4 Most Common Recruitment Strategies and Their Level of Effectiveness

Hiring employees for your business is a task that almost every business owner is going to need to do at some point, depending on your business structure. However, hiring employees isn’t always the easiest task, and sometimes the employees that you hire don’t work out. And this can be frustrating because you have to start the entire hiring process over again. 

You can, however, hire a human resources (HR) agency to take over this task for you, but outsourcing this requires you to give up a lot of control in this area. Outsourcing your HR department isn’t a bad business move, but if you want to maintain at least some control over this part of your business, here’s a look at four of the most common recruitment strategies.

1: Employee Referrals

As the name suggests, employee referrals are the people referred to you by your current employees. This is a pretty effective way of hiring employees, but it’s also a hit-or-miss method. On the upside, no one can better describe what it’s like to work for you than your current employees, and they’re likely to brag to their friends about their job.

This is an easy way to find candidates for hire, but there’s also a downside to employee referrals. Just because your current employees recommend their friends, it doesn’t necessarily mean that their friends are as hard-working as they are. Again, this is hit or miss, so this may be an effective method of hiring, or it may not be. You can try it, but just keep in mind that you’ll be back to square one if it doesn’t work out.

2: Job Board Postings

Online job boards are probably the most popular way that business owners hire employees. Job search sites like Indeed allow businesses to advertise their open job positions for free and being the most widely used job board, this is a very effective method of hiring. This is also the most common way that people search for jobs, so business owners know that they’re going to have a higher chance of finding a qualified candidate.

As successful as they are, online job boards have their downsides as well. One disadvantage is that because job boards are so popular, you’re likely to see a huge influx of applicants, and it can be overwhelming to look through and evaluate all of them. Also, you’re likely to have some applicants who are just looking for a career change and aren’t necessarily looking to stay with your company for the long haul.

3: Recruitment Agencies

Recruitment agencies specialize in helping you find the most qualified candidates for your business. This is similar to HR, except that recruitment agencies focus more on attracting and screening the best talent for your business. They make sure that the people they bring to you are going to be a good fit for your company and vice versa.

Companies such as NAS Recruitment help you develop a marketing plan (as you would do when advertising to consumers) to attract job-seekers who have the qualifications you’re looking for. This method of hiring also allows you to build and nurture a talent pipeline, so if those you do hire choose to move on you’ll have a pool of qualified candidates to choose from as their replacement.

4: Social Media Advertising

Social media has become a place that can do more than just keep you connected with friends and family. As a business owner, you probably already know that it’s an effective marketing tool— and it can also be an effective way to hire people for your business. Your advertisements for new products or services reach a lot of people on social media, and posting a job opening can also reach a lot of people.

The downside here is that it can be harder to screen individuals for hire through social media, without having them formally apply on a job board or your website. This method may be more effective for an entry-level or remote position, rather than a higher-level or in-person position.

Traditional ways of hiring can also still be used in today’s digital world. Newspaper, radio, and TV ads can be just as effective as online strategies for local businesses. You can try different methods of hiring, but when one doesn’t work you should try another.

Overall, to get the most qualified individuals and reduce your employee turnover rate, hiring a recruitment marketing agency is going to bring you the most success. Consider giving this method a try, as it can be a great investment in your business.