Recruiting success depends on keeping up with the latest trends and continually evolving strategies, which are driven by well-planned, targeted goals. In today’s market, building an extensive pipeline, while focusing on relationship requires identifying and mastering the appropriate technological tools. Talent acquisition leaders must develop best practices regarding data collection and analyzation, the agility of information, ability to track mobile date, incorporating web analytics, and receiving and utilizing key metrics provided by ATS. Finally, they must funnel all these practices and tools into a scalable recruiting system – a system that smoothly handles fluctuations in hiring demands.

Scalable recruiting – that ability to fluctuate with hiring demands is a complicated issue. It involves many building blocks, including:

1. Establish targeted goals –

Everything begins with goals. Successful strategies only work with well-defined, measurable, and achievable goals, and you need to keep adjusting the goalposts if you want to keep an edge. Review them regularly, think strategically, and always try to hit your targets.

2. Build an attractive employer brand –

Yes, that’s what we said – building an attractive employer brand – your reputation and popularity as an employer. Attracting and engaging talent in a fluctuating market starts with being a company that speaks to the heart of potential talent; that fosters a high employee value proposition. In fact, research by LinkedIn has proven that a whopping 75% of job seekers research a company’s reputation before applying. And if you want to tweak the interest of passive candidates (a constant in a talent-driven market), you need to be a company who will stand out in their minds. Furthermore, 30-40% of talent say reputation or brand of the company is “very important” to them when considering a job move.

3. Build a pipeline of talent –

An ongoing, active search for talent – even when the demand is low – to build up an extensive pool of talent. Develop and nurture your talent pipeline, and identifying current employees who have the potential to step up into roles. Create a compelling recruitment brand, engage with prospective candidates through targeted social media content, and institute an active referral program. These steps will ensure you have an extensive pool of talent when the need arises.

4. Generate accurate job descriptions –

Ensuring that your job descriptions accurately and portray a comprehensive overview of the prospective job and responsibilities are one of the best ways to reduce the number of unqualified or wrongly-qualified candidates. Eliminating unnecessary overload reduces the time and cost spent in building your short list.

5. Streamline your recruitment process via software –

Keeping track of applications, sending emails, scheduling interviews, etc. via on centralized software system will reduce both time and cost in the recruitment process. This allows you to transfer administration hours to time spent on more proactive hiring strategies.

6. Connect with talent where the talent is –

Going mobile – and doing it in an attractive, easy to use system – is an absolute for connecting with talent and building a pipeline that enables you to handle a sudden increase in hiring demands. Make sure that applicants and potential prospects can engage via their mobile devices, including texting and tweeting.

7. Create a memorable candidate experience –

A positive candidate experience not only increases the odds that they will accept a position but also leaves a note of optimism even when they turn it down. They will be much more likely to reapply in the future, and best of all will refer other talent to your company. Organizations that invest in a strong candidate experience improve their quality of hires by 70%.

8. Improve your strategy for hiring diversity –

Place diversity (be it gender, cultural background, age, disability, etc.), and cultural intelligence high on your agenda to integrate diverse workers and maintain productivity. Reinforce your diversity mission and remove any barriers that may be preventing you from achieving it. Examine your hiring process for unconscious bias and consider how your job postings and application forms could be preventing people from diverse backgrounds from applying.

9. Utilize Technology –

Making use of automated and machine-learning algorithms is essential in a scalable recruiting model.

• AI allows processes to be completed at a rate and scale beyond human ability. It transforms text into structured data and vice versa.
• There is also software available the integrates into existing ATS systems, scans the job descriptions of open roles, and then sources your existing resume database to discover candidates who fit the qualifications (This is one places where an extensive bank of passive candidates pays off).
• Virtual Reality (VR) allows companies to provide their shortlist with VR tours that reveal the company’s workplace and culture.
• Augmented Reality (AR) allows candidates to walk through the workplace, participate in a mock client meeting or another relevant activity, and sit with an employee who talks about their typical day.

Scalable recruiting is attainable, but it requires commitment. The ROI, however, is significant and ensures the destination is well worth the journey. Through Award’s own Cross-functional Recruiting model we will be able to scale our efforts to find the right employees that fit your unique business needs. If you’re searching for more tips and trick on how to improve your company’s workforce, check out our hiring solutions blog.