Your company is growing or you are getting close to closing your round and need to scale quickly. It’s easy to wash over the details and immediately get to work on recruiting and hiring without creating a business plan for scaling your recruiting process and be able to do so right now. quickly.
When comes to hiring to scale, it’s never easy. There are a number of potential pitfalls high growth companies often encounter when building a recruiting pipeline on a shoestring budget. Here are five steps for hiring for scale, potential pitfalls and how to build a pipeline plan on a shoestring budget so that you can move quickly when the time comes
Recruiting Process: Stay One Step Ahead
Hiring is a process, and a difficult one. You likely have resumes for qualified candidates that didn’t quite make the cut on the first round. Staying in touch and connecting with these high-value candidates gives you a pool to draw from when you’re ready to scale.
In the interim, these candidates may have accepted other positions, but who’s to say how they feel about their current job (or second choice when you were the first) once the new job honeymoon is over? Maintaining contact via LinkedIn, or email or even text message shows them that they’re still top of mind for you and they’re likely to be more amenable to accepting a new job offer from you.
Wondering just how many candidates you need to keep at the top of your pipeline? IQTalent Partner’s calculator helps you break down your funnel.
Connect Like It’s Your Job (Because It Is)
Speaking of staying in touch with nearly-made-it candidates, it’s never a bad time to grow your or your company’s LinkedIn profile page and network on LinkedIn. Consider the types of roles you may need to hire for in the future and reach out to passive or active candidates in your industry. You may not have an opportunity for them today, but it’s wonderful to get a message with a connection request that you’re impressed with their skill set and want to connect for future opportunities. Savvy job seekers keep their options open and like to research and engage their target companies well-before they actively begin looking for work.
Develop Your Talent Pipeline Early and Often
Building relationships with passive candidates proactively will make hiring for scale much easier. According to a 2016 Global Talent Acquisition Report from LinkedIn, 90% of professionals globally are interested in hearing about opportunities before they begin applying for jobs. Similar to reaching out and connecting with candidates on LinkedIn, you can do the same to develop your talent pipeline. Hiring on a small scale now? Ask potential candidates and current team members for referrals and add them to your network. One good candidate is likely to have a network of colleagues who would also be a great fit. Bonus? No budget required.
Sell Future Candidates on the Benefits of Working with You
Talent pipelining benefits candidates as much as it does you. With no budget and minimal effort, having a relationship with a trusted recruiter gives a candidate someone to reach out to for career advice, plus the security of having someone to contact when they are ready to make a move. Share information (industry articles relevant to the candidate) via InMail or on your social networks without asking anything in return, stay in touch just to stay in touch. It does take time for this type of communication, but if you’re working in a specific industry you can streamline the process by sending the same link to multiple candidates (separately, of course).
Take a look at your company profiles on social media as well as employee review sites like Indeed and Glassdoor as well as Yelp and even Google. Don’t forget about your own individual LinkedIn profile when it comes to referrals and recommendations. It’s important to monitor and be aware of the types of ways candidates will look for resources and information about you as the recruiter and employer.
Relationships Matter
Recruiting is about relationship building. If you can be proactive and generous with advice, you can build a pipeline of top performers who are too busy to actively search for jobs. If you’ve done the work of staying in contact, you’re going to be top of mind, plus having a preexisting relationship with a recruiter means that this type of candidate is likely going to contact you first. You’ve stayed in touch, sent congrats messages when they’re promoted, and you have the advantage of quickly and easily assessing whether or not specific candidates would be a fit. Setting yourself apart from other companies as well as recruiters who go to these lengths makes an impression that places your employer as a company of choice for themselves as well as their network.
The bottom line: Being proactive and building relationships with potential candidates takes time, but will save you a lot of it when you’re ready to scale.
Are you looking to start your hiring process today? Comeet can help. Check out our plan options to learn more about how we can redefine the way you recruit new talent.
