Hiring is getting harder each year, and the competition for top talent is fierce. That’s why you must be creative when coming up with strategies that will attract only the best.
If you are doing the hiring on your own without an agency, here are some creative ways you can attract the qualified professionals you need.
Interactive Open House
An interactive open house is an event where you let candidates see into your company.
In other words, you will show potential candidates how good working for you is.
You can accomplish this just by going to different events in your industry.
For example, if your company is in the tech industry, you could participate in a hackathon or just a job fair.
The other option is to host an actual open house.
You can plan activities that show candidates how it is to work in the company.
You can also include things that the general public doesn’t know to make them feel like they are already part of the company.
Send invitations to potential candidates, and you will know that the people that show up do it because they are interested.
Have a Culture of Mentorship
Mentorship programs are becoming more common in the business world.
These programs entail people in management positions guiding and training lower-level employees.
Mentorship programs have shown to increase employee retention and improve leadership skills. On top of that, employees acquire more in-depth technical knowledge.
So, your company can start by creating a mentorship program for new employees. This will encourage a better relationship between the employee and their boss.
But a mentorship culture goes beyond implementing a program like this.
You have to instill in your employees a mentor-first mindset, so they want to teach each other even when they aren’t participating in the program.
Big companies like Google use these programs to attract the best talent.
For example, they have a one-year residency program for professionals with a STEM bachelor’s degree like computer science.
They also offer a two-year mentorship program for you to build an IT career working alongside the industry’s best.
Use Referral Programs
Referral programs are another creative strategy that has been used in many companies for hiring. It consists of encouraging current employees to do the work for you.
The employees will reach out to their network and advertise open positions in the company.
If the employee finds qualified potential candidates that the company ends up hiring, you will reward them.
The rewards can be money, but it also can be extra paid time off, the best parking spot, or maybe lunch for a month.
Whatever you can think, that will mean an additional incentive to your employees.
Whatever your company can afford. In the end, you will see results because employees will put an extra effort in finding prime candidates.
Social Media is Your Friend
When trying to attract top talent, you should use every tool at your disposal.
Social media platforms are a powerful resource in this case. And yes, I’m also talking about Instagram and Facebook, not only LinkedIn.
It has become so common that 73 percent of millennials found their last job through social media platforms.
Facebook or Instagram paid advertisements can be a good way to promote your job openings and reach passive candidates.
You can also use your social media profiles as a way to show the company’s culture and environment.
And you can check out promising candidates’ profiles to screen them and see what they are like as a person.
There are other less conventional platforms like Slack or Discord.
Slack has hundreds of communities where you can promote your job openings. You don’t have to start going through the members and send messages to each of them.
You can just post a job description and a link where people can apply.
For example, there are groups for Java and Python developers if you are looking into that niche. And a company called Fetch even uses Tinder to find potential candidates.
Offer Learning Opportunities
Learning opportunities are another thing that a lot of professionals look for nowadays.
You can offer from coding bootcamps to master and specializations depending on the skills your company needs.
Either way, you will attract top talent and be able to keep them after they finish the course.
Some of these learning opportunities can also be other things besides offering to pay for further education.
Many companies have their own learning platforms where employees can learn different skills at any time they want. And also the mentorship programs that are mentioned above.
Mention Employee Benefits in your Website
Another way you can attract top talent, and that not all companies use, is to include a career page on your website.
That way, when potential candidates go to your website to learn about the company, they will find attractive information about being an employee there.
It will help if this section includes a description of the benefits and perks your company is offering.
You can also include a platform where candidates can apply, which will make the whole process go smoothly.
And a pro tip is to use your current employees to make videos to promote the company.
They can talk about the company’s environment and culture and how they feel working for you.
Build an Employer Brand
Creating an employer brand is one of the most effective ways to attract top talent.
If you don’t believe it, you can look at companies like Apple or Amazon, whose name is enough to attract top candidates.
Building an employer brand is using social media and advertisements to show the company’s culture.
But you should also use other strategies, like participating in peer review sites like Glassdoor, where employees can anonymously rate you as an employer.
You can also participate in surveys like the best places to work or something along those lines.
In Summary
Some creative strategies to introduce into your hiring and attract top talent are interactive open houses, participating in events, and using social media as your best tool to reach out to candidates.
You can also have a mentorship culture, offer learning opportunities, grow your brand as an employer, and implement referral programs.
