Finding and hiring the right people to fill vacancies quickly can make a massive difference to your organisation’s operations and profitability. But which recruitment methods will get you the applicants you need — on time and under budget? Should you go all-in on one approach? Or pick and choose between different recruiting strategies?
In this post, we’ll examine some of the most popular ways of recruitment, along with the pros and cons of each option.
Which of These Recruiting Strategies is Right for You?
Attracting applicants and reviewing CVs isn’t as simple as it used to be. There is a wide range of types of recruitment — and you’ve probably used many of them, with varying results. Understanding the benefits (and challenges) of each can help you make an informed decision about your recruiting strategies.
1. Job Boards
Anyone working in recruitment or HR has used at least one of the big job boards. (Think Indeed or Monster.) They let you reach a large number of people who are actively looking for work. And because most employers use them, there’s a relatively minimal learning curve — despite minor differences in setup and formatting, they all work pretty much the same way.
But although job sites are one of the most commonly used external recruitment methods, they still come with challenges. The growing number of job boards that have appeared in recent years can make manually posting across all of them a full-time job. The job market has fragmented, with candidates spread out across many recruitment sites — and choosing the wrong ones can mean you don’t reach the applicants you need.
2. Social Media
LinkedIn, Facebook, and even YouTube are increasingly popular ways of recruiting candidates. They have vast user bases and are a fantastic way to reach passive candidates — potential hires who aren’t actively looking for work but might be open to applying if the right opportunity appears.
Unlike job sites, every social media platform has its own system for advertising vacancies, which means your team may need to acquire some new skills to leverage this recruiting strategy. Unfortunately, social platforms also suffer from the same fragmentation problems as job boards — as more and more new ones emerge, users split between them, making it harder to reach a broad audience.
How do you reach the applicants you need when they’re spread across thousands of job boards and social media platforms?
3. Internal Promotions
Promoting from within is great for team morale and showing employees you are invested in their careers. In terms of increasing retention and boosting your reputation as an employer, this is one of the best recruiting strategies.
Sadly, this method of recruitment offers a very limited talent pool and does not actually eliminate the need to hire — since promoting an existing worker leaves a different vacancy that still must be filled. It can be a valuable tactic for filling specialised positions on small teams but seldom works for companies that need to hire at scale.
4. Talent Pools
Keeping a database of previous employees or applicants with the qualities your company prioritises can dramatically cut down on the time and expense associated with most methods of recruitment. It also shows you value workers who have expressed an interest in being a part of your team, which can boost your brand reputation.
The problem with this approach is that it tends to provide a relatively small pool of candidates to choose from. Even if you have a comprehensive list of qualified prospects to go through, there’s a high probability that some — if not all — of them will have moved on to other positions.
5. Employee Referrals
Asking your existing employees to recommend candidates and share your job advert with contacts is one of the most cost-effective ways of recruitment, especially if your team needs to find applicants with niche skills or qualifications.
The major challenge with this strategy is that it depends on having a pool of workers with enough qualified contacts to meet your needs, which means — like internal promotions — it tends not to work if you have medium- or high-volume recruiting needs.
6. Third-Party Agencies
Outsourcing your recruitment strategies to an external agency will definitely reduce the workload for your team. The right hiring agency can connect you with a broad pool of candidates to fill vacancies quickly and effectively. If you’ve got the budget, a third-party agency can be a valuable asset.
“If you’ve got the budget” is the key factor there — working with an external team comes with costs. Obviously, recruitment agencies don’t work for free, and some will require you to commit to lengthy contracts that may not make sense if your needs change. External teams may also not understand your needs or goals as well as internal recruiters, leading to a high volume of applicants that don’t fit your job requirements.
7. Recruitment Events
Job fairs and recruitment drives at schools and colleges can be an incredibly effective way of recruiting new employees. They provide your organisation with the chance to interact with potential hires in person and promote the benefits your workplace has to offer.
But in-person hiring events are also among the most resource-intensive recruitment options. Hosting an event on your own can be quite costly, and even participating in job fairs organised by other parties will require you to invest in producing material to attract and engage applicants and commit members of your HR team to staffing your booth.
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and programmatic computing are becoming central to modern recruitment methods. But how do they improve hiring?
Learn how Hirematic uses technology to automate, optimise, and streamline the way you create and distribute job postings.
Reap the Benefits of Omnichannel Recruitment
All of the types of recruitment we’ve discussed come with pros and cons — while some require more time, money, or effort than you have available, others may offer limited results less quickly – leaving you understaffed and struggling.
Omnichannel recruitment strategies let your team access many of the benefits mentioned above while mitigating some of the challenges. And using a recruitment marketing platform with the power of AI can help you further reduce some of the cost and effort required to maximise the results of your hiring efforts.
The Hirematic platform was built to help hiring teams with high-volume recruiting needs leverage the power of AI and programmatic technology. Our solution centralises job adverts and applications despite digital fragmentation, optimises the return on your recruitment budget, and provides valuable insights to drive growth. Discover how it works, or contact us with your questions.
