You won’t recruit a decent candidate if you can’t find them first! Sourcing candidates is key to hiring good people. The main approaches are by advertising your role, using recruitment agencies, promoting internal candidates, or sourcing through your company’s contacts.
Advertising jobs
I’m old enough to have placed a job ad in a newspaper – which found a great colleague! These days online agencies and social media are increasingly effective ways to advertise for interview candidates. LinkedIn is starting to dominate this market but be aware that some candidates keep a low profile – especially those in technical roles. If they aren’t on LinkedIn, then an advert or candidate search there won’t pick them up.
When recruiting for niche roles, industry publications, websites and blogs can still be useful ways to find them. Think about what your ideal candidate might be reading or watching – where would they go for news relevant to their occupation and industry? Advertising directly can be expensive and may bring more responses from agencies than candidates! It’s usually best to look for a good agency who advertises through your target media. Choose carefully, as they will need a deep understanding of the role and the industry you work in.
Advertising a job vacancy needs more than job description. Job adverts should emphasise what makes your company good to work for as well as what the role will do. Phrases such as ‘friendly team’, ‘exciting company’, ‘innovative products’ and ‘fast growing market’ should appeal. Look for similar roles advertised by your competitors – how can you make your company more attractive to work for?
In this age of Artificial Intelligence, CVs are increasingly likely to include AI-written content. The ease of applying for jobs online could give you hundreds of candidates. Recruiters often resort to AI filtering of applicants, resulting in a ‘bot vs bot’ scenario where neither candidates nor hiring managers get what they want. In my view, this problem is like digital marketing: we want as many good leads as possible, but how many we ‘convert’ – in this case to good hires – is what really matters.
Outsourcing recruitment
A good recruiter can make a huge difference to finding good candidates. Sometimes a recruitment agency has a strong reputation which attracts a higher calibre of candidate, or those with specialist skills. Often successful hiring depends on working with individual recruitment professionals – it’s worth building relationships with the best of them as they may move between agencies!
Look for recruitment agencies which advertise jobs like your vacancy. Where possible avoid those which are too generalised – you don’t want to be drowned in inappropriate CVs! Check agencies’ contracts carefully for their fees (percentage of starting salary) and payment clauses. You may receive an unwelcome invoice if you eventually hire someone whose CV they sent earlier, even if it was for a different role.
Often agencies won’t give you candidates’ details until an interview is booked, to prevent you from contacting them directly. Candidates won’t always know which companies their CV has been sent to. Before you ask an agency to arrange an interview, check that your website or LinkedIn inbox doesn’t contain a good CV – it might be the same person!
Many agencies reformat candidates’ CVs to disguise their identity and add branding. Sometimes this extends to ‘accidental’ embellishments. Be prepared to show candidates their ‘own’ CV and see if they look surprised! I have also received the same candidate’s CV through different agencies, but each copy looked quite different somehow.
Executive candidates are more easily found by search agencies, as they aren’t necessarily looking for a new job. Often this is the only way to present a good selection of potential hires for top roles where few have relevant experience. For the most senior roles, it’s worth considering both those who have the right level of experience in a different industry, and those with better domain knowledge who are ready to step up. If they haven’t worked in your type of company, then have they worked for a supplier or customer of similar products?
Internal candidates and contacts
The easiest candidates to overlook are your colleagues. You don’t always know who in your team is looking for a new opportunity until you ask them. And you don’t want to lose talent by failing to consider them for new roles. Even if you’re convinced there are no suitable internal candidates, it can help morale to take their ambitions seriously and may reveal other opportunities for their advancement within your company.
Even if your team aren’t interested in stepping up, they might know good people elsewhere. Offering a hiring bonus (paid after the new hire starts) can be a great way to bring in good candidates. Your team can help sell the role and your company’s working environment to encourage applications. But be careful not to promise favourable consideration – the hiring manager’s view is more important than the candidates’ friends in your team.
Sometimes the best candidate already works for your competitor. They may be known to your team and well regarded in your industry. Sales professionals who have strong relationships with prospective customers can make appealing candidates. But ensure you’re buying them for their skills not just their address book! And be careful to check their real motivations and loyalty. It’s not unknown for new salespeople to absorb intelligence on your products and customers before moving on again.
Hiring from your suppliers may also seem attractive. But beware the consequences for your companies’ relationship. Don’t upset a supplier if they are your only source of a key technology! And although they may know how your product works, they might not understand its value proposition or your customers’ needs.
Poaching from your customer’s team is a last resort. Whether they work for the ‘end-user’ or distributor, their ‘value-add’ needs to be carefully weighed against the risks. How will hiring from your customer affect your future sales? Would the candidate’s departure leave a big gap in their team? And if they seem indifferent to losing a team member, then is there something else you need to be aware of?
Sourcing before selecting
Whether you find your candidates through advertising, agencies, internally or through contacts, it’s important to ensure they all have a fair assessment. Those who are from your team or are known to them may come with greater ‘provenance’, but this should not bias your decision. Don’t confuse Sourcing with Selection – all candidates should follow the same process until you are ready to select. This is not just about being fair to candidates; it also gives you the greatest chance of finding the best candidates to hire.