ALRA founder Brett Clemenson shares his advice for businesses who want to hire great talent WITHOUT hiring a recruiter.
1. Advertise the job
Many businesses have first-hand experience of posting job advertisements that haven’t worked. Maybe you received very few applications or conversely, maybe there were a large number of applications but none of them were appropriate for the role. We experience this very often too, but regardless, advertising is still an essential part of the process because you don’t want to miss out on those occasions where a great candidate applies.
Take the time to ensure the ad you write not only specifies which requirements the candidate needs to meet, but also highlights the interesting aspects of the role and the benefits of working for your company. Remember you want to be as attractive as possible to appeal to the best candidates.
Once you’ve perfected your ad, be sure to put it up on all the relevant sources you can. Specifically, your website, Seek, CareerOne, LinkedIn and Indeed. It’s important to cover all your bases.
2. Utilise your networks
Once you have you’ve posted your ad to all the necessary places, get everyone in the office to share it. Use all available social media or other platforms that your organisation and staff have to spread the word that you’re hiring. Ask that your employees each make at least three phone calls to people within their networks that they believe may be interested in the role. Casting a bigger net by sharing your ad as much as possible greatly improves your chance of finding the right person for the job.
3. Dig through the archives
It’s a good idea to check to see if you have any relevant previous applicants on file. Another important step is to search through databases like Seek to see if you can find potential candidates to approach there.
Try to leave no stone unturned in searching for potential talent. The wider the talent pool, the better your shortlist will be and the higher the likelihood of hiring a top quality employee who is of great value to your business.
4. Interview the talent
Hopefully after implementing the first three steps, you will have found a number of candidates who could do the job you’re looking to fill. Interviewing the best of the bunch to better establish their character and suitability to the role is the next step. The number of candidates worth interviewing is subjective and will vary depending on the role and the number of worthwhile applicants.
It’s also a good idea to call the references of your front-runners. Many will have asked their friends to be their references, but the conversation can still be illuminating when you ask the right questions.
If you’re a business that wants to avoid paying recruitment fees, following these four steps is your best approach.
If you see the position as business critical and you don’t currently have the time and resources available for hiring, then it’s a good idea to hire a recruiter. Keep in mind that recruiters are busy and the more time you can give them the better. The important thing is to make a choice – either conduct your own search via the above steps or engage a recruiter. Don’t try and do both at the same time, because the process becomes messy and you can wind up wasting everyone’s time.