12 Tips to Recruit Top Talent to Your Company

Every organization wants to hire employees to drive business success. But companies must actively target the right candidates, promote positions through various outlets, and capitalize on their marketing efforts to stand out.

Successful talent recruitment also means rethinking the current employee recruitment strategies and finding innovative ways to attract talent. The following steps can help your organization transform its hiring process.

Create a talent pipeline: Consider reaching both active and passive candidates. Just because a talented individual isn’t knocking at your door doesn’t mean they shouldn’t know more about your organization and why it’s a wonderful place to work. Find ways to build relationships with passive candidates.

Create effective job descriptions: Imagine you know nothing about the company – what is most important? Efficient, effective job descriptions attract talent by highlighting unique company benefits, including training and development opportunities and well-being programs. The more you show someone how much they can thrive at your company, the more interested they become.

Advertise what sets you apart: Showcase what makes your culture special and unique. Knowing and promoting your organization’s key strengths will make it easier to attract top talent.

Leverage your internal team: Employee advocates validate your company’s culture and core values. Feature employee testimonials on your careers pages, job listings, social media, and other marketing efforts. Employee referral programs can also help. Empower company ambassadors.

Stand out as an employer of choice: People want to work for – and do business with – companies with the best workplace cultures. Earning third-party, credible employer recognition such as a Top Workplaces award shows your employees believe in your company. It’s an excellent way to boost your brand.

Create brand awareness through social media: Use social media to grow brand awareness, promote your unique culture, and build credibility. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are visible places to showcase company events, highlight employee testimonials, and connect with top talent.

Education and community outreach: Partnering with local community projects or schools demonstrates your company’s core values and helps reach a target market. Consider creating a company internship or mentoring program.

Host an open house or job fair: Allow applicants to experience your organization up close and personal by hosting an open house or job fair. The guest list can be as broad as an open social media invitation or as exclusive as a personal email invite to referrals sourced from current employees. Virtual opportunities are especially effective when in-person events aren’t an option or when candidates are geographically dispersed.

Create a great experience for candidates: A positive experience ensures your organization delivers on expectations and also can lead to positive reviews. Incorporating virtual events and location flexibility in the interview process helps companies reach more candidates. Plus, it shows a higher level of support and understanding from leadership, attracting more job seekers. 

Extend job offers quickly: When someone is actively looking for a job, it usually means they are applying elsewhere. Extending a job offer quickly shows applicants the company sees value in them. Timeliness creates more room for discussion with the candidate, allowing your company to make competitive offers. It also shows your team values efficiency.

Reach out to former employees: Former employees are often overlooked when it comes to employee recruitment and acquisition. Staying in touch with top talent helps companies improve the ability to match individuals with meaningful roles.

Stay in touch with good candidates: Sometimes there are too many qualified candidates and not enough open positions. During those times, explain there will be more openings down the road. Staying in touch with good candidates increases your talent pool.

Bob Helbig is media partnerships director at Energage, a Philadelphia-based employee survey firm. Energage is The Washington Post’s survey partner for Top Workplaces.