How much does a bad hire cost your business? Some estimates say that hiring the wrong person for your business costs as much as $10,000 for an employee at mid-level.
With that kind of money, you need to do everything you can to make sure that your recruiting efforts get the right candidates for the job.
Would you like to learn what you need to do to make sure you hire the best fit for your company? Check out these creative recruiting ideas to find out.
1. Know Your Values & Culture
You have to know yourself and your business in order to attract the employees who are a good fit for your business.
Hiring employees that are engaged and love what they do starts with your mission and values. Hiring a candidate who shares in those same values and buys into your mission can create company loyalty.
As a company, do you value the environment? Do you value integrity? Do you value service? These are some common values that companies identify with.
As a culture, would you describe it as a fun environment or a conservative, very professional environment? Your ideal candidate should fit in with that culture.
2. Make the Job Amazing
What’s the job you’re looking to hire for? No matter what the job is, you have to make it as appealing as possible to attract the best and the brightest candidates.
You don’t have to talk about pay and perks. Those things are important, but you don’t need to mention them in the job description.
Instead, talk about your company’s culture and values along with the job description. The more compelling the job is on paper, the more likely you are to get a number of great applicants for the position.
3. Review Past Hires
Sometimes, you have to look at the past to gain new insights. Take the time to review your past few hires and the last hire for the position that you’re hiring for.
Review where the candidates came from. Where there recruiting strategies that worked for you? Where there others that you could improve upon?
If you’re hiring for a sales position, did you give a sales assessment test? Note whether or not that resulted in a good hire or not.
4. ABR: Always Be Recruiting
Salespeople have a mantra: “ABC – Always Be Closing.” Your creative recruiting strategies should include something similar.
Where there candidates that stood out in your past few hires? Reach out to them and let them know that there’s a position available at your company. They may be interested in working for your company.
You should always reach out to your networks, to potential candidates to let them know what’s happening at your company. Showing company growth can make them feel like there’s something special happening at your company and they need to be a part of it.
5. Use LinkedIn
LinkedIn is an excellent recruiting tool to reach out to potential employees and implement your ABR strategy.
Reach out and connect with potential candidates to see if they would be interested in working for your company. You can invite them out for coffee and get to know them informally.
Most importantly, you can stay in touch with them even when you’re not hiring. By doing so, you’re keeping the relationship warm with potential candidates.
When you are ready to hire, then you can do personal outreach to these prospects. This strategy is almost like hiring someone you already know.
6. Use Your Personal Networks
Don’t underestimate the power of networking. You may not share the same industry as most of your network, but someone knows someone who would be a great fit for your company.
If you belong to any organizations like a chamber of commerce or alumni association, send your job posting over.
They’re connected to career centers who have access to bright talent clamoring at an opportunity to show what they’re capable of.
7. Leverage Your Top Employees
Take a look at your top employees. You may not be able to clone them, but you can leverage their personal networks to get your next hire.
Ask your employees if they know of anyone who would be working at your company. You could add an incentive like giving a referral bonus if you hire someone they refer.
8. The Power of Social Media
Social media is a cost-effective way to get the word out about your job posting. You can even create ads on Facebook to promote your job. With an ad, you set your budget and target people with interests that fit your industry.
An example would be if you’re hiring for a Chief Information Officer. You can target people who like industry publications like CIO or other IT-specific magazines. They could follow other IT companies like Network Solutions.
You can also post your job and ask your networks to share it with their networks. That broadens your reach and gives you a wider pool of candidates to choose from.
9. Look in the Right Locations
Are you limiting yourself by looking for candidates only in your location? If you want to ensure that you get the best of the best to work for your company, you’ll need to expand your horizons.
If your city is seeing an increase in relocations, you can target areas where people are moving from. You can also target your state and a couple of surrounding states and offer a small relocation package to incentivize candidates.
Creative Recruiting Ideas to Hire the Right Employee
As a small business, you simply can’t afford a series of bad hires. Fortunately, there are things that you can do to make sure you get it right the first time.
By using the creative recruiting ideas outlined here, you’re making sure that you get the right hire the first time. That will save your company in hiring and training costs down the road. Not only that, you get an outstanding employee that you depend on.
You can then take the time to focus on caring for yourself. You’ll want to read these self-care tips for entrepreneurs to help you do that.
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