As the job market begins to pick back up, are you finding it more difficult to recruit top talent to your organization? When you are recruiting either employees or volunteers, one of the key objectives is to hire the very best. How do you that in a competitive market – on a budget? Here are a few simple things that you can do with minimal investment and a little bit of time.
- Educate the candidate on your organization – “Why would I want to be a part of your organization?” Use social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube to give candidates information about your organization and what makes it great; examples being, community events, relevant business news, organization culture, etc. Not only will this draw candidates in, but it will also weed out the ones who are not a good fit early on in the process.
- Make the application process easy – Whether electronic or paper, employee or volunteer; make the application process as simple as possible. Go back to the basics, collecting name, phone number and email. You will have an opportunity to get other necessary information further in the interview process, along with the necessary signatures for legal purposes. Consider using an applicant tracking system or volunteer management tool to allow candidates to easily upload their information and provide you with a consistent, easy to read format. This may require a bit of investment, but I think you will see an improvement in your recruitment ROI.
- Follow up with all relevant applicants – Have you ever applied for a job and never heard anything back from anyone? When you call to follow-up on your application, no one seems to know anything about the position or your application? This seems to be the norm for many, so to stand out and make a great impression, follow-up with your applicants. The type of follow-up can vary depending on how far in the process the individual has gotten. For example, it can be a simple auto acknowledgement of the application, to a personal phone call from the manager, recruiter or volunteer coordinator calling to say “thanks but no thanks”.
- Make a good impression in the first meeting – Whether it is interviewing for an office position or a volunteer giving their time on your organization’s behalf in the community, you want to make individuals want to work for you. Take the time to work with your team to ensure there is a solid interview plan in place and that there is a good balance, meaning the candidate can interview you as well.
These four points may seem easy, but they do take time and attention to the details. If your organization wants to staff up with top talent, make a “Candidate/Volunteer Commitment” and tackle one initiative at a time and give yoursefl time for the change to happen!
Erin Teter, SPHR
Sr. Human Resource Business Partner
Sage North America
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