There are countless issues that can stand in the way of finding a great new hire. But there are also plenty of ways you can overcome them. Learn how to target your ideal employee better and prove to them that your company is a great place to work, and you’ll have new people working for your company in no time.

1. Use Branding

Your company needs to have some type of “employer brand” – a way that potential applicants see you so that they are attracted to your business. Without that brand, you’re asking applicants to take time to apply to a company they don’t know, for pay and perks that are a mystery to them. Many won’t.

You’ll want to take time to develop your employer brand. Market yourself online, offer incentives and perks that make you attractive to the applicant (and show you care about them), and create a presence that will attract far more applicants.

2. Implement a Hiring process

Companies without a hiring process already in place are putting themselves in a worse position for hiring than those that do not. You should make sure that you have a process for hiring. Some companies go out there and attract talent before a position is even opened, so that they’ never have to start from scratch. At the very least, you should have some type of process in place so that you’re not starting from scratch each time.

3. Create honest and interesting Job Advertisements

Your job advertisement is extremely important. It’s a form of branding (which we noted earlier is crucial), and it shows applicants who you’re truly looking for. Chances are you’re getting applications, but not from the people you want to hire. Maybe the problem is that your application isn’t attracting the right people. Consider changing it to improve the quality of your applicants.

4. Go looking in the right places

Trying to find an experienced process engineer or a hydrologist using a generic free job board or even worse an expensive generic job board is the definition of a bad fishing trip. If you are looking for niche technical engineering skills, you wouldn’t use a job board that appeals to accountants, and vice versa. You need to make sure you’re marketing strategy is targeting the places that potential employees can see it. E.g. Special interest groups on LinkedIn, specialist publications or websites, journals or conferences.

5. Make your company an “Employer of Choice”

Even with the best branding, adverts and attraction strategies if your rates of pay are well below the opposition or your offices are old, tired and just west of Timbuktu you are going to struggle. Are you offering benefits? Good money? Reasonable money? Perks? Are you valuing the employee correctly? Your ideal employee is going to be highly valued by your competitors. If you’re not paying them their fair share or offering them reason to start working for you, you’re not going to get their application. Money is not everything and it is well documented that people will work for you for less than other firms, but you need to be offering some love on the side. Ask yourself, what does your company really offer?

There are countless issues that can stand in the way of finding a great new hire. But there are also plenty of ways you can overcome them.