Human Resources Blog - Spark Hire
Year-Round Recruiting 101: What You Need to Know

Year-Round Recruiting 101: What You Need to Know

Recruiting for an open position is exhausting. While you’re searching for talent and putting them through the hiring process, your team is struggling to cover the responsibilities of the open role. Yet, given the current talent shortage, many companies have discovered year-round recruiting is the most effective and efficient way to find necessary employees. In fact, in a March 2019 CareerBuilder survey, 51 percent of respondents said they were recruiting all year, even for jobs that weren’t yet vacant.

For many internal recruiters, this requires a major shift to their process. To help you make the change with confidence, we asked recruiting experts how they approach recruiting for positions they don’t yet have open. Here’s what they had to say:

Connect with professors

Matthew RossOur team is somewhat small so employee turnover can have a large effect on the operations and productivity of the company as a whole. Even just one person leaving can throw our company into a funk. As such, my business partner and I need to be ready to fill a position at a moment’s notice.

Given this, we have come up with a year-round recruiting tactic. Effectively, we like to form close relationships with professors at our local university. We take them out to lunch, discuss their research, and do whatever it takes to get to know them on a personal level so we can call on them at a moment’s notice to recommend current or past students.

So far, this strategy has worked great. In fact, in 2018, several of our hires were a direct result of professor recommendations. Ultimately, we feel like this is a win-win-win relationship for all parties involved. Professors get to make an even more meaningful impact on their university, students get the inside track for jobs, and we get top performing candidates.

Matthew Ross, co-owner and COO of The Slumber Yard

Use predictive analytics

Chris Chancey Predictive analytics is kind of a new trend in HR and recruiting, and the data collected by these emerging tools is proving to be a game-changer in helping employers identify talent gaps and future hiring needs. At the same time, recruiters must do more than just source for talent — they should also assume the role of industry analyst to fully understand the changing dynamics of their industry, future uncertainties, and the trends to anticipate.

Founder of Amplio Recruiting

Get everyone involved

Rudeth ShaughnessyBecause people are job hopping now more than any time in history, desirable talent is being freed up all the time, requiring recruiting to adapt and be active year round.

Share the burden of recruitment with other departments. Attracting talent should be a cross-departmental effort that overlays with brand, communication, and social media departments. If done right, your company should have a steady trickle of qualified candidates coming to you.

Think more about advertising your company culture rather than advertising specific positions. If you can position your company as an employment leader in your industry, you will have no trouble attracting candidates once positions do open up.

Rudeth Shaughnessy, retired HR and current volunteer director at Copy My Resume

Put your ‘menu’ out there

Baron Christopher HansonThe secret is to always be advertising, posting, canvassing, and releasing our turnaround-brand in select marketplaces (events, campuses, cities, and niche areas known for who and what we’re after for clients).

We always seek smart, tough, no whining, diversely capable, financially savvy, courageous women and men who can metaphorically go through a brick wall and support a variety of business, logistics, sales, and PR leadership roles in any turnaround situation. What this also means is that we can meet with, interview, collect, and keep bio and resume details on file anytime throughout the year.

This gives us a small inroad, and we typically have a small busload of 20-30 prospective hires to communicate with down the road for each emerging role. When actual roles come up and a job offer and agreement can be made it writing, we have people ready and waiting.

Even though more than 50 percent of our contacts will have already taken a position, moved to another city, or otherwise be unavailable, many are still available. And if they’re not, they’re almost always able to refer us to someone else they know who can do the job or wants the job.  

Baron Christopher Hanson, lead consultant and owner of RedBaron Consulting, LLC

Rely on employee referrals

Nate Masterson There are tons of resources at your fingertips when looking for a new employee, but you don’t have to look further than your existing team! The people already working for your company are, hopefully, capable people you trust.

Therefore, ask them for referrals and recommendations of people who might be a good fit for the position you’re trying to fill. Offer an incentive for employees who suggest a candidate that lasts at the company for at least three months.

Options include extra vacation time, a cash bonus, or even a thoughtful gift. By giving your employees some extrinsic motivation to help you find a quality employee, you get them more invested in the search while you gain the benefit of tapping into their countless resources.

Nate Masterson, HR manager of Maple Holistics

 


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Josh Tolan

Josh Tolan is the Founder and CEO of Spark Hire, a video interviewing platform used by 6,000+ customers in over 100 countries.