1. India Industries

We need candidates. We need candidates. We need candidates.

No question, candidates are once again in short supply. And while we’re not quite back to the talent shortages we faced in 1999, finding qualified candidates has become a major issue throughout the industry.

So, where can you find talent these days?

While there are no magic answers, there are four fundamental recruiting strategies you can implement:

1. Attract new candidates
2. Reactivate former candidates
3. Develop candidates (via training)

Reactivation programs may be the fastest way to build your talent database. And developing talent via training (ranging from on-the-job experience to formal training classes and computer-based training) can be an effective long-term strategy.

But to keep job orders filled, most staffing and recruiting firms will need to rely on effective tactics for attracting candidates. So how can you get more people recruiting through your firm?

Here are a few ideas to attract new talent, get more referrals, and improve retention:

Include more selling points about the job, the client, and your firm. Include the client name when you can (and where it helps). In online postings, link directly to an online application, so it’s easy to apply. Include a clear call to action (invite people to apply). Write with a more warm, friendly, and conversational tone.

Include all creative benefits while advertising.

• Provide regular communication.
• Stay in touch and nurture relationships, even when you don’t have a job that’s right for the candidate.
• Pay attention to little details like being responsive to calls and e-mails and making the effort to remember each person’s birthday and work anniversary.
• Shop the competition and make sure you’re treating people a little better than they are.
• Improve your service process.
• Expand free training programs.
• Offer career management help.
• Improve technology to make working with your firm easier.
• Be more responsive to candidate calls and e-mails.
• Build a database of candidates you can regularly ask for referrals. You will need to create a tool like an e-newsletter for regular communication, and then build a database of people who want to receive your newsletter. Ideas to build your database include:
• Add a sign-up box to your application form.
• Direct mail to candidate influencers (e.g., college placement offices, training schools, etc.). Provide these people with sign-up cards for your candidate newsletter that they can give out.
• Collect sign-ups at job fairs.
• Promote your candidate newsletter on your website.
• Direct mail to targeted lists of high skill candidates with incentives for applying and/or opting-in to your newsletter.
• Provide current associates with sign-up cards that they can distribute.
• Send e-mail to current candidates asking for referrals.
• Ask for referrals in each issue of your candidate newsletter.
  
  

Look for every opportunity to ask for referrals, and then create structured processes to ensure you are consistently asking for them. Possible opportunities include:

• During reference checks
• On your application form
• As part of the interview process
• Setting up a regular schedule to ask existing candidates for referrals
• Partner with clients to become a resource for candidates they recruit but do not want to hire
  
  

• Provide a chance to win big prizes or cash for each referral submitted
• Hold a monthly drawing for significant prizes; each referral a person provides earns that person one entry into the drawing.
• Create a points system for referrals (a referral rewards program). Each person an individual refers earns that person points that can later be redeemed for prizes ranging from company branded items to higher value hard goods, trips, etc.