee referral programs with rewards (extra vacation days, trips, cash bonuses, or other goodies) for employees who recommend a person you eventually hire and who stays with the company for a specific period of time. Employee referrals can be especially effective in helping to locate candidates for critical or hard-to-fill positions.

As with other elements of your recruiting program, keep in mind that your employee referral program can pose legal issues in the areas of discrimination and wage and hour law. Consult an experienced attorney for assistance with analyzing the legal risks of your recruiting program.

Before you launch a program, consider all the ramifications and establish a systematic process for administering it. Here are some questions to answer:

• Is everyone eligible to receive a referral award, or are certain positions not eligible, such as executives, officers, board members, recruiters, and hiring managers (in the case they may refer candidates for the position they’re hiring for)?
• What incentives are you offering to the employee who refers someone? Are you going to vary the incentives based on the importance of the job?
• How long does any referred employee need to remain with your organization before the person who makes the referral becomes eligible for the incentive? (The norm in most companies is three to six months.)
• What procedure must any employee who’s making a referral follow?

After you set up an employee referral program, don’t keep it a secret. Publicize it every way you can — through posters, emails, and newsletters, for example. Your objective is to generate as many quality referrals as possible, and reminders always help. Finally, make sure that everyone knows when an employee receives a bonus for a referral.

Online job boards

Job boards are the best way for employers and job seekers to find each other online. You have many options, ranging from general boards to narrowly focused niche boards that cater to specific industries and jobs. The landscape is constantly changing, with old boards being phased out or bought by competitors, and new ones sprouting up. The key is to find two or three that give you the most reach and job seekers a trustworthy collection of the best jobs.

Here are four online job boards that employers and job seekers widely use:

• Indeed: Indeed initially began as a job search engine and job aggregator and has become the biggest and most popular board worldwide. It’s available in more than 60 countries and is currently the most visited job site in the United States. The platform offers free, subscription-based, and pay-per-click pricing models to suit various recruitment needs, as well as access to an extensive résumé database of more than 200 million professionals across the world.
• LinkedIn: LinkedIn is the world’s most popular social network for professionals. It’s a great place to post jobs because of its enormous reach and growth in active users. LinkedIn mostly caters to professional jobs and senior roles. With the rise of social recruiting, LinkedIn fulfills a prominent role. It can be used to search for great candidates, or employers can buy advertising on the site to promote their open positions.
• ZipRecruiter: ZipRecruiter is a job board that allows employers to post jobs to hundreds of job boards, including ZipRecruiter itself. ZipRecruiter has gradually changed from an applicant tracking system into a job board that competes primarily with Indeed.
• CareerBuilder: CareerBuilder is a general posting site and is one of the most trusted and high-traffic job sites in the United States. It has direct relationships with 92 percent of the Fortune 500 companies. Job post pricing is based on the number of posts purchased. Bulk discounts are available.

In addition to these four widely used platforms, many others exist, including Monster, Google for Jobs, Craigslist, and Mashable. You can be confident that by the time you’re reading this, many others will have joined their ranks — or replaced them as the technology is constantly evolving.

Online job boards come with a number of legal implications that you need to understand and properly manage. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) stipulate that employers can’t discriminate in any aspect of the employment process. This rule, of course, includes online interactions. In other words, you must make sure that you offer avenues to candidates who don’t own computers or have access to email to apply for an open job. This requirement is particularly important given the fact that some candidates may not only send you résumés electronically but may also direct you to web pages that extensively showcase their accomplishments and qualifications. Keep in mind that those without access to such online tools deserve an equal chance to be considered for a position as those who do have access.

Being responsive to job applicants is simply good business practice. Anyone who comes in contact with your company forms a perception that can influence the firm’s reputation. A simple, straightforward message sent to all applicants is a good way to showcase your organization’s professionalism. For a good example of an Acknowledgement of Receipt of Résumé or Job Application, see the online tools.

Your company website

Your organization’s website provides valuable information for prospective team members about your organization and your mission. Just as you and the hiring managers you’re supporting are now able to find out more about candidates who may be applying, job seekers can uncover in-depth information about your company. Although the savvy ones review a variety of sources — articles, discussion groups, industry analyst reports — your website is a great place to communicate your unique culture and most appealing characteristics.

Well executed, your website can give job seekers a glimpse into the employee experience — what it’s like to work in your company. Today, even the smallest of companies have websites describing what they do, and often, the advantages of working for them. Your website gives you an opportunity to explain why your company is an employer of choice. If properly outfitted, your website also can receive applications directly from interested job seekers and potentially use this information to create employee profiles that can be used later as new hires join your organization. The implications of these changes for HR professionals are twofold:

• With information now so much more accessible than ever, you want to make sure (to the extent that you can) that your company’s website accurately showcases your firm’s strengths and range of capabilities. After all, you want the best people to be drawn to your company. A website that’s outdated, difficult to navigate, or lacking relevant information can reduce your chances of attracting top-notch candidates.
• Because of all the available information about companies, expect candidates to be well prepared in the interview process. You also need to be prepared and raise your expectations for the discussion. The topics you cover can relate more specifically to business priorities and issues affecting your industry and company. (I discuss interviewing in detail in Chapter 8.)

Social media and online networking

Job seekers go where the jobs are. Because of the sheer number of openings they list, job boards and company websites are among the first stops on a typical candidate’s itinerary, but social media is also an important part of sourcing options. Because of the prevalence of social media and the integration of work and life, job candidates have an incredibly large online network of friends they contact for insight on various jobs and companies. Jobvite’s 2019 Job Seeker Nation Survey reports that 50 percent of respondents heard about jobs from friends; 37 percent said they also learned about positions from professional networks, and 35 percent found out about jobs from social media.

Even prospective candidates who didn’t grow up using computers (and this is a shrinking group) engage in active social networking. Because of this, a social media and online networking strategy is an essential part of your overall recruitment program, so it’s important to create a strong presence and remain active on the social media sites where your prospective candidates spend time.

According to Monster.com, 80 percent of employers are using social media as a recruitment tool. Jobvite’s 2020 Recruiter Nation Survey reports that the social media platforms most used for recruiting prospective talent are LinkedIn (72 percent), Facebook (60 percent), Twitter (38 percent), Instagram (37 percent), Glassdoor (36 percent), and YouTube (27 percent).

Listing your job openings on social networks, either directly or through a third party, has many pros. Perhaps the most important benefit is the ability to reach a wide audience. The most popular social networks have millions of users and information can be shared among individuals quickly. Before you realize it, your job ad may reach someone who otherwise wouldn’t have known about it (or your organization).

You also may be able to communicate your vacancy to highly targeted groups of professionals. Communities of like-minded individuals exist within every social network. For example, LinkedIn features groups for people who share the same profession, job title, alma mater, or interests.

One of the defining characteristics of social media is that they encourage interaction. The whole point is to talk to other members — virtually, of course — and share links, photos, videos, news, and other tidbits. As a result, you can take an active role in recruiting. Sending a message or tweet or changing your status (“Looking for a new A/P supervisor”) quickly lets everyone you’re connected to know about your opening and encourages them to share the news with their own connections. You also can easily search people’s profiles (especially on LinkedIn) and identify professionals with certain skill sets. Many sites offer tools to help you do this. This can be an effective way of locating passive job candidates (those not active in the job market but who would consider a job change if the right opportunity came along).

Candidates who previously applied

Because you’re spending so much time finding and recruiting talented candidates, you may attract some with impressive credentials who may not be the right fit for any of your currently open roles. Store all of the candidates’ information in a recruitment database and review them when you’re hiring for a different role. See whether any of these previous candidates better fit the next available position’s qualifications. It’s as simple as reaching out to the candidate to share the opportunity.

Here is sample language you can use:

I am reaching back to you because we have a new job opening, a [job title]. I believe that your skills, characteristics, and experience would make you the perfect candidate for this position, so I decided to reach out. Would you be available for a call [include date and time] to talk about this exciting opportunity?

Consider other ways to stay connected to candidates who applied previously — they are your candidate pipeline, and just like you’re staying connected to potential customers, you want to stay connected to potential future talent for your business. Invite them to open house events, continue messaging, and keep looking for organization opportunities to send them.

Recruiters

Anyone in an HR role who has unlimited time and resources can identify job candidates online, but sometimes engaging with an external recruiter is the best option. Recruiting professionals meet with the candidates they place to determine their suitability for various jobs and often provide skills testing and select reference checking. This is time you don’t have to spend on these activities. The best firms also fill a consultative role, helping you develop an effective overall staffing strategy. Recruiters can be an invaluable part of your candidate search arsenal.

Yes, using external recruiters does have an associated expense, but if you know how to maximize their services, they can more than pay for themselves. Using outside recruiters has several key advantages:

• Outside recruiters generally have access to a large pool of applicants. After all, it’s their job to continually locate quality candidates.

• They handle such cumbersome administrative details of recruiting as sourcing, evaluating skills, and conducting preliminary interviews.

  In the course of their evaluation process, the best recruiters check selected references from their candidates’ past employers to gather skill proficiency information and job performance history. Employers should perform their own reference checks as well. This is because a preliminary check may or may not reveal all the information you want to consider in making your final decision as to whether to bring an individual into your company.

• Recruiters often are a valuable source of talent acquisition advice. A recruiter who knows their stuff often can help you identify whether you need a contingent worker, full- or part-time employee, or a generalist or specialist. Recruiters also can provide feedback on what the market looks like right now to find the candidate you need. They can be particularly helpful in identifying passive candidates who may be interested in working for your firm.

Campus recruiting

College campuses have long been fertile hunting ground for companies in search of entry-level talent. Smaller firms without well-organized college recruiting programs have always been at somewhat of a disadvantage. If you’re a smaller company, here are some tips on how to level the playing field:

• Get to know the folks in the career center. Campus recruiting is usually coordinated by the college career center. As long as your company has a reasonably good reputation, the people in the career center will be receptive to your recruiting overtures and are likely to steer good candidates your way. A big part of their job, after all, is getting good jobs for their graduates. The best way to build a strong relationship with career center personnel is to pay them a personal visit — or better still, invite them to your company to see what you have to offer. The career center is also the place to gain access to campus job fairs (see the next section).
• Get to know the students better in small groups. You can target students pursuing a major or majors in the field in which you’re seeking talent by contacting student organizations. This can take the form of cosponsoring study hours, community events, or other small activities with the student group where you can provide snacks, network, and sometimes even make a presentation about your company.
• Focus on topics that students are interested in. When speaking to students at job fairs or student events, limit the time you touch on generalities about your company and instead focus on students’ interest areas, such as opportunities for advancement in your firm or what to expect in the recruiting process. They don’t want just a rehash of what they can read on your website.
• Be prepared to promote your organization. The image projected by you (or anyone else in your organization who goes on a campus recruiting mission) goes a long way toward determining how successful you are at attracting a school’s top candidates. Make things simple for yourself. Put together a PowerPoint presentation that you can use repeatedly on your laptop, but don’t stop there. Students want to hear your company’s story in your own words. How did you build your own career there? They want real-life examples and testimonials.
• Speak their language. By speaking their language, I don’t mean you need to actually talk like a student — unless you’re cool enough to get away with it and not sound ridiculous. You just need to think like a student. Words like opportunity, growth, and learn will strike exactly the right chord. Yes, money still talks for most college students today, but students also want to know the nature of the job and the culture of the company.
• Promote volunteerism. If your organization is active in the community and provides volunteer opportunities, don’t forget to mention it.
• Follow through. For certain positions, recruiting on campus can be very competitive with other companies, so you’ll need to be a lot more than a dog-and-pony show. Students expect a short turnaround time in the recruiting process. Let them know when and how you’ll be back on campus. And needless to say, follow through on your promise to be there.

Refer to the Cheat Sheet at www.dummies.com for more information about recruiting on a college campus. Just search for “Human Resources Kit For Dummies Cheat Sheet.”

Job fairs — in person and virtual

Job fairs are recruiting events that bring together employers and job seekers. They present a great opportunity to connect with multiple job seekers at one time in a single location or at a single event and vary in size and scope. Some are quite large with a collection of employers from a variety of industries, and others are targeted to a particular audience, for example, job fairs targeted specifically to transitioning veterans and military spouses.

Just like the nature of work is becoming more virtual, so are job fairs, and one simple online search will yield a variety (both in-person and online) of regional and national job fairs for job seekers.

While it’s helpful to connect with a variety of potential candidates, the primary downside of job fairs is their competitive aspect. Regional and industry specific job fairs — IT professionals in Boston, for example — tend to attract firms from your region who are looking for the same folks you’re looking for. You may well end up with your company’s booth or online presence right next to a competitor.

Regardless of the format, here are some suggestions for participating in job fairs to maximize your efforts:

• Put your best foot forward. Whether you’re going to be greeting applicants at a booth or online, you want to make sure that the general impression you’re conveying is one of quality and professionalism. The promotional information you distribute doesn’t necessarily have to be expensively designed and printed — and you don’t have to invest vast sums in elaborate posters or audiovisuals. Just make sure that everything you do is substantive and well organized.
• Ensure that good company ambassadors represent your organization. The people staffing your in-person or online booth should not only be able to handle all questions attendees are likely to ask about your company but also be enthusiastic and personable. Remember, too, that having senior people as part of your recruiting team tells applicants that your company takes potential candidates and the job fair seriously.

Your diversity and inclusion efforts are also a way to ensure your recruiting efforts are ongoing and include a diverse candidate base. Participation in ethnic and cultural community fairs or events, for example, can serve both marketing and recruiting purposes.

Open houses

Open houses are most commonly held by companies in industries that experience high turnover and, thus, have an almost constant need for new employees: Mass market retailing or fast-food restaurants are examples. But open houses also can be an effective recruiting strategy for companies that are about to expand into a new region.

Conducting a successful open house hinges on several important factors. One key, certainly, is getting the word out by using a variety of media (social media, fliers, store posters, notices to local schools and colleges, commercials on local cable TV and radio outlets, and banner ads on your company website) to stir up interest.

Here are some other considerations:

• Choose the place carefully. You can hold open houses at either your own premises or at some outside location, such as a hotel ballroom or conference room. Each has pros and cons. Holding the event on company premises gives attendees a firsthand look at what you have to offer, but your facilities — because of their location, configuration, or security considerations — may not lend themselves to this kind of an event.
• Think about timing. Open houses are typically held after working hours and on weekends to attract potential applicants who are currently employed. Before you select the date, double-check to make sure that your open house doesn’t conflict with other events that can hold down attendance, such as a popular sporting event or religious holiday.
• Be friendly and informal. Not everyone who attends your open house will be a potential candidate, but they’ll all come away from the event with an impression that they’ll pass along to friends, relatives, and acquaintances. Make sure that the impression you make is as favorable as possible.

Direct applications (walk-ins)

Even though most employers prefer online application (via email or the company’s website), some organizations still welcome direct, walk-in applications. This is especially true at retail businesses and restaurants, which often keep paper copies of their application on hand. Some even conduct on-the-spot interviews and think about it: Anyone who has the energy and the gumption to make a cold, face-to-face appearance is someone whose résumé probably deserves a review. Invite the person to fill out an application or either leave behind or send you a résumé, along with a cover letter.

Government employment services

Since the Great Depression of the 1930s, every state has operated a public employment service in conjunction with the Department of Labor. Employer-paid unemployment taxes fund these offices — in other words, you foot the bill. These agencies exist primarily to offer services to job seekers. They register the unemployed, determine and pay unemployment benefits, offer counseling and training, and provide labor market information.

In the past, state employment agencies have generally been considered a source for unskilled labor and lower-level clerical and industrial jobs. This perception, however, is not necessarily accurate anymore. Technicians and professionals are registering with these agencies, too, and as is true of many other aspects of the government, their operations are becoming less bureaucratic and more client oriented. Your local agency is always worth a try — after all, you pay for it.

The downside: Although all government agencies are subject to federal standards and guidelines, the quality and usefulness of the services they offer can vary widely from state to state.