How to Find Employees: Proven Strategies for Identifying Top Talent

<div class="grey-callout">
<h2>Key Takeaways</h2>
<ul>
<li>Use multiple Applicant Attraction Channels.</li>
<li>In most cases, use these channels in the following order: employer referrals and career pages, jobs sites or recruitment advertising agencies, social media, and recruitment agencies. There are additional options which might be useful in very specific circumstances.</li>
<li>There are exceptions to this order in the cases of recurring, urgent, and confidential roles, and for retail and hospitality roles.</li>
<li>Don’t bother with newspaper and magazine job sites, PR agencies and the gimmicky games that some organisations try to recruit with.</li>
</ul>
</div>

Use Multiple Applicant Attraction Channels

To attract both active applicants (those jobseekers actively looking for work) and passive applicants (persons not looking for a new job, but open to discussing new opportunities) you’ll need to use more than one Applicant Attraction Channel - this really is a cornerstone of recruitment. Hiring managers often run into trouble because they don’t understand the advantages and disadvantages of each, don’t make optimal use of them, and end up with a smaller number of applicants than they might otherwise have achieved.

In general, I recommend that you use Applicant Attraction Channels in the following order:

1. Employee referrals and employer career pages: It can take time for referrals to produce any applicants so it’s good to begin early by setting up an employee referral scheme. If you happen to have an employer career page then publicise the job there too. Neither of these cost much to do and it’s worth giving them a go at the beginning of your search. There’s more information about these in our guides, Simple Steps to Create a Powerful Employee Referral Program and Why Most Employer Career Pages Fail (& How to Make Sure Yours Doesn’t) and chapter 4.

2. Job sites or recruitment advertising agencies: These channels deliver applicants quickly and cheaply. You’ll need to place your advert on a sufficient number of job sites (not just one!) or work with a recruitment advertising agency who will do this for you. Recruitment advertising agencies can also write your job adverts. For more on these, see our guides, Navigate Job Sites Like a Pro: Strategies to Fill Your Vacancies Fast and Insider Secrets: Select the Best Recruitment Advertising Agency.

3. Social media, including LinkedIn: Promote your job on all your social media channels. Include in your posts a prominent link which takes jobseekers straight to the advert. It can be handy to ask your employees to share the link on their own accounts, too. LinkedIn is only useful for senior and specialist roles. Our guides, From Likes to Hires: Tips & Tricks for Social Media Recruitment and LinkedIn Hiring Secrets: Proven Methods to Recruit the Best Talent will assist you if you need to brush up on your social media skills.

4. Recruitment agencies: The direct hiring methods above are suitable for employers with the internal capability and capacity, but not every employer has the time, inclination, and expertise. In these instances, if affordable, outsource to one of three types of recruitment agency – contingency, retained, and executive search – you need to choose the best for your circumstance.  For more information, refer to our guide, The Truth About Recruitment Agencies: Choose the Right Type.

• Contingency recruitment agencies only charge an employer when they successfully introduce a candidate. However, this encourages employers to use multiple contingency recruitment agencies, inadvertently making a recruitment consultant less motivated and committed to filling a job.
• Retained recruitment agencies work exclusively on an employer’s vacancy and charge an upfront retainer. This financial commitment demonstrates a partnership, meaning the retained agency is committed to finding the best candidates available at that point in time. A common misconception is that they only operate at senior levels, however they are equally suitable for support roles. 
• Executive search and selection (aka headhunters) also work exclusively on a job and charge an upfront retainer. However, they only work on senior-level vacancies, and undertake robust searches for passive applicants. Identifying passive applicants is particularly important for senior and specialist jobs, or simply those in challenging locations.

5. Recruitment advisor or HR consultant: These are another popular outsourcing solution because they can provide commercial advice and practical help with direct hiring methods, making them an affordable solution for organisations with a persistent hiring requirement. Our guide, The Strategic Advantage of Recruitment Advisors & HR Consultants will give you more information.

There are other niche Applicant Attract Channels that may be appropriate in specific circumstances

6. Blogs for recruitment: If an organisation has a website with a large volume of traffic, they may wish to produce high-quality articles in a blog on their website to attract active and passive applicants. Whilst it can be slow and sporadic, when used on an already popular website it may be an effective long-term recruitment strategy. A separate guide, Are Recruitment Blogs Worth It? Understanding the Real Return on Investment, has instructions for how to do this

7. Jobcentre: If you have a limited recruitment budget, high staff turnover, or need blue-collar workers, the Jobcentre could be useful. But don’t be fooled by the free job advertising; the hidden cost is the time you waste with irrelevant applicants. Find out more in our guide, The Reality of Jobcentre Advertising: More Hassle than it’s Worth

8. Job and Career Fairs: Aimed at active jobseekers, these may be suitable if you have a significant and immediate hiring requirement. Our guide, Discover the True Value of Exhibiting at Job & Career Fairs, tells you all you need to know.

‍

<span class="purple-callout"><p>A quick note – I'm available to offer advice or practical help. Feel free to book a call.</p><p>Or check out my best-selling talent acquisition book for further guidance.</p><p>For only £199, my flat-fee recruiter service can advertise a job on the UK's top job boards.</p></span>

‍

Common Exceptions

For most jobs, this is the best order in which to use the Applicant Attraction Channels. There are a few exceptions to this, however:

• Recurring roles: If you constantly need new staff then you should use multiple channels all the time so that you’re not panicking when you lose someone. Anonymous job adverts are best because jobseekers might interpret regular recruiting as an indication that your company has a staff turnover problem.
• Time-sensitive roles: It’s best to start off trying to find someone yourself using recruitment advertising agencies or job site advertising – for a week or so – that way you’ll avoid recruitment fees for candidates that you could have reached on your own.
• Confidential roles: For these, place anonymous adverts on job sites or use a retained/executive search recruitment agency, recruitment advisor or HR consultant.
• Retail and hospitality: A good approach is to put an advert in a shop window with clear instructions about how to apply.

‍

Avoid These Recruitment Methods

There are a few channels that I’d recommend you actively avoid:

• Newspaper and industry websites: Many traditional publications have tried to make up for falling revenues by setting up their own job sites, but editorial skills don’t imply recruitment know-how and these sites aren’t likely to be any better than general job sites. 
• Games: Some prominent employers have tried to use games to attract applicants. While these might be fun and generate publicity, they’re in no way guaranteed to find you suitable applicants.
• PR agencies: Recruiting the right people requires a specific set of skills and these aren’t the same as those used to build brands or celebrity egos.‍
• Videos and podcasts: They often spotlight an individual as a thought leader rather than showcasing a company as an attractive employer. For live video events, engagement is low because jobseekers have busy diaries and want to maintain anonymity in case their current employer finds out.