So the time has come for you to find more staff for your Business. You have written a pretty good advert, it clearly articulates the job, the rewards, it’s not too long and is clearly titled with a universal term to avoid confusion. You post it and pray hard that someone even close to an A-Grade talent will stumble across your literary masterpiece.
At that moment, you WAKE UP because some tumbleweed just crashed into your desk…………It’s been one week already and your best option is a car mechanic that thought Mechanical Engineering was a logical next career step. You edit the advert, add some buzzwords and list a salary………the silence becomes deafening.
The majority of Australian businesses seem to have a default strategy for recruitment, online job board posting. It’s often the one and only strategy they employ to fill jobs because they just don’t have the time or expertise to try anything else. In fact I have seen large multi-nationals simply continue to post the same role over and over on job boards for a period 6 months hoping for a different outcome from the same strategy. Madness.
I am not bashing online job boards here, because at many levels of business it actually does a pretty good job. Sure it can create plenty of work and 85% of the traffic are probably wasting your time but around 15% are often worth engaging with and on most occasions you will recruit someone.
In my experience, the problems start when you add an element of complexity into what you’re looking for e.g. Engineering sales manager with strong O & G knowledge or a Registered Surveyor with under 6 years’ experience to be based regionally.
If you’re getting more tumbleweeds than quality candidates, here are my top 5 steps for when online job boards fails to deliver joy;
Internal Referrals – mark my words, someone in your business knows your next hire. They may not be their best buddies but sure they know some names of top talent across the industry. Ask them for some names, sit down with them and explain the role and follow up with the individuals they refer to at least introduce yourself.
Client Referrals – this option is very rarely used and I have no idea why. Ask your trusted clients: Out of interest – Who in the industry does a great job for you doing X? Approach these people and at least invite them for a coffee. People love an ego boost and who knows, they might be thinking about a move or refer someone else that’s even better.
Share the vacancy across the company’s social media channels. If you don’t have them it’s time to start them – its 2016! At worst, send out the requirement across the company and get individuals to post the content to their LinkedIn accounts, Facebook or Twitter.
Your business association or national body careers page or newsletter. E.g. Engineers Australia, Civil Contractors federation etc. Your next hire could well be a member and might read this at a time when they are starting to think about a move.
Professional Social Networking Sites (E.g.LinkedIn) – It’s the biggest professional networking website in the world. Get a free trial of premium recruiter for a month, use the free search functions or a month to month membership for under $200.
Finding real talent and quality employee’s that fit your role & fit into your business is not easy. You might get lucky with the odd “post it and pray strategy” but you are often best to at least start to develop a plan B & C for any key roles you might find yourself recruiting for in the future.
