5 Ways to Find Top Talent for Your Business

Attracting high calibre employees to join your company is not an easy task. In a marketplace where opportunities are plentiful, candidates have their choice as to where they can work. As a recruiter or employer, knowing the strategies you can use to attract the right candidates to your company is essential for its current and future success. Make the wrong recruiting decision and this could have significant implications for your business and your customers.

Therefore, putting in place a talent strategy is an essential task for recruiters. This should define what talent looks like to your company. It may even help to define an ideal employee profile. This will summarise the key skills, knowledge and expertise the candidate will have to excel in their role.

Once you have this, you can start to identify the talent acquisition channels that will work best for your company. Here are five ways to find top talents for your organisation:

Craft Detailed Job Descriptions and Ads

The job description is often the first experience that candidates have of your company. Therefore, it should be clear, concise and accurate. A job ad or description should give candidates an insight into how you work, the company culture and the benefits of working with you. It should give candidates a snapshot of what the role entails as well as an insight into the team they will be working in. Most importantly, it should be engaging and compelling enough to encourage the right candidates to apply for the position. Poorly written job ads or descriptions will attract the wrong candidates which can be a time wasting and expensive activity. Include everything the candidate needs to know about the job such as why they should apply to work with your company. Feature qualifications, skills and experience that are required for the role and use language that is both positive and informative. Think like the candidate. What things would they find useful and what would pique their curiosity and encourage them to apply.

Implement an employee referral program

An employee referral program is a great way to identify potential candidates that your employees already know and trust. This can help to speed up the recruitment process as you will have access to a pre-vetted pool of high-quality candidates. If employers attract the right candidates to the company who enjoy working there, who have plenty of opportunities to progress and who feel valued, then they are much less likely to leave. This in turn reduces the amount of time and money that needs to be spent on recruiting new employees. Good business starts with employees. If you create an environment where employees feel valued, they are more likely to recommend the company to their peers and others they know in their network.

Focus on Skills Not Talent

This may seem counterintuitive, but employers should focus on skills rather than talent when recruiting new employees. The reason for this is that skills can be taught, but talent cannot. This means that even if a candidate does not have all of the necessary skills for the job, they can be trained to acquire them. However, if a candidate does not have the right attitude or work ethic, even if they are deemed to fit the 'top talent' criteria, then there is very little that can be done to change this.

Build a Strong Company Brand

A respected and sought after company brand will make your organisation more attractive to potential candidates. Candidates are more likely to want to work for a company that they perceive to be reputable and successful. Companies who invest in their brand reputation are more attractive to a prospective candidate. Employees who feel proud to be connected to a brand, who care about them, their career prospects and look after them are more likely to refer others and stay with the company long term which reduces the churn rate of employees.

Carefully Manage the Interview Process

Sometimes, candidates may appear great on paper, but when they attend the interview, the reality is somewhat different. To attract the right people, interviews are a key part in the process. One of the ways that you can do this is to provide skills based interviews. Aptitude or psychometric tests are a great way to do this. This type of testing assesses a candidate's suitability for the job by looking at their skills, abilities and personality traits. It can help to identify those candidates who are most likely to be successful in the role. You can also tailor the interview to the job so if there is a job that requires a specific set of skills or attributes, you may want to focus on a competency based interview.

By following these five steps, you can be sure to find the top talent for your organisation. By taking the time to find the right candidates, you can ensure that your company has a bright future.