Let’s face it: talented professionals are the backbone of every successful business. But recruiting talented and dedicated employees can be tough and even more so for fast-growing companies.
We spoke with a few HR specialists from the Campus X community and asked them: “What is the key recruitment challenge you face and how do you solve it?” Here’re their action-packed insights:
Great talent doesn’t know much about you
Let’s say you’re a globally recognized company like Google. You’ll get 100 applications the minute you publish an open position.
However, if you’re just starting out, you might need to invest extra effort in attracting great talent. According to research conducted by LinkedIn, 75% of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before even applying to a job. So, how to boost your brand recognition? Here’s what our experts say:
Solution 1: Define and showcase your company’s true culture
Start by digging into your company’s culture. Your team is your greatest source of knowledge. Study their opinions and motivations and learn as much as possible from them.
“Ask your current colleagues. Try to find out why they chose to work for you. What were the other options they were considering? What do they like about your company’s culture and mission,” advises Irina Lilova, Talent Specialist at Telerik Academy.
Track, measure and adjust as needed
“Every quarter we send out an employee/pulse check survey to study our team’s engagement and motivation. The results we see quarter over a quarter are outstanding, including a 95% employee engagement score which translates to high motivation to deliver their best every day. To put it in context, the average on a national level is around 70%,” she adds.
Extra tip: Use the insights to create a responsive branded career site and career blog, where you showcase your company’s culture and values. Share employees’ testimonials, photos of your office, and the most exciting projects you work on. Create an overall employer branding strategy to help you communicate your company’s culture to potential hires.
Solution 2: Keep your team happy
“Happy team members are one of the best ways to boost brand recognition and attract talent,” comments Teodora Georgieva, HR Specialist at OfficeRnD.
Ensuring that your current employees’ experience within the company is great means they would refer OfficeRnD to their friends as the best place to work at, elaborates Teodora.
“To stand out from the crowd, introduce growth and learning opportunities and benefits such as additional annual leave and birthday day off, wellness programs such as premium health insurance, sports memberships, as well as opportunities to work remotely in coworking spaces all over the world, and more.”
Solution 3: Tap into the great potential of referrals
Referrals from trusted employees might be an effective way to recruit candidates with critical skills. In fact, research from Deloitte found that a good employee referral program leads to better retention levels - as high as 42%. Another study says that referrals ensure a shorter and less expensive recruiting process.
Yet, there’s a catch: your team has a limited network. Therefore, being part of a larger community can help you get access to a larger pool of referrals.
“On one hand, being part of the Campus X community helps businesses reach a larger talent pool by leveraging the outside network of fellow member companies. On the other hand, Telerik Academy as a strategic Campus X partner helps members by providing easy access to Master Junior IT talent in a consistent and predictable manner,” comments Irina from Telerik Academy.
Solution 4: Organize and participate in events
Investing in building and sustaining brand awareness might be costly. Yet, there’re affordable and effective ways to build it. From associating with bigger brands to being present at big community events and organizing your own.
Dayana Tsvetkova, a Talent Acquisition Manager at OfficeRnD explains:
“We celebrate our success in various ways, including company events, which are open for people outside of the organization. That’s a chance to have a sneak peek into our culture and spend some fun time with the team.”
Also, being part of a bigger community (like Campus X’s carefully filtered coworking ecosystem) might help your brand gain additional exposure to a much wider audience.
As Dayana puts it:
“The Campus X events and the wider community also help us attract high-quality talent. The coworking space is a place, where team members can enhance their professional skills by participating in various professional events and benefiting from the opportunity to collaborate with like-minded professionals.
Share your experience
These were some of the insightful recruitment tips we thought are worth sharing.
Now we’d like to hear from you. Do you consider trying any of them? What recruitment strategies do you personally use? Let us know in the comments down below.
