5 ways to find gems, avoid deadwood in rich pool of potential hires
The slump we’ve just begun to crawl out of has left many highly talented people looking for work. If they still have jobs, many are anxious to jump ship before they too are laid off or to find better career opportunities.
But how does a company find these top-notch job candidates? And how can it distinguish them from “deadwood” — people whose former employers were glad to be rid of them? Here are five tactics to help an employer identify and recruit talent of a calibre it will be much harder to land once the job market fully recovers.
Make some noise with social media
With limited budgets for recruitment advertising, leveraging social-networking websites is the best way to find top talent. Using tools such as LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or blogs, an organization can build relationships with candidates and draw in jobseekers.
If an employer lacks a corporate blog or Twitter page, it should create at least one or the other. To build relationships with jobseekers, engaging articles on a blog can set a company apart from others and give candidates a window into a company’s culture.
Adding RSS feeds to the blog allows people to sign up for instant updates whenever new content is posted. If there is a Twitter account, posting a tweet lets followers know there’s new content on the website.
For a more personal way to network with top talent, a company can host or sponsor an industry event through a local association, providing valuable face time with potential hires.
Target people still employed but nervous, restless
As well as people who have been laid off, target those who have survived the layoffs but are open to changing employers. Although these people still have jobs, loyalty to their employers has likely diminished due to the fear they might be included in the next round of layoffs, diminished morale or lack of opportunities due to cutbacks.
To get on the radar of people in this category, use free job postings on sites such as Craigslist. Make sure the postings reassure jobseekers the firm is growing. This can be done by including specific references to the firm’s recent revenue growth, new financing the company has raised or expansion into new markets.
Separate the so-so from the stars
With more jobseekers on the market, it’s time to fine-tune the hiring process to weed out the mediocre. There are three key strategies to achieve this:
First, write job descriptions that clearly identify the company’s needs. In job interviews, ask questions that probe into the details of the candidate’s substantial accomplishments. For example, “Tell me about the most complex project you have been involved in and what your role was.”
Second, don’t take the resumé and interview as gospel. Instead, check references thoroughly and ask questions to confirm the answers received in the interview.
Finally, be aware of company culture. If a senior manager being considered was laid off by a large employer, will he adapt well to a small- or medium-sized employer? Employees whose experience is limited to working for large corporations likely had more staff, resources and budget to get the job done, so make sure they know what they’re in for working for a smaller organization.
Stay away from deadwood
Steer clear of other people’s deadwood. Some employers took advantage of the recession to get rid of people who should have been dumped long ago. And interviews and reference checks may not catch the deadwood unless an employer knows what to look for.
One red flag is a resumé showing someone spent a prolonged period in the same job before being laid off, which could mean the candidate’s career progress had stalled. Another red flag is if a former employer provides references that are more neutral than positive.
In interviews, don’t hesitate to ask a question such as: “My experience tells me employers will do all they can to hold on to top talent, oftentimes creating new positions for people rather than laying them off. Why were you laid off rather than some of your co-workers?”
Beware of the boomerang hire
Avoid stumbling into a situation in which top talent is hired but, once business picks up again, her former employer — and a competitor — hires back its former star. To try and prevent this, make sure to ask probing interview questions to uncover how keen the star actually is to stick around at the firm. And ask the blunt question: “If your current employer were to call you back, how would you react?”
An organization can also try to protect some of its intellectual capital with non-disclosure or non-compete agreements. While such agreements are often hard to enforce, discussing them in the interview process and asking candidates if they’re willing to sign them should help weed out those who are just waiting for the chance to boomerang back to their former employers.
Derek Gagné is president of Vancouver-based Talent Edge Solutions, which helps clients develop integrated talent and knowledge management strategies to retain and increase the performance of top talent. He can be reached at [email protected]or visit www.talentedgesolutions.com.
