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7 Creative Ways To Recruit The Best Employees

The best employees are slipping through the net of traditional recruitment procedures.

Aiming to attract top talent? If so, you may need to change your approach, because the best employees are slipping through the net of traditional recruitment procedures.

In a time when companies are finding it difficult to fill job roles and the competition seems to beat you to first place when it comes to the right recruit, now is the time to review your recruitment strategies.

 

Recruiting the best employees

Here’s a look at seven creative ways to recruit top talent for your startup or small business:

 

1. Have a ‘draft day’

A number of firms launch a “draft day” as part of their recruitment strategy. Best used at companies that have an annual graduate intake, draft days are for graduates to give a presentation in the form of the candidate highlighting their particular skills and talents to you and senior leaders or advisors. In some cases, a project relevant to the company may be given to the graduates and then, on the basis of the final presentation, the company will decide who to keep on and who to let go.

 

2. Create a competition

When Lego wanted to attract the top employees for a post as a Master Model Builder, what better way to do so than by getting people to enter a model building competition? A theme was created and registrants had a set timeframe to design and create the best Lego model they could. There are 3 stages to the competition as competitors build in front of an audience. The final round, which produced the winner, ended with that individual being hired straightaway.

 

Photo: © vadymvdrobot, YFS Magazine

 

3. Attract puzzled looks

A billboard or online promotion with a puzzle to solve is a great way to attract a certain type of thinker; and it doesn’t have to be expensive. For example, one   mobile technology company created a monthly challenge for engineers to complete a sixty second programming puzzle linked to a financial reward, $100 dollars, for each successful candidate. This attracted the top brains in the business and gave the organization a potential candidate list for top employees, several of whom they recruited.

 

4. Send hidden messages

Volkswagen came up with a really neat trick when they found themselves in need of highly skilled mechanics. They sent a number of damaged cars to several garages and repair shops with a concealed message on the undercarriage of the cars. They managed to bring in a number of top skilled mechanics in what was a first for the car industry.

 

Photo: © Monkey Business, YFS Magazine

Even a small business could consider this recruiting idea by putting a job ad on branded goods or promotional items. Ikea hid job descriptions in furniture, which in effect the potential employees delivered to themselves, so it didn’t cost anything. Applications flooded in and around 300 people were employed.

 

5. Prioritize online accessibility

While it is important to meet face-to-face, career days and job fairs take up time and can be costly. A candidate who is looking for the right company will be prepared to travel. And if you make it easy for them to get an initial conversation going, they are more likely to consider you as a potential employer.

If necessary you can include a virtual tour of the business, the chance to speak with key individuals, and a online application form for potential new hires to complete without leaving the comfort of their home or office.

 

6. List opportunities via social media

This has to be one of the quickest and easiest methods of recruitment that does not cost a lot and is instant. LinkedIn is one of the largest professional networks around and with the right marketing approach, you can reach an enormous number of talented recruits.

 

Photo: © djile, YFS Magazine

Social media networks like LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook are a very good way to develop relationships with potential recruits. It is very easy to share job postings and even to get your followers to share employment opportunities with their own network.

 

7. Launch a roadshow

Who can ignore a bus and an all expenses paid relocation package to Australia? Apparently not over a thousand qualified software developers who saw the “Europe, We’re Coming to Steal Your Geeks “campaign by the good people at Atlassian.

The company went out on the road for a fifteen-day “Recruitment Roadshow” bus tour through four European cities – London, Madrid, Berlin and Amsterdam – in a swag-filled bus to hire fifteen software developers (hence, 15 in 15!) and lure them back to Sydney headquarters.

Their creative recruitment campaign to lure skilled developers back to Australia’s ‘Silicon Beach’ with a job at Atlassian and an all-expenses-paid relocation package to Sydney worked.

 

This article has been edited.

Deborah Davis is the owner and Medical Director of Heber Davis, a cosmetic clinic that is dedicated to skin rejuvenation using lasers, cosmetic injectables and advanced skin treatments. Established in 1988, Heber Davis has been fortunate to enjoy success and longevity in a competitive industry, and a big part of that success is due to Deborah’s commitment towards hiring the right employees for the company, and ensuring that they are well taken care of. Connect with @HeberDavis1 on Twitter.

 

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