Sick of your “normal” recruiting methods?  Tired of reviewing resumes from unqualified people who answer your ads or postings in droves, with no regard to whether or not their credentials match your need? Interested in saving your valuable time…and lowering your recruiting costs?

If this sounds like a pitch to buy a new service, it’s not.  It is simply an idea you might want to try.  It was done for a real company… and it worked!

An accounting firm needed to replace a key administrative person who had been with them for a very long time and was retiring.  They hired Talmax to find candidates.  We searched the databases of Monster and CareerBuilder for someone in their area with the background they wanted.  Talmax found about 100 or so “run-of-the-mill” possibilities, but no one really special.

Because the type of person we needed could come from a lead adinistrative job in a law firm, we searched the local member ALA site for potential candidates. That’s when the light bulb went off. 

The site contained a rather long list of vendors who were sponsors of various local ALA activities and who regularly called on all the member firms in the organization. We sent an e-mail to the contact at each of these vendor companies asking for referrals.  We included a link to a Posting Page, which contained a detailed description of the job that they could forward to anyone they felt would be qualified and interested.

We received eight referrals, all of high quality including the person who was ultimately offered and accepted the position.

How’s that for “out-of-the-box” recruiting? 

Got a recruitment story of your own?  Send it to The Sourcerer so we can share it with other interested parties.

Candidates often ask questions of recruiters on issues about a new job possibility that range far beyond the scope of the job responsibilities, salary and benefits.  Top tier job seekers want to know:

• What’s the company like?
• How many employees do they have?
• How many people work in the department I’m applying to?
• What’s the working environment like?
• Can you tell me about the company’s culture?
• Do they have much turnover?
• Why is the job open?
• Is there a clear career path in this position?
• Do they promote from within?
• What kind of opportunities are there for advancement?

Candidates who are interested in career growth want to know so much more than a typical job description will tell them.  You can use your Career Site to present this type of ancillary information. Information that can increase the interest a highly qualified candidate may have in your organization.

It’s up to you to create the “sizzle” that will help convince that “just right” job seeker to pursue your company.  There are lots of topics you can include on a well designed Career Site including:

• Employee testimonials (VERY effective)
• A company events calendar 
• A diversity policy statement
• Employee photos
• List of charitable events in which the company & employees particpate
• Company vision or mission statement
• Comments from satisfied customers

Use your imagination to create a Career Site that will appeal to the level of candidates you want to attract to your company.  Whether unemployment is at record highs or is incredibly low, finding  top talent is always difficult.  Sell the reasons why your employees like working at your firm.