Who hasn’t in the course of their lifetime heard the question: “How did you hear about us?” In response, we probably paid no attention and ticked the box marked‘random’. But if you work in recruitment and are deciding what channels for recruitment suit your business best, you will care very much about this cliffhanger question. The answers to this question are vital if you work in recruitment and you’re trying to establish which are the best recruitment channels for your business. As every recruiter knows, in order to get the best candidates on tight budgets, it’s desirable not to waste money on time-wasting recruitment channels.
Today, the choice of solutions to this eternal puzzle are as plentiful as ever before. Yet, the solution will always be twofold – find the recruitment channels and identify those channels that attract top candidates.
Which of the below is it?
- Job boards?
- Social media channels?
- Your company’s website?
Furthermore, in what way do these different channels adapt to entry-level employees, senior, and middle management?
Alas, no one solution fits- all exists since each company is unique and the hiring solution for one won’t be the one for another. Fear not, however, as we have assembled below the 9 top recruitment channels to help boost your efforts to recruit in 2020.
The efficiency of recruitment channels
To make the best choice of recruitment channels, remember to stay on the ball with metrics. We’ve mentioned in the past metrics such as cost per hire, when to hire, hired candidate quality and employee turnover and attrition. The ideal scenario would be tracking these per roles, per position level, or per job family.
When it comes to deciding how efficient each channel is, take the below into consideration:
- Number of applicants attracted by each channel
- Number of quality candidates attracted by each channel
- Origin of interviewed candidates
- How did the candidates hear about the role
You will be able to control your budget by analyzing this data and direct you to where to concentrate your efforts.
Which channels boost your hiring?
So, efficiency metrics are great but let’s get down to the real point of this article – Below are the 9 top channels for recruitment you should look into.
1. Online job boards
First off is the most popular place to look. With over 41 million people looking for jobs and subsequently recruited each year, online job boards account for 60% of these. Target therefore the main players when placing your job posting, such as Monster, Glassdoor, and Indeed, (Indeed has over 250 million visitors per month) in order to increase the likelihood of ideal candidates looking at it.
However, spread your adverts across multiple job boards –not just one. Niche job boards are useful for specific sectors. Yes, niche boards get fewer hits but they tend to attract more of the top quality hits you need.
And remember, of course. to be creative in writing your job adverts:
- Start with an eye-catching title– make it stick out from the crowd
- Make it human and tune into their emotions– draw them in with one opening paragraph that will make your candidates want to carry on reading.
- Fill it with keywords– whilst it is for people to read, it should also be for AI’s eyes as well for ranking and scanning for relevancy, so use keywords relevant to your candidate audience – not forgetting the location of course.
- Sell the job to them– rather than just writing a shopping list of responsibilities, whittle these down to two or three; put the emphasis on the on-job e.g. flexible working, Thursday social events, free gym membership, healthcare, casual dress for Fridays, etc.
2. Company/corporate website
Candidates interested in your role (in particular if you’re an unknown startup) will want to go and check out your website. This will be part of your corporate branding and the cheapest part of that. Passive yet effective nonetheless, in both giving your business credibility and attracting potential clients and future employees.
Set aside a page for careers so that all opportunities are visible to any visitors whilst at the same time attracting pro-active job seekers even if you’re not recruiting. Make this clear at the top of the page. Remember to incorporate analytics here (as you would for your business anyway) so you can track the page’s usage. This will work for your push to recruit.
Google Analytics on every page will give you visibility on sources of talent and how it matches with your values as an employer. One last point – make it mobile-friendly since 45% of job hunters look for jobs on their mobile daily of which 77% will use their phone to apply.
3. Employee referrals
As a means of recruitment, employee referrals are considered as one of the most efficient. After all, employees are only going to recommend people they see as ideal colleagues for them and their company – without wanting to risk their career at the same time. For the company, it’s a sure way of saving time and money looking for those ideal candidates as the candidates come to you.
How then do you get your employees to recommend your company to their entourage?
- Referral programs. Allocate some of your budgets to financial rewards for employees referring to people who get hired.
- Even reward those referrals who don’t get hired in the end. This will keep people referring.
- Make it a competition so people know and are keen on the referral process.
- Start new employees on the referral habit from their first day.
4. Social media
Social networks are a tremendous channel for recruiting. Get into it early with a by planning your social network recruitment strategy, and you will be savvy about using social media.
Ask yourself how you can communicate best with your target candidates via messaging. If managed well, recruitment via social media can reach widely for a lesser cost.
-
- Get your employees to put your job adverts on their social media accounts.
- Keep an eye on employer branding as it is considered as one of the most efficient recruitment sources.
- Gone are the days when the boomers looked for a job for life. Millennials and Gen Z view jobs instead place the emphasis on actual benefits: financial benefits, flexible working, career promotion, and more time out as motivating factors to work for a company.
- Put out there why your company is great to work for.
-
- Let your employees do the content creation for you.
- Organize tours of your company to interested parties.
- Use videos to show a ‘day in the life of’ of your company from your CEO to your receptionist.
-
5. Events
There are two types of events – those to entice candidates (hiring events) and those for networking (industry events) – particularly useful for high-level employees.
Don’t forget events on campus at universities and to promote your job vacancies and internships on school job boards. As not all candidates can pay for top universities, don’t leave out the small campuses.
Get your research done into the universities that specialize in what you do. For example, Cornell University for hospitality, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) well known in IT circles and coders via the University of California, Berkeley.
6. Trade journals
Don’t dismiss trade journals as useless – they’re ideal for recruiting senior positions. Bear in mind that unlike Millenials, only 48% of boomers go online, reflecting the different ways that different generations look for a job.
Trade journal adverts are useful in attracting the specific potential candidates you are looking for. On top of which it is cheaper an option with a wider reach geographically.
7. Candidate rediscovery
Matching past candidates with new vacancies is the essence of candidate rediscovery as a recruitment channel. Using AI with this channel will give you search and rank visibility over potential candidates who have shown an interest in the past in your company.
Even if they lack the skills you need – they can learn these – focus on potential hires who have soft skills and would be a good match for your company and your company culture and the rest will follow.
8. Email campaign
Consider carrying out an email campaign to advertise a job opening. Your email list is a list of people who have signed up to hear more from your company or the people in your talent pool. Let these readers know there is an opening available, should they wish to work for you.
It’s an easy drive: candidates know who you are and they are interested in what you do to the point of getting your newsletter. Make the most of this.
Did you know: email is 40 times more successful for client acquisition than Facebook and Twitter put together.
9. Internal recruitment
You’ve tried the above and they haven’t worked out? Check you haven’t already got the ideal candidate for your vacancy on your payroll. Avoid wasting time and finances on hiring campaigns as you could have the ideal employee in your company – senior roles in particular. Look at who you’ve invested in and are lining up for promotion based on their reliability and skillset. Why not look where you and they can take each other?
On top of which, there’ll be no leak in knowledge and no waiting for new employees to learn the job.
Parting thought
When you see the potential of these channels, there should be no difficulty in hiring the best talent for your business in 2020. Don’t forget to concentrate on metrics, and that the channels you’ve decided to keep reaping your rewards in relation to the recruitment needs of your business.
