Nowadays, competition between corporations is not limited to client acquisition but has exceeded to include top talent acquisition on precedence. Top talents are a vital source of competitive advantage; thus, attracting great people is critical to organizational success.

The talent hub synergizes to provide the top-notch customer service required to drive profitability. Therefore, corporates are racing, devising, and vying to adopt best practices to attract and hire Top Talent from the global talent pool.

The unanticipated COVID instability brought about a renaissance in the business procedures and priorities. Employers have long considered the employees a malleable and stable resource, but in the current scenario, the employees emerged as conscious negotiators. They know their worth, and hence expectation is changing at a rate that’s even faster than products and services.

Due to this, companies struggle to hire top talent. 76 percent of hiring managers(1) regard recruiting suitable job candidates in a stipulated time as the most challenging task in the present situation, according to Glassdoor.

• First, the challenge exists in identifying the best-fit person for a particular position.
• Second, top talent in today’s era judges their offer letter based on “what’s in it for them.”
• The third factor is hiring speed, which is linked to both the company’s cost and time.

Hence, in this cutthroat competitive environment, recruiters must concentrate on attracting, engaging, and hiring top talent to join the team and then keeping them inspired and motivated to stay.

( Also Read: Popular Job Posting Hashtags for Recruiters to Follow )

Here are Top recruitment best practices to help onboard the best for your company

1. Ask your employees for referrals.

   Recruiters rate employee referrals as the best source of hire as referred candidates are a better culture fit than those hired from other means. Employees communicate within their networks and refer their partakers.

   It has been observed that their knowledge of a candidate’s professional talents and capacities is way broader than that of a typical recruiter. Older employees develop a reputation and feel valuable when asked for a referral. They consider referring someone at par with their skills and attitude as a reward.

   Furthermore, a recruiter saves a lot of time screening applicants because the employee has already done so. This positively impacts the hiring cycle, where the referral program shortens the hiring procedure, lessens the resource engagement, and lowers the hiring costs even further.

   • 88% of the companies confirmed that referrals remain the top source for high-quality talent (John Sullivan(2))
   • 82 percent of employers believe that Employee referral yields higher ROI than other channels (CareerBuilder survey(3))
   • Referrals get hired 55 percent faster than other employees (HR Technologist(4))
   • The employee referral program can save employers around $3000 cost per hire(com(5))

2. When sending messages, mention the candidate’s accomplishments.

   The candidate’s resume is just not a file it is their self-promotional brochure, and recruiters must insist the candidates to mention their accomplishments vividly.

   Professional accomplishments represent that the candidate is self-driven to succeed in their current position and can overcome obstacles. It affirms that the candidate can leverage their education and knowledge to go above and beyond the job’s standards and accomplish their best.

   Mentioning the Accomplishments is significant because they underscore three elements in a given situation

   • Problem analysis ability
   • Cognizant decision-making ability
   • Precise action performance

   Employers must formulate a list of clear hiring criteria and assign the interviewing team to evaluate the prospect’s accomplishments based on those criteria.

   Therefore, the recruiter must include the accomplishment as a decisive criterion to filter the best talent for the specific task.

3. Keep your 1st message super brief.

   A potential candidate may delay or be turned away by the thought of needing to read a long email. Rather than writing extensive emails, recruiters should focus on scripting short, high-quality, individualized communications. Gartner stated that the average open rate for emails is only about 20%(6). The remaining percentage include SMS, chats and pings on social media platforms.

   The headline of the recruiting message would always be the first thing that grabs the candidate’s attention before anything else. They will ultimately determine whether or not to read a message based on how the title makes them feel. Therefore, when crafting recruiting messages, headlines should be given careful thought and attention.

   Recruiters can save time by texting prospects instead of emailing or contacting them on calls. Hence the message should be crisp and aligned with CTA to gauge their interest quickly.

4. Let them know what’s in it for them.

   According to Rockland Trust’s vice president Lauren Mahoney, lately, the potential employees have been found concerned about family leave policies, benefits, compensation, and career growth than ever before. Work-life balance is another critical subject these days. Some people opt for flexible hours or work from home arrangements, while others may look for a generous vacation policy.

   Also, talented employees may be at various stages of their lives. They may venture on their own, expect a promotion or insurance for dependents.

   So, the recruiter must keenly scrutinize the candidate’s profile to chalk out the best proposal for the best-fit candidate. These types of benefits also improve organizational morale, lower absenteeism, and even reduced turnover.

5. Create a sense of urgency.

   The recruiter should create a sense of urgency inside and outside the proximity. An external sense of urgency encourages the top talent candidate to respond quickly to loud call-outs rather than later. Messages with “Apply now” or “We are hiring” are short notification techniques that set the platform on fire.

   An inward sense of urgency encourages recruiters to chase and persuade passive applicants to choose their organization over the competitors. Sense of urgency in hiring plays a significant role in achieving deadlines.

   A shortage of high-quality candidates may result in a delayed hiring process. A sense of urgency motivates recruiters to work harder and focus on building a talent pool of candidates with desirable caliber. Recruiters and hiring managers who exercise a strong sense of urgency get things done more quickly with a distinctive approach.

6. Build an excellent careers page.

   Is your company well-equipped to market itself as a desirable place to work in a world reformed by virtual employment and a glut of openings? Companies need to stand out in today’s job market and attract top professionals.

   Most firms are ill-equipped to promote themselves as appealing employers, consequently 70% of job seekers(6) would decline an offer from a company with an inferior employer brand.

   A company’s career website could save a thousand dollars and valuable time that would have been spent on hiring the perfect individual through various employment consulting agencies.

   The career site should feature strong, SEO-friendly job descriptions, defined career paths across departments, employee testimonials, a complete list of benefits, and ongoing job vacancies as part of the employer brand. Companies should consider job postings as a marketing tool. They must focus on branding their business and sell the professionals the opportunity to work with them.

7. Follow up with a CTA and continue delivering value.

   The main goal of composing a recruitment message is to persuade a specific candidate to take action and join or associate with the employer’s brand. The core of the message can be described as the CTA (call to action), which is the epicenter of all impending processes.

   A compelling call to action forces individuals to take a break from their job search and apply.

   To motivate applicants, stimulate them, and overcome any reservations by adding a little personalization and creativity. CTAs such as: “We can’t wait to hear from you,” “Don’t wait, apply today,” “We can’t wait to review your application” makes the candidate feel connected and vital.

   Last but not least, ensure the suitable HR service delivery model and the executables. Deliver value by transforming HR plans and initiatives into measurable business values. Set the correct delivery strategy, incorporating a solid foundation of HR capabilities and infrastructure, besides the definition of business-driven performance indicators to assess whether the intended results are generated.

Final Thought

Apple applies multi-generational product planning to envisage the road map for the future. Likewise, recruiters need to start undertaking the same kind of planning for top talent hiring who now evaluate their offer letter to match their expectations of an ideal workplace.

Companies must rethink and rebrand their image, ideology, and process. The inclusion of the Talent Intelligence Platform and AI recruiting automation software can produce improved results. Employee referral software also help to speed up the hiring process. Other apps such as Text Recruit(7) report a 37 percent response rate, and recruitment metric software ensures the quality of deliverables in congruence with auto-emails and auto-text.

Companies that fail to recognize the value of top people, time commitment, effort fall behind. Hence applying the best recruitment practices to attract and secure top talent is the pressing priority.