Even when jobs are scarce, finding great employees can be a challenge. A good employee is more than just someone who has the right skills to get the job done, they also fit in well with the culture and help those around them be better as well. Finding a good employee can sometimes be like finding a needle in a haystack, but there are definitely ways to significantly increase your odds. Here are 10 strategies for hiring great employees.
- Use job boards
Posting openings on your own website is great, but the more avenues you use to get the word out, the more options you will have to choose from. Narrowing down those options can be a challenge, but that is where technology can help. The first step is to get as broad of a base to start from. Job boards can also get you noticed by qualified candidates in other fields.
- Foster relationships with schools
Generally speaking, the best employees will already have jobs. In some cases, your best option is to find today’s talent that will become tomorrow’s great employees. Find a school or schools that offer degrees in your field and develop relationships with career counselors. By building a good relationship with them, they may be willing to steer their best students and rising stars in your direction.
- Use your employees
Your employees already know what skills and traits make someone a good fit for your company. They also have a wide circle of friends, family and business associates. If you create an incentive program for doing so, your employees might be more than willing to act as your best recruiters. Chances are, if they think someone would be a good fit for your company, they probably will be.
- Use social media
Job boards can help you find candidates who are looking for a job, but social media can help you find great candidates who aren’t. Generally, the only people who look at job boards are people who are actively looking for a job. Some of the best employees may never need to look for a job, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are happy or content where they are. Sometimes, they might be swayed by the right offer. Social media is how you can reach them.
- Use pre-employment screening
Great employees need more than just the right skills to be great employees. Pre-Employment assessments like Berke assessment can tell you far more than just whether a candidate has the right skills, they can also tell you what kind of temperament and personality a candidate has. This can tell you if they are a good fit for your culture and needs.
- Tell candidates who you are
All too often, businesses forget that the best candidates want to work for the best companies. Businesses can get so caught up in considering what they need that they give little thought to what the kind of candidates they are looking for might be looking for in an employer. Make sure you let candidates know what you have to offer not just what you need.
- Offer a competitive salary and good benefits
You might be able to pay less than other companies and still get employees to work for you, but you won’t be getting the best employees or necessarily even great ones. If you want to stay ahead of the competition, you might consider offering a slightly higher salary and better benefits than anyone else.
- Create flexibility
Aside from a competitive salary and benefits, one of the biggest things that employees are looking for is a flexible schedule that they have control over. If you can offer remote or telecommuting options, all the better. The more flexibility you can offer employees, the more attractive your job offer is likely to be.
- Create a great culture
A good job is not simply one that pays well. Employees want to know that their work is valuable and that they are valued. When you create a culture that brings out the best in people, you will rarely have trouble finding great employees.
- Use a placement agency or headhunter
Sometimes, the best way to get great employees is to let someone else find them for you. If you’re having trouble filling a position or turnover is high, you might consider letting someone else fill it for you. The best part of using a placement agency is that if someone is not working out, you can generally get a replacement out that day or the next.
