Hiring the best candidates in the marketplace involves more than just posting an online job advertisement. All posting a job advertisement does is attract those candidates who are already looking for a new job. To hire the best, you must widen your candidate pool.
There are four major steps involved in hiring the best candidates for your critical positions. First, you must identify the best candidates. Remember that those responding to your online job ads do not necessarily represent the top 2% to 5% of the marketplace.
Second, you must convince these candidates to consider your employment opportunity. They’re not going to be automatically interested in your opportunity just because it exists.
Third, you must keep these candidates engaged throughout the interviewing and hiring process. Since these are the best candidates in the marketplace, they have plenty of options. If you don’t keep them engaged, then they will drop out of your process.
Fourth, you must make a compelling offer of employment to your top candidate choice. If you go to all the trouble of finding and recruiting the best, then you must be prepared to pay them like they’re the best. What’s the point of getting all the way to the finish line and having your top choice candidate reject your offer?
When you’re attempting to hire the best candidates, you must be proactive in your approach. If you’re only reactive, then you’ll be at risk for missing out on top talent. Working with a search consultant or recruiter can help your organization do what is necessary to find, recruit, and hire the best.