Need Recruitment Tips? It’s a Lot Like Sales Right Now

There are so many employers looking to recruit new staff that you need to stand out in the crowd, especially because the process for finding new staff has changed drastically over the last few years and over the course of the pandemic. Much like with sales, by putting your business in front of the right people, you’ll get your vacancies filled, your business will be more productive, and your new employees will thrive. Here are some recruitment tips to help you compete.

Job seekers have clear ideas of where they want to work. Your task as an employer is to be clear about what your workplace has to offer. Job ads and descriptions aren’t likely to attract the same interest as in the past. They're a good foundation, but what you really need are clear qualifications, expectations and company culture defined in your recruitment process. These will help you (and your potential candidates) avoid wasted effort. By adopting new recruitment strategies, you’ll have fewer resumes that don’t meet your needs and job seekers can see right away they’re not interested.

Recruitment Tips: Keep Using Popular Job-Posting Apps, Then Optimize Them

Why is recruitment like sales right now? Three outside forces have affected recruitment and retention in eastern Ontario:

COVID has changed the needs and expectations of workers;
Not enough people have been trained in in-demand skills;
Older workers are retiring and the available younger workforce is dwindling.

These factors have combined to create a worker shortage. This shortage has added more urgency to your recruitment strategies. Tough times: but you can come out ahead by recruiting well. As with sales, you need to let employees know what’s in it for them.

Now is the time to do all that’s needed to reach job seekers qualified for your jobs and interested in working for you. For this you’ll need to take a deeper look at how you can recruit the right candidates to fulfill bigger roles with fewer workers without burn out.

When you’re putting the word out for your jobs you can show:

How your workplace meets new worker expectations. Employees have an ideal workplace in mind. An appealing work environment that meets needs such as good benefits, flexible hours and social awareness can net you a great employee who’ll thrive with your company because they’ll be proud to work for you and appreciate what you offer. Consider these your workplace features and benefits.
How you’ll help them get trained to meet your workplace needs. Whether the job you’re posting is a dream job or not, opportunities for growth can be a powerful motivator. Give employees the tools they need and encourage them to work towards promotions or new skills, and you’ll earn loyalty as you nurture better trained and competent staff.
What you’ll do to keep them. It’s like supply and demand. There are fewer workers so you’ve got to meet the rising cost of acquiring staff, whatever the currency may be. It’s not always money, however bonuses for good work are appealing as are recognition and respect.

Hurray! Recruiters, Now Is Your Chance to Sell Your Workplace to Job Seekers

Just like in sales, tap into your network when you’re looking to fill jobs. Let your followers, peers and friends know you’re hiring. They’ll be able to pass a name on to you or share your job opportunity to their network. Even people not actively looking for work could be open to a good opportunity they hear from a trusted source.

Then get online to use all the resources available to you. There are a variety of job-posting hubs you can use to get your vacancies known; the key is to use them well. And use all of them. Moving out of your comfort zone and using a variety of platforms — even if you’ve not worked with them before or they’ve been unsuccessful in the past — gives you the most reach. Your best new employee might come from a posting you didn’t expect would get any traction at all. Who knows from where your next great employee will originate.

Here’s a Look at 5 Sites to Help With Recruitment

These recruitment platforms have been around for a while, meaning users trust these platforms and have found success with them. As with the ubiquitous online shopping platforms Shopify and Amazon, users gravitate to what they’re used to. So make sure you have a presence here:

Magnet - just like its name, the Magnet platform attracts and connects the right people for your job postings. It allows you to recruit students and new graduates along with the right skilled workers, making it easier for you to recruit based on your specific needs.
LinkedIn - this platform, used to connect professionals, hosts a wealth of talent and has a recruitment arm, LinkedIn Recruiter, to fast-track recruitment based on user profiles. You can access candidates who’ve already shown interest and skills in the careers you need filled.
Job Bank - Job Bank is a staple of job-seeker resources. It provides you with wide-reaching access to job seekers across Canada. People are comfortable looking here because the job bank portal has been around for a long time, and it’s a simple, straightforward connection to available jobs.
Monster - As a recruitment platform, Monster is, as the name implies, a huge resource for job seekers and a simple avenue for recruiters to post their positions. It’s full of helpful information about the companies who post, so candidates can have a clear idea of what they’re getting into when they apply to your company.
Indeed - If you’re looking for a quick way to get your vacancy out there, Indeed offers a quick job-posting form to get it out fast. Subscribers to Indeed can apply filters for the jobs they’re notified about, so you can be sure your job openings are seen by keen users.

This is why you still need the defined information we talked about before: clear qualifications, expectations and company culture. Once you’ve named those, all you need to do is modify them to fit into each platform. Local job boards find and repost jobs in their area too, so you get even more exposure in your area.