In our last post, we discussed strategies for retaining talent in a difficult labor market. Hopefully, you’ve focused efforts there, but most likely, you also need to figure out the best ways to recruit talent.
Here are some ideas for doing so:
1. Expose Yourself! Exposure is a key problem in attracting talent, especially for B2B companies. Developing programs that expose people in the community to your company and jobs are important. We aren’t all Apple and Google.
You can do this through partnership with schools in your area, marketing campaigns, involvement in community and charitable endeavors and by giving your employees tools to talk about your company in the community in a positive way. An employee referral program may be a good strategy related to this.
Work with your marketing department to create a communications plan for exposure in your primary geographic area(s) for recruitment.
2. Look for talent in all the “wrong” places. Explore looking for talent that you may not have ever considered before. Here are a few areas to consider and resources and ideas to connect with these populations:
- Individuals with criminal records. There is a significant national movement to hire those with prior backgrounds. Many organizations fear doing this, but there are multiple reasons do so in the right context. Check out these resources:
- “Stay-at-home” moms or moms that have left the workforce to raise children and are now wanting to return. This could also include people who have left the workforce to care for people other than their children.
JPMorgan Chase ReEntry Program
- The “retired” or “semi-retired”.
- Outsource. Contractors, consulting firms and/or freelancers may be the best way to get work done.
Oftentimes when you connect with diverse talent pools, you see that you need to think differently about how jobs may be structured. Not everything requires a traditional FTE. Some of your best and most productive workers just may be a shift in mindset away.
3. Reevaluate your wages. More on this here. I’ll be speaking on this at SHRM19 in Las Vegas at 10:45 am on Tuesday, June 25th, so if you’re there, come join me for an in-depth dive on this.
What is one thing you can do today to boost your recruiting efforts?
