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What’s Your Favorite Talent Sourcing Technique?

To help you discover innovative ways to source top talent, we asked business owners, CEOs, and HR professionals to share their most effective techniques. From looking for candidates internally to utilizing PPC challenges, explore these talent sourcing strategies shared by industry leaders.

Utilize Your Internal Talent Bank

Sourcing candidates from the internal talent bank has worked well for us. We have a huge database of applications and information about candidates who have already gone through our company’s selection process or who have registered spontaneously.

On the basis of this data, we have categorized the candidates by skills, experience, and areas of interest. Thus, when a vacancy arises in our company, we search the talent bank for candidates who have a profile compatible with the open position.

This makes us agile in the sourcing process, as there are already previously evaluated candidates with available information.

Lou Reverchuk
Co-Founder and CEO, EchoGlobal

Ask for Referrals in Interviews

A unique and highly effective talent-sourcing technique we employ involves capitalizing on the networks of our prospective hires. Whenever we interview a candidate who shows promising talent and a high likelihood of joining our team, we make it a point to ask who in their personal or professional circle they would suggest as a potential addition to our company.

This strategy is based on the principle that top talent often surrounds itself with other high-performing individuals. By asking for referrals during the interview process, we are effectively extending our reach into their personal and professional circles.

These referrals are typically noteworthy individuals, and having the candidate’s reference makes it much easier for us to approach them. Using the candidate’s recommendation as an introduction, we’re able to engage with these potential hires on a more personal level.

Martin Potocki
CEO, Jobera

Organize Hackathons 

Hackathons are events where programmers, designers and other creative individuals come together to collaborate and solve problems. They provide a unique opportunity to identify and recruit talented individuals who can contribute to your organization.

Here’s how it works: Organize or support a hackathon event focused on a specific theme or challenge related to your industry or company’s needs. During the event, interact with participants and observe their problem-solving skills, technical expertise, creativity and teamwork.  Provide incentives such as cash prizes, internship opportunities or job offers for outstanding performers or winning teams.

Use the hackathon as a networking opportunity to build relationships with talented individuals. Exchange contact information and stay in touch with those who impress you. After the event, reach out to the participants you were interested in and invite them to apply for relevant positions within your organization.

Luke Lee
CEO, Ever Wallpaper

Leverage Freelance Platforms

We’ve found really good levels of success hiring for specific skill sets by placing job ads, or searching for freelancers on platforms like Upwork. Some of these connections have led to long-term working relationships with specialists we return to again and again for work.

Another good technique we’ve found success with is finding candidates in relevant specialist skill forums like Reddit.

Sam Jacobs
Co-Founder, GrowRoom

Host Competitions 

One effective strategy for sourcing talent is hosting competitions. This isn’t just for coding hackathons either. This approach can work for any field!

If you’re hunting for creative talent, say, a copywriter, you can host a writing contest.  Let’s see who can whip up the most persuasive product description or the most captivating blog post. Or maybe you’re in the architectural field. Set up a design challenge for an innovative green building. This can really apply to any field and a modest prize will bring in lots of candidates.

The real beauty of this method is that it’s not just about spotting skills. Competitions like these attract ambitious, competitive folks. And those are exactly the kind of people who can drive your business forward!

Marko Lazarevic
Owner and Editor, Craft Coffee Spot

Start a Blog 

As someone who is responsible for hiring her own team of writers, I can say that starting a blog has been a unique and effective way for me to source talent. It served as a platform where I could discuss pressing health concerns and trends, ultimately drawing the attention of dedicated and informed individuals in the health field.

Within the initial six months of the blog’s inception, we attracted over 30,000 distinct visitors and connected with numerous potential team members. Among them was Dr. Barrios, who is now a key contributor to our team. Her debut article alone received more than 10,000 views within its first week.

Nadzeya Sankovich
Senior Journalist, Health Reporter

Build a Unique Employee Referral Program

A unique talent sourcing technique I’ve implemented is our employee referral program with a twist. In addition to offering monetary incentives, we organize friendly competitions or recognition programs for employees who refer exceptional candidates. This transforms employees into enthusiastic ambassadors.

This unique referral program has proven to be a powerful tool for talent acquisition, bringing in candidates who are a great fit culturally and professionally. Moreover, it strengthens our company culture by fostering teamwork, collaboration and a shared commitment to our success.

Curran Van Waarde
Founder, CallScaler

Post Targeted Facebook Ads

Running a digital agency has compelled me to think outside the box regarding talent sourcing. One unique method that has proven successful is leveraging social media, specifically Facebook, for targeted recruitment campaigns. These ads are incredibly cost-effective and allow us to precisely target professionals with relevant job titles at competitor organizations.

By broadcasting the dynamic roles and growth opportunities within our agency, these Facebook ads attract quality candidates and subtly reinforce the advantages of joining our team. This method has shown substantial success for both ourselves and our clients, delivering an economical and efficient way to find new, high-quality talent. It’s a testament to the power of innovative, targeted recruitment in a digital age.

Shane Mcevoy
MD, Flycast Media

Leverage Personal Brands on LinkedIn

We all know that having employees sharing job openings on LinkedIn helps boost reach and engagement… But we take it a step further. Our entire company is encouraged to build personal brands, and create original content on LinkedIn. They share personality alongside company content and thought leadership, highlighting our culture. Several of our employees have vast networks of 10,000+ followers, which increases our reach substantially.

When positions become available, our team members will mention it in their content, rather than just re-sharing a dull job listing.

We’ve seen great success from this—potential recruits often reach out to our employees asking about roles. It’s a more personal approach that enables us to find people who fit in with our company culture, from employees’ networks.

Emily Neal
SEO and Content Specialist, DSMN8

Schedule Short Video Interviews 

We receive thousands of applications every month at Kilo Health, and we believe in making the hiring process efficient and enjoyable for candidates and our team. It’s important for us to connect with as many candidates as possible to find the best talent. However, conducting hour-long interviews for every applicant can be time-consuming. That’s why we have implemented a creative solution.

We have established a dedicated sourcing team whose goal is to schedule short and engaging 15–20 minute video interviews with almost every candidate who applies for our open roles. This way, we are able to:

  • Speed up our candidate response time (48 to 72 hours on average)
  • “Meet” hundreds of candidates every month
  • Find the best talent possible (a CV doesn’t always show a person’s potential. On the other hand, a video interview allows candidates to show their potential and motivation much better)

Ilona Bernotaite Bernotaite
Chief People Officer, Kilo Health

Invite Prospects to Industry-Specific Challenges 

Instead of relying solely on traditional job postings or recruitment agencies, I invite prospective talents to participate in a real-world, yet non-client-specific pay-per-click (PPC) challenge.

This could be something like optimizing a mock Google Ads campaign or creating a compelling ad copy for a fictitious product. I usually announce these challenges through social media platforms, industry forums and my professional network.

The objective here is twofold. First, it enables potential candidates to demonstrate their abilities in a practical, hands-on manner. Traditional resumes or interviews often fail to capture a candidate’s creative thinking or problem-solving capabilities — this method brings those to the forefront.

Second, it creates a sense of community and engagement around our brand. Candidates appreciate the opportunity to showcase their skills, and they start associating our brand with innovation and opportunity, even if they aren’t ultimately chosen.

John Cammidge
PPC Trainer, Jcammidge

Nurturing Candidate Relationships: Effective Communication throughout the Recruitment Process

In today’s competitive job market, attracting top talent is only half the battle. To secure the best candidates, recruiters must also focus on nurturing candidate relationships throughout the recruitment process. Effective communication plays a pivotal role in building trust, fostering engagement, and ultimately, securing successful hires. In this article, we will explore the importance of nurturing candidate relationships and provide actionable tips on how recruiters can enhance their communication strategies to create positive experiences for candidates.

The Power of Timely and Transparent Communication

When it comes to candidate communication, timing and transparency are key. From the moment candidates express interest in a position, recruiters should strive to provide prompt responses. Delays in communication can lead to frustration and the loss of qualified candidates. Additionally, transparency throughout the process helps candidates understand where they stand and manage their expectations. Whether it’s providing updates on the progress of their application or sharing feedback after an interview, consistent and timely communication builds trust and showcases the organization’s commitment to an open and respectful recruitment process.

Personalization and Tailoring Communication

Every candidate is unique, and personalized communication can make a significant difference in the recruitment journey. Recruiters should take the time to understand candidates’ backgrounds, career goals, and interests. This information can be used to tailor communication, demonstrating that the organization values the individual and their specific needs. Personalization can range from addressing candidates by their names to providing relevant resources and information based on their skills and interests. By showing genuine interest and offering personalized support, recruiters can forge stronger connections with candidates and make them feel valued throughout the process.

Active Listening and Feedback

Communication is a two-way street, and active listening is a crucial component of effective candidate engagement. Recruiters should attentively listen to candidates’ concerns, questions, and feedback. This not only allows recruiters to gain valuable insights into candidates’ motivations and expectations but also makes candidates feel heard and valued. In addition to listening, providing constructive and timely feedback is equally important. Even if a candidate is not selected for a position, offering meaningful feedback helps them understand areas of improvement and enhances their overall experience. This gesture demonstrates the organization’s commitment to candidates’ professional growth and fosters a positive reputation.

Maintaining Communication throughout the Process

Consistency in communication is vital to nurturing candidate relationships. Throughout the recruitment process, recruiters should provide regular updates, even if there are no significant changes. Silence can create anxiety and uncertainty, leading candidates to lose interest or seek opportunities elsewhere. Regular check-ins, such as email updates or scheduled phone calls, help maintain engagement and demonstrate the organization’s commitment to the candidate. Furthermore, recruiters should be proactive in addressing any potential issues or concerns that candidates may have, providing reassurance and addressing any doubts that may arise.

Automation and Personal Touch

In today’s digital age, automation can streamline communication processes, but it’s important to balance efficiency with a personal touch. While automated responses and notifications are useful for providing timely updates, they should not replace human interaction entirely. Recruiters should find ways to infuse personalization into automated communication, such as using candidate’s names and adding a personalized message. Additionally, incorporating video interviews or virtual meet-and-greets allows candidates to connect with recruiters on a more personal level, even if they can’t meet face-to-face. The blend of technology-driven efficiency and personalized human touch creates a positive and memorable candidate experience.

Conclusion

Effective communication is the backbone of nurturing candidate relationships throughout the recruitment process. By prioritizing timely and transparent communication, personalization, active listening, consistent updates, and finding the right balance between automation and personal touch, recruiters can create positive experiences that build trust, engage candidates, and ultimately attract and retain top talent for their organizations.

The New Generation of Workers: 4 Tips To Attract and Retain Gen Z Talent

It’s fair to say that the youth that makes up Gen Z proudly represents the next generation of talent. If your company needs good people, you need to think of them during your hiring efforts and modify your current processes so you can retain them for years to come.

Generation Z typically includes young people born between the late 1990s and the early 2000s. These are the folks who are graduating from college and they’re looking for the perfect job. You need to try to capture this audience, and you’ll have to modify your tactics to do so. Here are four tips to attract this talented group.

1. Provide the Option of Remote Work

The youth of Gen Z love to work with technology, and they enjoy their independence, so it’s no secret why many in this age range would love to combine those passions by working from home. When asked, 29% of Gen Z’ers said they’d prefer to work remotely, and 27% said they simply must be allowed to work outside of the office. If your company is in an industry that enables the possibility to do so, consider mentioning that the position you’re hiring for can be done in the office or at home.

Recent technological advancements have changed the game. Video conferencing software enables employees to communicate and discuss projects face-to-face. Also, cloud computing allows team members to share files seamlessly from anywhere globally. You’re running out of excuses not to allow a remote workforce, so consider making a change, and you could draw in great talent.

2. Make Mental Health a Priority

Gen Z has separated itself from previous generations by making it known that they won’t settle for the first job they can find and won’t work outrageous schedules just because the manager tells them to do so. Instead, these young people know that there’s more to life than wasting their day away at work, and they’re not willing to put their mental health in jeopardy for their employer.

If you want to attract the Gen Z crowd, then your company must eliminate the frustrations that many employees face every day. The jobs of today can impact our mental health in many ways. Often, it’s the long hours that many employers require, which can eventually lead to burnout. When your associates feel exhausted and overworked every day, and they’re unhappy at work, their work will suffer, and even worse, they could experience depression and other unfortunate issues.

To attract Gen Z workers, you not only need to prove that you won’t abuse the employer-employee relationship, but you also need to explain the tactics that you have in place to avoid the potential for poor mental health. Efforts to help manage mental wellness in the office can include providing open communication between employees and management, offering mental health days off, providing free counseling, and offering flexible scheduling. Put these perks in the job description, and you could see an influx of applications.

3. Provide Real Opportunities for Growth

Another way to attract the Gen Z crowd is to note in your job listings that you offer a real opportunity for growth within the organization and then actually mean it. The young people in this generation don’t want to get a position and stay there for years to come. They want to move up, and if they get a job with you assuming they can move up the ladder and you don’t follow through on that promise, many won’t have a problem quitting.

Once you hire an employee who desires to rise in the company, talk to them and create a personalized roadmap for their success. Tell them the skills they need to learn and the positions they’ll need to fill along the way, and then help them to hit each stepping stone.

Even if an employee doesn’t immediately express a desire to move up, management should still offer mentorships, job rotations, and cross-training opportunities, and they may eventually show interest. A good manager should want to see their staff learn everything and then move on to better things. Allow them to do so, and they may return the favor by referring their qualified friends to apply to your company as well.

4. Show You Align With Their Values

One of the most significant differences between Gen Z and other previous generations is their seemingly unending desire to see diversity. They want to see equality flourish around the world. They’re typically socially conscious and open-minded, and they care about social justice and ensuring that everyone gets an equal share.

To attract these young people, your company must show that you share the same values. One way to do so is to add your inclusive mission statement on all job listings. Make it known that you’re an equal-opportunity employer. Also, HR leaders can look at ways to give back by serving underprivileged communities. Give current employees a chance to volunteer in the community. Hopefully, they will spread the word to their friends that yours is a company that cares.

At a minimum, these four tips should make their way into your company’s recruitment strategy if you’re looking to attract the intelligent folks of Gen Z. Tweak the programs as time passes, and you’ll find more qualified candidates knocking on your door.

Unlocking the Power of Latin American Talent with Effective Hiring Strategies

There is no doubt that Latin America presents a diverse and dynamic talent landscape for recruiters seeking to expand their operations in the region. However, overcoming the general challenges associated with attracting the best talent requires a shift in mindset and a deeper understanding of the unique characteristics of each Latin American country.

Latin America has emerged as a significant player in the global tech industry, attracting a whopping 156% increase in businesses seeking to hire local talent, especially in the field of software engineering. This surge of interest has placed Latin America firmly in the spotlight, encouraging governments to implement policies aimed at empowering and nurturing local tech talent to meet this growing demand.

Let’s explore the specific challenges faced by recruiters in Latin America and the importance of adopting a new recruitment mindset to leverage the potential of this talent pool.

Challenges in the Region

First things first, it is crucial to dispel the common myth that Latin American countries are homogeneous entities. In reality, the LATAM region comprises 22 distinct nations, each with its own culture, infrastructure, and political situation. What works in one country may not necessarily work in another.

Depending on the nation, recruitment challenges can range from certain skills shortages and security issues to infrastructure and cost of living. Understanding these nuances is essential to effectively navigate the local talent markets.

Attractive Traits of Latin American Candidates

LATAM candidates possess several traits that make them highly appealing to recruiters. Many of the region’s professionals are renowned for their strong work ethic, having self-taught themselves to overcome barriers such as limited access to written code and many other limitations that Western tech talents may take for granted.

Furthermore, Latin Americans often have a good command of Americanized English language due to cultural exposure through music, film, and other forms of media. According to a study by Stack Overflow, over 60% of Latin American software developers specialize as back-end developers, making them valuable assets capable of building and maintaining the technology infrastructure of tech companies.

Additionally, the time zones between Latin America and the United States provide an advantage for seamless collaboration and support. And for companies looking to operate 24/7, LATAM also shows its benefits. The crypto technology company, ZeroHash, has a part of their technical team in Asia. And they previously reported to Remoti how thrilled they were to gain LATAM coders working a full day behind them—meaning they could essentially run a 24/7 operation with someone from the global tech team always online.

Latin America boasts remarkable success stories, demonstrating the exceptional caliber of developers, programmers, and IT talent in the region. Rappi, a food delivery app operating in Colombia, has recently achieved a valuation exceeding five billion dollars. Habi, a technology company specializing in real estate transactions, secured a substantial investment of 200 million dollars in 2022. Similarly, Mosyle, a software company headquartered in Brazil, received a significant influx of 196 million dollars in investment. These accomplishments are largely attributed to the region’s talented workforce and ability to drive innovation.

Current Trends in Recruitment

Diversity and inclusion have recently emerged as key focus areas for HR leaders, directly impacting talent acquisition and recruitment strategies. Research indicates that businesses with diverse workforces and inclusive workplaces have higher productivity and profitability.

Recruiters now play a critical role in identifying and including candidates from various backgrounds and demographics in the talent pool. Yet, while tactical metrics and data-driven approaches remain important for tracking immediate actions, future recruiting should emphasize strategic metrics that measure the business outcomes resulting from recruitment efforts.

To fully harness the potential of Latin American talent, recruiters must adopt a new mindset. Historically, recruitment has been driven by an old boys club mentality, with a focus on sales and commission rather than the human side of the process. However, forward thinking recruiters will recognize the value of trained psychologists in their teams, enabling them to understand human behavior and effectively evaluate candidates. Embracing a mindset of hiring the future workforce, rather than the current one, allows recruiters to identify candidates who align with the long-term goals and values of the organization.

Additionally, data shows that candidates now demand a well-rounded and flexible work environment. As a result, offering benefits such as equipment and bonuses has become increasingly important, even a prerequisite in many cases. LATAM recruiters must acknowledge the shift in candidate expectations and adapt their offerings accordingly as those who continue to exploit lower wages may face challenges in attracting top talent.

By adopting a new recruitment mindset and offering competitive benefits, recruiters can unlock the full potential of the Latin American talent pool and drive future growth and success in the region.

5 More Ways Recruiters Can Use ChatGPT

Recruiters are swamped with a pile of resumes, job descriptions, interviews, and candidate assessments daily. Dealing with the ever-increasing demands of the hiring process, it becomes unavoidable to discover fresh ways to simplify your workload and boost productivity.

Fortunately, there’s a powerful solution at your disposal. ChatGPT can lend a helping hand in your recruitment endeavors.

I came across the article, 6 Ways to Use ChatGPT for Recruiting Today, and it made me think of more prompts recruiters can leverage.

So, consider this a sequel article.

1. Candidate Assessment Guide

I understand the significant investment of time and effort required to identify top talent. I highly recommend utilizing ChatGPT to create a comprehensive candidate assessment guide. During the candidate interview stage, you must have a holistic understanding of a candidate’s suitability for the role. And an assessment guide can help you assess a candidate’s technical skills, problem-solving abilities, code quality, and general aptitude.

Now, I have incorporated two red flags within each category of the assessment guide. These red flags serve as early indicators of potential concerns, enabling you to focus your evaluation on specific areas of interest. With a structured assessment process, you can make informed hiring decisions, maintain consistency, and compare candidates objectively.

You can modify this prompt as per your needs:

Create a  candidate assessment guide for a software engineer, evaluating a candidate’s technical skills, problem-solving and analytical thinking, coding review, etc. Point out at least two red flags in each category I must look out for.

5 More Ways Recruiters Can Use ChatGPT

2. Interview Scorecard

ChatGPT can assist you in generating an effective scorecard for evaluating candidates’ technical skills, communication abilities, and cultural fit consistently and objectively. You’ll get rating scales and relevant behavioral interview questions for a comprehensive evaluation. With ChatGPT’s help, you’ll streamline your process, make informed hiring decisions, and find the perfect fit for your team.

Use this prompt:

Help me create an interview scorecard to evaluate candidates based on essential competencies such as technical skills, communication abilities, and cultural fit in a consistent and objective manner. The scorecard should contain rating scales and relevant behavioral interview questions.

5 More Ways Recruiters Can Use ChatGPT

3. HR Solution Evaluation

Recruiters really go all out when it comes to finding the perfect HR tools. They spend hours and hours scouring websites, reading product descriptions, comparing features, checking prices, and even seeking feedback from other users. It’s quite a process!

With ChatGPT, recruiters no longer need to go through all that hassle. A comparison table gives a complete overview of all features in just one glance. Now, ChatGPT can create a comparison table that helps you easily spot the strengths and weaknesses of each product side by side. It’s like having a cheat sheet to make an informed decision, considering specific needs in mind.

Here’s a prompt you can modify based on the tools you have to evaluate:

Please create a comparison table between [product 1], [product 2], and [product 3]. I want you to access their features, pricing, ease of use, customer support, and customer ratings.

5 More Ways Recruiters Can Use ChatGPT

4. Salary Insights and Market Trends

ChatGPT can help recruiters make data-driven decisions and better understand the employment landscape.

One of the remarkable capabilities of ChatGPT is its ability to evaluate candidate profiles and job descriptions specific to various job titles and industries. This enables recruiters to receive recommendations on market prospects and average salaries, providing them with valuable insights for their decision-making process.

But that’s not all! ChatGPT goes beyond salary information. It can also offer recommendations on market trends, keeping recruiters up-to-date with the latest developments in their industry. This invaluable knowledge helps hiring managers identify potential growth areas and opportunities, leading to a more effective hiring procedure.

Armed with this information, they can offer competitive compensation packages and stay ahead of market trends, resulting in a more successful and engaging recruitment process.

You can modify this prompt as per your needs.

Please provide me with information on the average salary and market prospects for Java Developer job positions in the US. Ensure to point out both yearly and monthly salaries.

5. A List of Inclusive Terms

Diversity and inclusion have transcended being mere “progressive ideas” or concepts; they are now imperative for organizations worldwide.

Every year, the world faces new and recurring social issues, which ignite important discussions and motivate us to take action. Startup HR practitioners and recruiters have a major role to play in addressing these issues and supporting their teams effectively. In this ever-evolving social impact landscape, we must remain open-minded and embrace the progressive changes that await us.

Use this prompt:

What are gender-sensitive terms that employers should refrain from using in job descriptions? Give me a list of appropriate and inclusive language alternatives to be used instead.

Conclusion

Finding and evaluating skilled candidates is a crucial part of any organization’s success, and recruiters constantly face the challenge of this task.

Not to mention, the role of recruiters in today’s hiring process is more demanding than ever. With the overwhelming amount of resumes, job descriptions, interviews, and candidate assessments, recruiters face the challenge of simplifying their workload and boosting productivity. Thankfully, ChatGPT has emerged as a powerful solution, offering assistance in various recruitment endeavors.

With ChatGPT as a valuable ally, recruiters can streamline their processes, make informed decisions, and navigate the complexities of recruitment with greater efficiency and effectiveness.

7 Situational Questions to Ask in a Technical Interview

To help hiring leaders identify the best candidates for technical roles, we gathered situational interview questions from professionals in various industries. From “How do you navigate unclear situations?” to “How do you remove roadblocks under deadline pressure?”, these experts, including CEOs and HR managers, share their top situational questions to ask during a technical role interview.

How Do You Navigate Situations with an Unclear Path?

Beyond the realm of behavioral interview questions lies a powerful tool in the hands of hiring leaders—the situational interview. Picture this: You’re presented with a hypothetical scenario, and your task is to showcase your problem-solving prowess by providing a thoughtful resolution or response. These questions serve as a litmus test, gauging your ability to foresee potential workplace challenges and your aptitude in tackling them head-on.

So, what’s one example of such a thought-provoking query that hiring leaders may pose during your technical interview? Imagine being asked, “How would you navigate a situation where you’re assigned a task, but you’re unsure about how to complete it?” This inquiry delves into your ability to navigate ambiguity, assess complex problems, and chart a course toward a successful outcome.

Thomas Miller
Sales and Marketing Manager, Chilli Pilates

How Do You Deal with Stakeholders Outside Your Team?

The questions I would ask a technical role would depend on their expected task. Ideally, a tech lead should be a lateral move from a senior position. They are not meant to be an engineering manager.

When interviewing for a tech role position, I would inquire about recent challenges in dealing with stakeholders outside the team and how they would handle those situations relative to system design and their coding abilities. Additionally, asking about team processes, ownership, PR policies, and conflict resolution regarding implementation and design can provide valuable insights.

In a more hierarchical view of tech roles, the interview questions should be designed to filter out tech leads that create unworkable designs. Personally, I would prefer an inexperienced tech lead who promotes collaboration over a competent tyrant, as nobody can be an expert at everything.

Paw Vej
Chief Operating Officer, Financer.com

How Do You Approach Conflict Resolution?

Hiring leaders can ask an applicant to describe a conflict they recently had. This allows them to share a mistake they may have made and how they got themselves out of it. Problem-solving skills are essential in almost any role, and this allows the interviewer to understand how strong those skills are

Christy Pyrz
Chief Marketing Officer, Paradigm Peptides

Describe How You Handle Miscommunication

No matter how technical the role is, the candidate needs to have emotional intelligence and people skills. We always make sure to ask situational questions that tell us something about how candidates see their interactions with others.

“If your direct manager came to you, and was upset that you had not completed X, but it was outside of your normal role, and no one had communicated that you needed to take care of it, how would you handle the situation?” Some will start their answer with “I would tell the manager to calm down…”. That is not the way to handle it. Calm, direct communication is.

Rick Berres
Owner, Honey-Doers

How Would You Explain a Complex Topic to a Confused Client?

“How would you explain complex topics to team members or clients who do not understand the technical details of the project?

Asking a candidate to explain a complex technical skill set to an individual with no experience or prior knowledge provides the interviewer with an example of their communication style, demonstrates their level of comprehension of the technical skill or complex topic, and allows the interviewer to ask follow-up questions to further assess the technical skill level of the candidate based on the needs of the role.

Nikki Steel
Talent Acquisition and Human Resources Manager, Prager Metis CPAs

What Steps Do You Take to Resolve a Technical Issue?

“Tell me about a time when you had to troubleshoot a technical issue. What steps did you take to resolve the issue?”

This question is designed to assess the candidate’s problem-solving skills and their ability to think critically. The hiring leader is looking for the candidate to be able to:

  • Identify the problem
  • Gather information about the problem
  • Develop a plan to resolve the problem
  • Implement the plan
  • Test the solution
  • Verify that the problem is resolve

The candidate’s answer to this question should be specific and provide details about the steps they took to resolve the issue. They should also be able to articulate the lessons they learned from the experience.

Brenton Thomas
CEO, Twibi

How Do You Resolve Roadblocks on a Tight Timeline?

“Imagine you’re working on a project with tight deadlines, and you encounter a critical technical issue that is impacting the progress. How would you approach this situation and what steps would you take to resolve it?”

This question presents a realistic scenario that candidates may encounter in a technical role and assesses their problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and ability to handle pressure. It allows hiring leaders to gauge how candidates analyze complex problems, communicate their thought process, and devise effective solutions.

Through this situational question, hiring leaders gain insights into a candidate’s technical expertise, problem-solving skills, decision-making capabilities, and their ability to handle challenges in a professional setting. It helps assess their suitability for the technical role and their potential to contribute to the success of the team and organization.

Harsh Verma
SEO, CodeDesign

Exploring DorkGPT: Unveiling the Power of Google Dorks

In the wild world of cybersecurity and internet treasure hunting, Google dorks have burst onto the scene like superheroes with search engines as their sidekicks. These dorks, also known as Google search whizzes or Boolean masters, give users the power to unleash advanced searches with surgical precision. Today, we’re taking a hilarious dive into the wacky world of DorkGPT, a website that taps into the mystical powers of Google dorks to help users on their epic quests.

Cracking the Code of Google Dorks

But before we embark on this adventure, let’s take a moment to understand what the heck Google dorks are. Simply put, Google dorks are like magic spells that allow users to narrow down their search results using specific tricks. These cunning dorks use secret search codes to target particular websites, file types, or even hidden gems within web pages. By mastering the art of Google dorks, you can unveil precious treasures that would otherwise remain lost in the vastness of the interwebs.

Unleashing the Epic Power of DorkGPT

Our epic journey begins with a mind-blowing search query on DorkGPT: “x-ray into LinkedIn for Java developer.” We hold our breath in anticipation, waiting to witness the sheer awesomeness of this mind-bending tool. And then… ta-da! The website conjures up search results that mention LinkedIn and Java developer job listings. Sure, there might be a tiny blip with the “x-ray” part, but overall, DorkGPT delivers the goods.

Fine-Tuning the Quest

Off we go on another wild search escapade! This time, our query is “find resumes of doctors.” We decide to go for a more generic approach, curious to see how versatile DorkGPT can be. Lo and behold, the search results pop up, guiding us to LinkedIn and Indeed platforms, where doctor and physician resumes in PDF format are ripe for the picking. Sure, we could have found more than just PDFs, but hey, DorkGPT still manages to satisfy our adventurous souls.

The Art of Getting Specific

As we continue our grand expedition, we realize the importance of being laser-focused with our search queries. Just like any AI-driven tool, DorkGPT abides by the rule of “garbage in, garbage out.” If you feed it vague or incomplete information, you’ll likely end up with less-than-epic results. To unlock the true potential of DorkGPT, we must wield the power of specific queries and explore beyond the realms of LinkedIn.

The Epic Finale

In the grand finale, our thrilling journey through DorkGPT has revealed the mind-boggling capabilities of Google dorks and their magic in the realm of information retrieval. DorkGPT is indeed a mighty ally, but it takes some know-how to tame its powers. By crafting precise queries and venturing into uncharted search territories, we can conquer the vast digital landscape like true heroes.

Now go forth, my fellow adventurers, armed with your Google dorks and a sense of humor. The internet awaits your optimized queries!

Other Dean Da Costa Content:

Dean has a free page of sourcing tools, links, and other recruiting resources that we highly recommend you check out! That page has an overwhelming amount of stuff, so you gotta really love sourcing to appreciate the infinite hours of work Dean has put into it. For all of the Dean Da Costa resources on RecruitingDaily, click here!

The Perfect Match: How Indeed is Streamlining the Hiring Process

The current state of the job market has presented a number of unforeseen difficulties, not only for job seekers but also for employers looking to fill their open roles. While many aspects of work and life are becoming more effective and efficient with the latest technological advancements, the hiring process and the way we find jobs have struggled to keep up. The time it takes for employers to find the right candidate is getting longer. In fact, according to a recent study by The Josh Bersin Company, the recruitment process is now 44 days on average, having increased across all industries by approximately one full day in Q1 of 2023.

This issue has led to a breakdown in the hiring process. Employers have struggled to engage candidates and keep them interested in their position with the drawn-out process. Job seekers are prone to dropping out or ghosting recruiters and hiring managers because the wait was too long. Increasing economic uncertainty is exacerbating this, as people are less willing to put up with a slow hiring process due to their financial insecurity.

There’s an expiration date on a candidate’s interest in a role and hiring teams can’t keep up.

The Hiring Process is Broken

Job seekers are having difficulty finding opportunities and employers are having issues finding quality candidates. In addition, a lack of communication between candidates and employers is causing friction and distrust, further complicating the situation.

A recent survey by Indeed found that one of the biggest barriers for employers was the time it takes to hire. On top of that, a recent Harris Poll survey commissioned by Indeed found that more than 3 in 4 job seekers/employees – 77% – reported that the hiring process at most companies is too slow.

Quality candidates are falling through the cracks, while employers are having trouble finding the right people to fill their open roles. The hiring process, which is crucial for both companies and job seekers, isn’t working for anyone involved.

As such, the majority of job seekers want an online job search site that can match them to the right jobs based on their skills and experience, with 86% stating that preference according to the same Harris Poll survey by Indeed. Companies need to find quality talent to fill their open roles but are unaware of the qualified and viable candidates out there, which can often be overlooked when using traditional resume screenings.

Matching Employers Directly with Candidates

Indeed has been hard at work fixing the lag that occurs between job seekers who apply to a job, and employers who have the job available. The company is continuing its evolution into a hiring and matching platform so that it can better connect employers to quality candidates that meet the needs of their open roles. The change has already shown significant improvement to the speed of hiring– with more than 20 hires per minute that are happening on Indeed, which is more than double what it was three years ago.

In addition to evolving from beyond a job board, Indeed has been collecting an average of 140 million qualifications and preferences voluntarily shared by job seekers and employers each day; ranging from skills, licenses, certifications, occupational specialties, pay, and more to deliver quality matches.¹ They then learn from this aggregated data to offer better recommendations to employers who are looking to hire, and to job seekers who are looking for a new role. For example, a person who’s been working as a cashier in a fast food restaurant for years might not be aware that they have all the skills needed to be a bank teller.

Indeed has been leveraging AI technology (machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, and other tools) to improve the experience for job seekers and employers, and this is what they’ve built the hiring and matching platform on – using AI and other technologies to help the more than 300 million job seekers who visit the platform each month. The company is going beyond basic resume scanning, looking at the behaviors and traits of candidates and employers such as location expectations and search terminology to make more connections and better matches.

The Results Are In

With the help of Indeed’s matching services, employers are able to get their positions filled with quality talent, and job seekers can find a role that fits their skills and interests, all with greater effectiveness and efficiency.

On average, over 97% of employers who sponsored a job post received quality matched candidates right away. Plus, those same employers made a hire 24% faster when they invited matched candidates to apply.²

Indeed also found that they are 2x more likely to hire when inviting matched candidates to apply, and candidates were 22x more likely to apply to jobs they were recommended.³

Overall, Indeed is taking steps towards building better hiring experiences for all with efficiency and effectiveness in mind. And, their work is far from over to help employers hire faster and simpler.

 

¹ (Source: Indeed data, based on average, worldwide)
² (Source: Indeed data, Q1 2023)
³ (Source: Indeed data, Q1 2023)

6 Untapped Assessment Techniques for Hospitality Recruitment

Recruiting top talent is crucial in all sectors of the hospitality industry, and it requires the expertise of a specialist recruitment agency, facilities management and industry professionals to find the right prospects. Traditional recruitment methods often struggle to accurately evaluate the specific skills and qualities needed for permanent and temporary positions in this sector. However, with the help of science-backed assessment techniques and innovative recruitment solutions, sector hiring managers can make better-informed decisions. In this article, we will explore effective assessment techniques that can enhance and optimize hospitality recruitment processes.

Job Analysis and Competency Mapping

To implement effective assessment techniques in catering and hospitality recruitment, it is essential to start with a comprehensive job analysis and competency mapping for each role within your organization.

This step involves identifying the fundamental skills, knowledge and behaviors necessary for success in permanent and temporary contract positions. By establishing well-defined competency requirements, you can conduct focused assessments that precisely evaluate the desired attributes in potential applicants.

This approach ensures that the assessment process aligns with the specific needs of the business, enabling recruiters to make informed decisions based on a thorough understanding of the competencies required for each role. With a strong foundation in place, organizations can leverage targeted assessment techniques to accurately assess prospects and build a skilled and capable hospitality service workforce.

Behavioral Interviews

Behavioral interviews are invaluable in modern recruitment practices, particularly in top positions in some sectors of the hospitality industry. They provide a means to evaluate crucial skills such as customer service, problem-solving, teamwork and adaptability. By exploring candidates’ past experiences and actions, agents gain valuable insights into their future behavior.

The key to these interviews lies in asking applicants to provide specific examples of how they handled challenging situations. This approach enables agents to delve deeper into prospects’ abilities and assess their suitability for the role at hand. Behavioral interviews offer a practical and efficient method of evaluating prospects, empowering agents to make informed decisions throughout the hiring process and finding the right person for the role.

Role-Play Exercises

Role-play exercises are invaluable in hospitality recruitment as they simulate real-life scenarios that applicants are likely to encounter in their roles. For example, a front desk applicant may be tasked with handling a customer service complaint or demonstrating their check-in procedures. These exercises allow recruiters to assess candidates’ communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and customer-centric approaches in a practical setting.

By observing prospects in action, agents gain a more accurate evaluation of their potential for success in the job. Incorporating role-play exercises provides valuable insights into applicants’ capabilities and their ability to handle the specific challenges they would face in their jobs in the dynamic hospitality industry.

Work Samples and Simulations

Work samples and simulations are invaluable tools that allow applicants to showcase their skills in a controlled environment. Whether it’s a culinary applicant preparing a dish or a sales or marketing candidate navigating a hypothetical sales or marketing scenario, these assessments provide a glimpse into candidates’ technical prowess, creativity, attention to detail, and ability to excel under pressure.

What sets this technique apart is its ability to provide concrete evidence of applicants’ capabilities, minimizing biases in the selection process. Agents can make more objective decisions based on actual performance rather than relying solely on subjective impressions.

By incorporating work samples and simulations into the recruitment process, organizations can gain a deeper understanding of candidates’ abilities and make more informed hiring choices. This ultimately leads to the selection of applicants who are not only well-suited for the role but also have the potential to thrive in the demanding and dynamic world of hospitality.

Psychometric Assessments

Psychometric assessments, including aptitude and personality tests, provide valuable insights into a candidate’s cognitive abilities, behavior traits and work preferences. These assessments measure essential factors like problem-solving skills, emotional intelligence, communication style and leadership potential.

By integrating psychometric assessments into your company’s recruitment process, you can pinpoint and recruit the professional with the ideal psychological profile, enhancing the likelihood of a strong organizational fit.

These assessments add depth to the selection process, allowing you to make more informed decisions about potential hires. Understanding a candidate’s cognitive strengths, behavioral tendencies, and work style significantly contributes to assembling a team that excels in its roles and aligns with the company culture.

By harnessing the power of psychometric assessments, businesses can streamline their recruitment efforts and ensure they attract and retain top talent that is well-suited to the positions and support their organization’s specific needs and objectives.

Reference Checks

Reference checks have long been valued in hospitality recruitment for verifying a candidate’s skills, work ethic, and cultural fit. However, in the modern hiring process, social media background checks have become increasingly relevant. By reviewing a candidate’s social media profiles, recruiters can gain additional insights into their character, behaviour, and overall suitability for a role.

Social media background checks provide a broader perspective, allowing agents to assess professionalism, communication skills, cultural fit, and potential red flags that may not be evident through traditional reference checks alone. It’s crucial to approach this aspect of the process with respect for privacy and adhere to legal and ethical guidelines.

By combining traditional reference checks with social media background checks, agents can make more informed search decisions and secure jobs for the most suitable applicants. This holistic search approach considers both professional qualifications and personal qualities, contributing to the formation of high-performing teams that align with the organisation’s culture and business values.

In the dynamic landscape of hospitality recruitment, embracing both traditional and modern assessment techniques, including reference checks and social media background checks, enhances the quality of the evaluation process and promotes long-term career success in the industry.

In the fast-paced and demanding world of hospitality, selecting the right person is crucial for delivering exceptional guest experiences. By adopting science-backed assessment techniques such as behavioural interviews, role-play exercises, work samples, psychometric assessments, and reference checks, hospitality agents can effectively evaluate candidates’ skills, qualities, and potential. These techniques provide a more holistic view of applicants, helping organisations make informed personnel decisions and build high-performing teams. With a rigorous and tailored selection process in place, you can enhance the quality of your company and hospitality workforce, driving your business to long-term success in the industry. By leveraging the expertise of hospitality recruitment agencies and industry professionals, you can further enhance your recruitment solutions and find the best talent to meet your organisation’s needs.

Turn Your Human Resources Department into a Profit Center with Plum

The role of Human Resources (HR) goes beyond scouting and onboarding talent, or at least it should to increase the department’s value. In today’s competitive job market, it is essential to maximize HR’s role by utilizing tools that help talent managers look within an existing talent pool to address their company’s evolving needs. Instead of HR departments operating solely as a cost-center, Human Resources should help create and save their organizations revenue by becoming profit centers. Plum’s Talent Assessment tool can help talent managers revitalize and evolve to keep up with your industry’s changing landscape.

Traditionally, Human Resources is recognized as a cost-center due to the nature of its work. Its services are seen as essential and without a product, costs are incurred rather than produced. In our current economic climate, it is important to utilize HR’s full capabilities, including in a manner that focuses on generating revenue. HR has the infrastructure to become a profit-center where it can play a key role in a company’s bottom line. With the right strategy, HR can develop practices that produce profit-driven results.

Maximizing Your Talent Pools’ Full Potential

Talent management teams are uniquely positioned to understand a company’s broader needs. When employees partake in Plum’s Talent Assessment, hiring managers can gauge a complete scope of what types of skills and leadership qualities your organization’s talent pool possesses. This information is vital when an HR team attempts to fill open roles across a company. With this background accessible to HR, an existing employee qualified for the open position can be considered for promotion or tapped to take on a short-term or long-term project. This could save a company thousands that would otherwise be spent recruiting new talent in a shrinking applicant pool.

With 33% of Americans citing a lack of career growth opportunities as the reason for leaving their employers, creating paths for career advancement will make the difference between companies that see high rates of turnover and companies that retain their staff for longer periods of time. Plum’s assessment tool can be utilized by talent managers to assess if their employees are being utilized to their full potential or if they possess skills needed in an open role within the company.

It is well-recognized that internal recruitment can save a company money while filling a position faster than undergoing an entire recruitment process. Once talent completes this survey, HR can have confidence that an employee’s performance will be predictable due to the unbiased nature of the assessment as it evaluates the participants work ethic based solely on their admitted preferences. On top of these added perks, internal mobility is a key component to boosting team morale and inspiring creator retention numbers.

Getting It Wrong Could Harm Your Bottom Line

In an employee’s market, recruiting new talent can cost anywhere from one-half to two times that position’s annual salary. Candidates have more options, which can lead to larger periods of recruitment and lower quality in candidates. Losing valuable team members can also affect the productivity of the remaining team. Employees have cited a lack of professional growth opportunities as a reason for being disengaged on the job.

Utilizing Plum’s assessment tool can help both Human Resources and talent maximize their potential. Talent managers will become aware of a current employee’s underutilized skills and elevate them to a position they otherwise would not be considered for, which would improve office morale and incentivize productivity. Hiring from within would also cut down on recruitment costs and encourage employees to remain and grow at the company.

Meanwhile, talent will gain access to a personalized Plum Profile that will equip them with the knowledge they need for career growth, development, and continued success. Talent can also use their profiles to chart a career path that suits their skillset and work ethic. They will be granted insight into what drives and motivates them to perform at an exceptional level. Participants will also learn what activities drain them, which means some aspects of their work could come less naturally to them and present a challenge in their career development.

Utilizing Plum’s Assessment survey can help HR teams monitor productivity, product quality, and the quality of an organization’s existing workforce. This is essential for a business to be able to anticipate its future needs and adjust its business model where necessary to be the most profitable. Plum’s survey works in the interest to both talent and talent managers to help both pinpoint how best to drive productivity and produce a team’s best quality product every time.

Three Ways Recruiters Can Increase Productivity Without Increasing Costs

Recruiting has always been a fast-paced and competitive industry, but today’s pace and competition exceeds all precedent. Fueled by economic turbulence and rapid technological innovation, cross-sector client and candidate expectations are rising despite squeezed margins. Without exception, recruiting organizations must adapt to this new state of play, or risk being overtaken by rivals. Here are three ways that recruiters can increase productivity, remain ahead of the pack, attract top talent and see profits increase.

Win Back Time With Smart Automation

You need your team to devote their time and attention to matching great candidates with the perfect roles. But time is a finite resource, which is too often eaten up by administrative tasks such as chasing up missing candidate documentation. To unlock capacity for more productivity in your team, identify the most labor intensive, time-consuming tasks and implement solutions to automate them.

Collecting and verifying candidate qualifications and references is one example of a labor-intensive task that can be automated to great effect. By introducing a digital onboarding platform, you can remove significant workload from your team whilst ensuring that candidates are processed more quickly and accurately.

Automated onboarding platforms guide candidates in providing necessary documents and references. These platforms can cross-reference or sync the provided information with relevant databases, promptly identifying any non-compliance and sending timely reminders. This means that new hires can start their roles more quickly, and your staff are left with more time to devote to high-value tasks.

Streamline Candidates’ Experience and Put a Stop to Dropout

In the context of today’s talent wars, losing a candidate at any stage of the recruitment process is a frustrating waste of your team’s efforts and resources. But research has revealed that a third of job  seekers who dropout of the hiring pipeline blame an over-complicated process, with 22% expressing an issue with the background screening process.

In order to keep new hires engaged and satisfied as they progress through the pipeline, it’s important to offer a user-friendly, efficient and rapid experience from the first interaction. To achieve this, communication of actions, timelines and requirements must be clear. Generative AI tools – such as chatbots – can ensure that candidates have their queries addressed instantly and allow them to feel supported throughout the process. To give new hires a head start, interactive training content can be integrated into onboarding platforms and completed according to their own schedules.

Providing hires with a stress-free and frictionless onboarding process is one of the most important ways that retention rates can be improved, a matter of importance for all stakeholders. 

Upskill Your Team to Outperform Your Competition

Your team is your greatest asset, so why wouldn’t you do everything in your power to ensure that they’re reaching their full potential and productivity? Too often, companies invest in cutting-edge tech but fail to communicate to staff why and how they should be using it on a daily basis. Upskilling your team so that they can confidently deploy new tools and softwares will ensure that you see the best possible ROI from investments in tech solutions. Once leaders have identified and procured a new tool, it’s critical that time is spent to teach staff how to use the tool to improve productivity and heal pain points in their workflows. This could be delivered through peer support networks, interactive digital modules, webinars, or 1:1 demonstrations. A small time investment in staff training (which can often be delivered by the tech vendor at no additional cost) will set up your whole team to deliver excellent outcomes.

Solving the Productivity Puzzle

By proactively pursuing tech solutions to productivity puzzles, recruiting companies can comfortably increase their margins and move to the front of the pack. By implementing automation tools, organizations can release recruiters’ time to focus on matching great candidates with the perfect roles, rather than getting caught up in administrative tasks. Delivering a streamlined and rapid candidate onboarding experience that is safe and compliant will prevent dropouts and enhance overall satisfaction. Additionally, investing in upskilling and embracing new technologies enables recruiters to thrive amidst intense competition and achieve sustainable success.

How Recruiting Can Help Prevent Layoffs

In today’s dynamic business environment, the success and growth of organizations are intricately linked to effective recruiting strategies. Hiring the right talent is not only crucial for driving a company in a positive direction but can also play a significant role in preventing the need for layoffs.

Both in the news and water cooler talk, there is discussion of a growing recession, the impact of high inflation, budget cuts, and therefore job security. From enterprise-level companies to small local main street businesses, the concern of economic instability is top of mind. As business leaders weigh options for staying afloat during difficult economic cycles, one area that is commonly overlooked is personnel.

Salaries are often a company’s biggest weekly expenditure, and therefore, when tough times come, employee cuts become a necessary evil to protect the overall organization. But what if personnel can actually become the reason a business doesn’t have to make those hard decisions?

Good recruiting and hiring the right people can, in turn, help prevent possible layoffs for a multitude of reasons. As an executive recruiter with over 20 years of industry experience, I have seen countless examples of how leadership makes or breaks a company. This effect is only magnified during rough economic periods when decision-making, team morale, and management practices are even more critical to bottom-line success.

Working in the recruiting space, we need to shift the narrative and idea that businesses hold during times like today.

“Oh well, we can’t hire right now because a recession is looming.” 

“We’re being proactive with our budget and putting a freeze on hiring until the economy stabilizes.” 

“We’re going to buckle down and hold out for the next 6 months, and then re-evaluate.” 

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard some iteration of these statements time and time again. But this attitude or forecasting is shortsighted. Hiring during these times should be a company’s #1 priority, as those leaders who know how to motivate their teams, handle changing market conditions, and balance budget choices will be better prepared to protect their employees — and overall profit margins.

Talent is the Engine of Business Success

At the heart of every successful organization lies its workforce. Hiring the right talent fuels growth, innovation, and productivity. Companies that prioritize effective recruiting strategies ensure they have the right people in the right roles, creating a high-performing workforce that can adapt to changing market conditions and drive the ship in a positive direction.

Good recruiting practices involve not only finding candidates with the necessary skills and experience but also assessing their cultural fit, motivation, and potential for growth. The right talent aligns with the company’s values, embraces its mission, and becomes the driving force behind achieving organizational goals.

Strategic Leadership in Uncertain Times

Leadership plays a critical role in guiding organizations through uncertain economic times. The right leaders possess the skills, experience, and vision necessary to make informed decisions and navigate challenges effectively. When faced with a potential economic downturn or market volatility, these leaders can proactively implement strategies to prevent the need for layoffs, safeguarding the workforce and maintaining business continuity.

Strategic leaders prioritize long-term planning, risk assessment, and proactive decision-making. They recognize the importance of maintaining a resilient workforce and seek alternatives to layoffs, such as implementing cost-cutting measures, diversifying revenue streams, exploring new markets, or reallocating resources. Their ability to think innovatively and adapt to changing circumstances enables them to find creative solutions that protect jobs and sustain the organization’s stability.

Building a Resilient Workforce

Effective recruiting practices not only focus on finding the right talent but also building a resilient workforce that can weather uncertain times. This involves hiring individuals who possess a growth mindset, adaptability, and a willingness to learn. Resilient employees can quickly pivot and embrace new challenges, ensuring the organization can remain agile and responsive in the face of adversity.

Leaders who prioritize building a resilient workforce invest in employee development, provide opportunities for upskilling and cross-training, and foster a culture of continuous learning. By investing in their employees’ growth and development, organizations can enhance their capacity to navigate economic uncertainty and avoid layoffs by leveraging the skills and knowledge of their existing workforce.

Employee Engagement and Retention

Recruiting the right leaders also contributes to employee engagement and retention, two critical factors in preventing layoffs. Strong leaders cultivate a positive work environment, foster open communication, and provide opportunities for professional growth and advancement. Engaged employees are more committed to the organization’s success and are more likely to weather turbulent times with dedication and resilience.

Furthermore, good recruiting practices ensure that employees are aligned with the organization’s values, goals, and culture. Employees who feel connected to the company’s mission and vision are more likely to stay motivated and committed, even during challenging periods. This increased loyalty and commitment can help organizations avoid layoffs by encouraging employees to explore alternative solutions and contribute to cost-saving initiatives.

Bottomline: Hire Right and Avoid Layoffs in the Future

In times of economic uncertainty, effective recruiting practices and strategic leadership play a pivotal role in preventing the need for employee layoffs. Hiring the right talent and fostering a resilient workforce enables organizations to navigate challenges, adapt to market conditions, and drive the ship in a positive direction. The right leaders, equipped with the necessary skills and vision, can proactively implement strategies to safeguard jobs, explore alternative solutions, and weather a variety of economic storms that could sink other organizations ill-equipped with mismatched talent.

As recruiters and human resource experts, we find ourselves in this situation where we need to prove to organizations across industries that hiring right now is a way to protect your business — not endanger it.

12 Recruitment Strategies for Hard-to-Fill Roles

Filling challenging roles can be a daunting task, but we’ve gathered insights from industry professionals to help you succeed. From using referrals, universities and employer image to headhunting from the competitive market, these experts share their top recruitment strategies for finding the perfect candidate.

Use Referrals, Universities and Employer Image

For difficult positions, asking current employees for referrals and using your existing network are also effective strategies. Employee referrals are a great way to increase diversity and quality in your application pool, as well as speed up the hiring process

In order to entice top talent, you must build and maintain a solid image as an employer. Highlight the advantages and benefits of working for the company, as well as the organization’s mission, principles and culture.

Finding fresh talent, especially in specialized fields, at universities and colleges, is a terrific idea. Companies frequently publicize job openings through career fairs, events and other university-sponsored activities to attract students and recent graduates.

Aleksandar Ginovski
Career Expert, Resume Expert and Product Manager, Enhancv

Offer Growth Opportunities

It is difficult to find the right person to fill a challenging role. Offer them a future as well. This made all the difference to us. We are upfront about the role challenge and show that we create new positions for people in these roles to advance. Employees must have room to grow. We have increased retention by 16% by focusing on this.

Rick Berres
Owner, Honey-Doers

Connect With Specialized Recruiters

One recruitment strategy that I have used successfully to fill challenging roles is to establish relationships with industry-specific recruiters. By engaging with recruiters who have a deep understanding of the role and industry, I have had outstanding success in finding qualified candidates who have the right skill set and industry experience to fill the role. By leveraging these recruiters, I have been able to identify and hire top talent quickly and in a timely manner.

Span Chen
Growth Director, Notta

Gain Insights From Behavioral Assessments

One recruitment strategy that has consistently yielded success in filling challenging roles is the utilization of behavioral assessments. According to a report by the Aberdeen Group, companies that use pre-hire assessments are 36% more likely to be satisfied with their new hire’s performance.

At our company, we use a scientifically validated behavioral assessment tool to assess the candidates’ cognitive abilities, personality traits, and work styles. This enables us to gain insight into the candidates’ potential job performance, culture fit and team dynamics

For example, we recently had a hard-to-fill sales leadership role that required someone with exceptional negotiation skills, strategic thinking, and leadership qualities. By using a behavioral assessment tool, we could identify the candidate who possessed these critical traits and hire them with confidence. Within six months, this new hire led the team to achieve a 20% increase in sales, exceeding our expectations.

Himanshu Sharma
CEO and Founder, Academy of Digital Marketing

Implement an Employee Referral System

Job seekers are often told to activate their network as a key step in finding their ideal role, and the same is true of companies looking for ideal employees. The professionals on your team have their own professional networks, which can include both active and passive job seekers you may not connect with through job search marketplaces or other company-wide channels.

A robust employee referral system makes your entire team into potential recruiters scouting out potential top talent. Employees also have a vested interest in referring high-quality employees.

Not only does the performance of people they refer reflect on them, but they also need to work side-by-side with them after they’re hired, so they’re unlikely to recommend someone who is toxic, can’t perform the role well or will otherwise make their lives difficult.

Jon Hill
Chairman and CEO, The Energists

Attract Top Talent Through Social Media

For me, harnessing the power of social media platforms has been a successful recruitment strategy for filling challenging roles. By strategically using platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter and professional industry groups, we connect with highly qualified candidates who possess the specific skills and expertise needed.

This approach expands our talent pool, engages passive job seekers and showcases our organization’s unique opportunities and culture. Through proactive networking and targeted outreach, we attract top talent to fill our challenging roles.

Ben McInerney
Director, Go Tree Quotes

Employ Recruitment Marketing

Recruitment marketing is a strategy that helps you build, promote, and share employer brand values and vision with potential candidates. It involves creating targeted employer brand messaging and promoting it using various channels, such as social media, job boards and career fairs.

Drafting precise job descriptions, and showcasing company culture, benefits, and employee testimonials can attract ideal candidates to a challenging position. By using recruitment marketing, you can get ahead of competitors, reach out to the best candidates and, ultimately, fill even the most challenging roles.

Jefferson McCall
Co-Founder and HR Head, TechBullish

Build Your Employer Brand

Often, roles are challenging to fill because you’re competing with other employers for a limited pool of qualified talent. In these situations, it isn’t enough to find people who have the skills for the role—you also need to entice them to join your team and make it clear to them what benefits you offer as an employer.

This doesn’t just mean the benefits and compensation package you offer, either. You want them to see the aspects of your culture, work environment, and mission that will make them want to be a part of your company.

Building your employer brand on social media makes it easy for potential candidates to research these aspects of your workplace and learn why they should choose your role over the others they’re considering, and that can get the right person into a hard-to-fill role.

Archie Payne
CEO, CalTek Staffing

Use Networking Events for Talent

One recruitment strategy that I have used successfully to fill challenging roles is building talent pipelines through networking events. Rather than only relying on job postings and recruiting firms, we focus on building relationships with potential candidates through industry-specific networking events.

We identify and attend events where top talent in our industry is likely to be present, and we leverage these events to engage with potential hires. By doing so, we can build a talent pipeline of highly qualified candidates who are already familiar with our brand and culture, and who are more likely to be a strong fit for the roles we need to fill.

Basana Saha
Founder, KidsCareIdeas

Practice Proactive Outreach and Faster Hiring

I proactively reached out to local candidates on the FindWRK platform via text and email the same day they asked about the role. All nine candidates who were extended interview offers replied, with most of them replying in under nine minutes.

I’ve found that proactively reaching out to candidates who have signed up for candidate databases improves the response times and reply rates compared to candidates who are smashing the apply button on job boards. Streamlining the hiring cycle to one week has performed better than cycles lasting three to four weeks.

Matt Parkin
Business Development Lead, FindWRK

Collaborate With Industry Influencers

As someone who is tasked with filling tech roles, I have dealt with my fair share of hard-to-fill roles. For example, one client, a startup in the geoengineering field, needed to fill the role of network engineer and after 52 days of actively headhunting and scouting, we still couldn’t find a suitable candidate.

What finally yielded results involved us reaching out to an industry influencer (won’t mention their name here) and partnering with them to spread the word about the position we wanted to fill, including the requirements for the ideal candidate.

The influencer search platform, SocialBook, was helpful in helping to identify suitable tech industry influencers who played an important role in aiding us to find just the candidate we were looking for. It wasn’t the cheapest strategy, but it was definitely a win-win for everyone, providing solid ROI. It’s a strategy I would recommend for other recruiters to try.

Joe Coletta
Founder and CEO, 180 Engineering

Headhunt From the Competitive Market

In my experience, the best (and quickest) way to fill challenging roles is by headhunting people directly from the competitive market, rather than waiting for people to apply. This involves mapping the market to see who is currently performing this role in each competitor and reaching out to them directly to entice them to have a conversation with your client. Typically, these challenging roles are filled by candidates who are not actively looking for a new role

Stephanie White
Director, EC1 Partners

3 Ways to Start Treating Diversity Like It’s Business Critical

As Gen-Z enters the workforce, the candidate pool is objectively becoming more diverse –– only 45% of 30-year-olds will be non-Hispanic whites in 2040, and minorities will become the majority in the U.S. by 2045, according to Census projections –– so preparing to attract underrepresented candidates contributes to future proofing any business. But to be able to effectively attract underrepresented talent, DE&I cannot be an afterthought, or a standalone initiative; the whole organization, and in particular recruiting teams, must treat DE&I strategies as though they’re mission critical –– because they are.

I started my career leading diversity recruiting at companies like DocuSign and Airtable. Now, I work with companies like Adidas and PayPal to help them meet their diversity hiring goals at scale. In each case, I’ve noticed that the companies who succeed in attracting (and retaining) underrepresented candidates have a few things in common. Here are three of those key strategies to ensure DE&I isn’t just a program, but core to everyday operations, and trust me: candidates can spot the difference.

Allocate A Dedicated Budget

Building a workforce that supports underrepresented employees requires more than just good intentions. The amount of time and, especially, money you invest is directly correlated to your success or failure. This may seem obvious, but it’s not always practiced within organizations. At DocuSign, we were struggling to hire Black and Latinx sales people. We invested thousands of dollars on networking events and specifically targeted our outreach to Black and Latinx sales development reps. Over six months we saw the number of Black and Latinx hires increase by 20%. This is a small example of how money and intention can be combined to make a measurable impact.

If your DE&I teams currently rely on budget from various departments across the org to be able to do their work and meet their goals, consider instead treating diversity initiatives more like you do research and development (R&D) projects, which benefit from a dedicated budget to ensure teams are adequately resourced. By investing real money into these initiatives, organizations demonstrate their commitment and recognize the value of diversity in driving innovation, improving company culture, and achieving sustainable growth.

Align Diversity Objectives with Business Goals

To maximize the impact of diversity programs, it is crucial that DE&I objectives are born out of larger, organization-wide goals. I call this business proofing your diversity strategy. Why did we focus on the Sales team at DocuSign? Because the business was growing rapidly, and we needed to increase our supply of great salespeople. Second, our mid-market customers were predominantly underrepresented, so we wanted to make sure our sales force reflected that. We know that speaking to people with shared experiences can lead to better outcomes on sales calls, so improving the representation of women and people of color on the SMB sales team was a diversity goal that tied perfectly to a business outcome and contributed to the organization’s overall success. By closely tying diversity objectives to business goals, companies can foster a culture of inclusivity that also just happens to drive tangible outcomes.

Expand Recruitment Channels

Recruiting teams are accountable to leadership for their efficiency and cost as much as any other team. In other words, recruiting is a supply and demand problem that ebbs and flows with the growth of the business. The good news: prioritizing diversity in recruiting is a proven way to solve that problem. Tried and true sourcing methods often mean companies are really only pulling candidates from two or three sources – referrals, universities, etc. The supply of candidates from these frequently-tapped wells will result in a homogeneous workforce, and limit candidate demand. The more places you source candidates from, the more likely you are to have a solid supply of qualified talent, while also ensuring demand for open roles. The laws of supply and demand hold true here, so diversifying the talent pipeline also reduces the cost per hire for your team.

Continuing with the earlier DocuSign example, the events significantly increased candidate demand. Attendees told their friends that DocuSign was hiring, which created short term demand. The candidates we hired referred their friends, which increased midterm demand. And, long term, we stumbled onto a new channel that turned out to be a low cost way for us to recruit should we decide to do it again. Win-win-win.

Ultimately, to start treating DE&I as more than an initiative in recruiting (with the upside of attracting underrepresented talent) we need to stop calling it an “initiative.” By investing resources, being smart in setting goals, and broadening places from which they attract talent, companies can foster an inclusive work environment that drives innovation, enhances customer relationships, and ultimately leads to sustainable growth. Embracing diversity as a business imperative is not only the right thing to do, but also a strategic advantage in today’s global and interconnected marketplace.

Zippia: Your Secret Weapon for Job Research

In today’s fast-paced world, finding the right job can be daunting. But fear not, because Zippia.com is here to make job research a breeze. With its user-friendly interface and comprehensive job listings, Zippia.com helps you explore numerous employment prospects. Simply enter keywords like “Java” and “developer” to kickstart your job search journey.

How Does This Help with Job Research?

Zippia goes beyond basic job search platforms by offering tailored experiences. Refine your search with filters like distance, salary, and career levels, focusing on opportunities that align with your preferences. Unleash the power of Zippia’s career insights! The “Careers by Job Titles” section provides detailed overviews of various roles, from job descriptions to salary ranges. Make informed decisions about your career path.14

What sets Zippia apart is its commitment to providing a wealth of information related to job searches. Gain insights into responsibilities, qualifications, and hiring processes for different positions. Don’t miss out on salary ranges! Zippia offers comprehensive salary information, empowering you to negotiate fair compensation packages. But wait, there’s more! Zippia offers additional features like resume samples, demographic data, and resources on remote jobs, best hiring practices, and industry trends.

In Conclusion

Zippia.com is your go-to platform for job research. Its user-friendly interface, extensive job listings, and valuable career insights make it an indispensable tool in today’s competitive job market. Whether you’re a job seeker or recruiter, visit Zippia.com today and unlock a world of opportunities!

Other Dean Da Costa Content:

Dean has a free page of sourcing tools, links, and other recruiting resources that we highly recommend you check out! That page has an overwhelming amount of stuff, so you gotta really love sourcing to appreciate the infinite hours of work Dean has put into it. For all of the Dean Da Costa resources on RecruitingDaily, click here!