One of the keys to successful hiring is to always be recruiting and on the lookout for talent. It’s better to build a talent pool and have people ready to hire instead of finding yourself with an immediate need and having no options.
Recruiters are busy people. Building a talent pool takes time and requires strategy to implement, but the long-term benefits it provides will make you wish you started years ago. Still not convinced? Here’s a look at why you need a talent pool and how to get started building your list of quality candidates.
WHY YOU NEED A TALENT POOL
Imagine having a group of talented people who are interested in working for your company. Now, imagine having an opening at your business and simply looking through your database of talented people and finding the right person to hire right away.
You wouldn’t need to spend the time on a costly and time-consuming recruitment campaign thrown together at the last minute and you wouldn’t be sifting through tons of unqualified candidates. Let’s look at what that means for you:
IMPROVES QUALITY
You don’t just want to hire someone as a body to fill a role. You want to hire someone who will stick around in your company and grow. If you’re desperate to fill roles, you’re going to be missing those quality candidates (and costing yourself more money in the long run). If you build your talent pool over time you’re going to be able to better separate the fly-by-night hires from the quality folks.
SAVES MONEY
Having a talent pool is important because it will reduce the overall cost of hiring new employees. If you’ve got a list of qualified employees ready to fill positions, you’re not going to have to spend that advertising money for new positions because you can look through your database of potential hires.
SAVES TIME
Searching for the right candidate takes time. Spending your time sifting through the candidates on job boards can take days or weeks of your time. But if you’ve been consistently recruiting you’ll already have done the legwork of finding the right person to hire. If you’re an HR recruiter and you’re under pressure to get 20 people hired, that’s going to reduce a lot of your stress.
BUILDING YOUR POOL
We’ve discussed why you need a talent pool, but now let’s talk about how you can go about getting it done.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MESSAGE
The way you let prospective employees know about your business is about as important as reaching the right audience.
Face it, everyone is talking about having higher wages.
When thinking about your messaging, think about the benefits that your company can offer to prospective employees and what they might see as an advantage. The list of benefits is growing these days and people are looking outside the box, and so should you.
Set yourself apart from the pack of other employers by telling prospective employees what makes your business a great place to work at and why they should become a part of your team.
Prospective employees are looking at your company culture; at your 401k matching; at your vacation policy; your schedule flexibility; learning opportunities; growth opportunities; even if you’re simply a family-owned business.
Talk with your long-term employees and find out what they have to say; their testimonials may be exactly the message you’re looking for!
FREQUENCY, FREQUENCY, FREQUENCY
Radio is all about frequency, which makes it invaluable for recruiting. The more often people hear your message and your ad, the better chance they’ll think of you and your company when the time comes for them to apply. Your recruiting ads can be turned on and off as needed. In fact, that’s exactly what we recommend!
You may not reach someone at the exact moment they’re looking for a job, but because of the value of the theater of the mind that radio offers, they’re more likely to return thoughts of your message when the time comes.
This is why it’s important to run recruiting campaigns over the course of a few months, turn them off for a few months, and then return to running your campaign. The more often and the more consistent you are with messaging, the better your chances of finding quality candidates.
It’s worthwhile to consider diversifying the times, days, and messaging when you’re recruiting on the radio. Different people listen during the AM drive, the PM drive, at work, and via streaming. Our team can help you identify the times and days that will work best for you to reach your target audience.
RE-ENGAGE
Just because you didn’t choose to hire someone the first time around doesn’t mean they’re not a qualified candidate. Keep lists and notes of top candidates so you can get back to them if new positions become available.
Maybe the timing wasn’t right for them the first time around, or maybe you’ve added a new benefit that might entice them to join your team this time. In fact, 80% of candidates are willing to reapply to a job if they had a positive experience the first time around. Don’t let that talent slip through the cracks!
USE LOCAL JOB BOARDS
The more local you can keep things the better. Job boards like Michiana Job Finder, which is run by Federated Media, are a great way to advertise to an audience that’s hyper-local.
Prospective employees that have ties to the area and want to stay local will find more value in job boards like Michiana Job Finder because they won’t have to sift through all of the listings that are mislabeled, don’t match their talents, or are halfway across the country.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is an opportunity to brand your company and get your message out to prospective employees.
Utilizing tactics like targeted Facebook ads, you can narrow in on the right employees to fill your positions and be more localized, familiar, and emotional in your marketing to them. Social media is a great way to connect and communicate on a personal level with people.
Video testimonials from long-time employees are valuable to share and can show prospective employees exactly what it’s like to work for your company and why people have stayed as long as they have.
BLOGS
A blog on your website gives you the opportunity to give people insight into the culture of your company. Yes, you should be educating and engaging customers on your blog, but bragging about the fun things that you do as a team has its place there, too.
Don’t be afraid to share those blogs on social media and add a call to action for people to apply to work with you.
DIGITAL
Our team at Federated Digital Solutions can help you develop the digital recruitment strategy that will work best for your recruitment needs. Ideally, you’ll be advertising to active and passive prospects to build your talent pool. Digital tools like display ad campaigns and geofencing work in sync.
Display ad campaigns are a cost-effective way to reach a targeted audience of prospective employees searching for jobs in your industry.
When combined with geofencing around your competitors' business and the places your prospective employees spend their time (such as truck drivers at truck stops), you can maximize your digital recruitment campaign.
FIND OUT HOW FEDERATED MEDIA CAN HELP
If you’re tired of always feeling like you’re in the weeds on recruitment, we can help. Don’t wait for an “ideal time” to start building your talent pool, contact us and start today!
