Innovative; creative; cutting-edge; flexible. If these words don’t apply to your hiring practices you’re likely missing out on some of the most skilled candidates currently available in the workforce.
Just like the old 9-5 on-site, traditional job model is changing, so must the hiring approach of modern companies and hiring bosses striving to keep pace with technology and the rising ‘gig economy’ that clearly isn’t going away anytime soon.
For organizations willing to throw the old ‘cookie-cutter’ hiring strategies to the wayside, here are five ways you can creatively bring in unique new talent to your group.
Be open to unique skill-sets. Organizations can be so locked into their cut-and-dried ‘necessary skills’ with job postings that candidates with superb qualifications can get left out of consideration. Ask yourself this: what’s more important—someone’s past experience or their future potential? Sure, someone who seems to fit the bill to a T can be hard to look past, but don’t necessarily turn your back on an intriguing candidate just because they don’t fit the mold on first glance.
Go nationwide. If you’re struggling to find the best fit for a position locally, why not expand your field across the U.S. by being open to remote employees? This obviously doesn’t work for every type of business, but technology today makes bringing telecommuters onboard easier than ever. This not only opens up your field of candidates immensely, but might possibly save some money and will definitely bring in some fresh perspectives.
Expand socially. Put yourself out there on social networking platforms that go beyond the obvious tools such as LinkedIn to truly expand your reach with great candidates. One tweet will take you but a few minutes and might reward you with five remarkable new resumes. But you’ll never know until you try!
Jazz up your job posts. Has it ever crossed your mind that a cookie-cutter job posting that’s just like all the rest of them is going to mainly spur applicants of the same description? That might be fine if you’re seeking an accountant, but for positions like ‘Creative Director’ why not show some creativity yourself? Different ways to do this might be an unusual posting title (“Only Creative Geniuses Need Apply!”) or an unexpected request in your ‘asks’—such as “what’s the worst job you’ve ever had and why?”
Interesting interviews. Shake things up a bit with your interviewing techniques and you’re less likely to get the same old stock answers so many applicants have rehearsed for you. Trade seats and have a candidate interview you; ask them who has inspired them the most in life and why; query them about how they think their personality makes them the best fit the job.
Perhaps in summation, it might not be so crucial how you change your hiring approach, but that you do shake things up a bit. Times are clearly changing in the world of employment and recruiting, and the quickest way to get left behind is sticking with strategies that no longer pan out.