Recruitment is so much more than simply posting a job ad on a website and waiting for your the ideal candidate to apply. It also requires instinct, some creativity and innovation to succeed. Plus, you need to use assessment tools, analytics and training to get better at it.

To get the best possible remote talent, here are several more recruitment strategies you can use to make your hiring push more effective.

Make your job ad more compelling

Yes, you need to sell your company as a terrific place to work in your job ads. This is necessary because candidates must either:

• Choose your company over others, or
• Leave their current employer.

The secret is to create a job ad that looks and feels different from everyone else’s, so that you’ll get noticed among the hundreds of other competing ads. Here are some ways you can stand out from the crowd:

• Include career advancement opportunities within the organisation.
• Reveal the salary in the ad to help applicants decide if the role is for them and weed out those looking for higher pay.
• Summarise why your company is awesome (e.g. job benefits, work-life balance).
• Share why your company exists and state the importance of the role to attract candidates who identify with your goals.

Start an employee referral program

An employee referral program is a recruitment strategy that allows current employees to refer friends, family and associates for open roles within the organisation.

Referred employees are better than your average employees because they:

• Take the shortest time to hire.
• Reduce your recruiting costs.
• Stay longer than those hired through other channels.
• Have the lowest turnover rate.

Use data to boost your recruitment

Here’s a question: how do you know you’ve succeeded in an endeavour? By quantifying your efforts, establishing your metrics for success and meeting those metrics.

This guiding principle applies to recruitment as well. You won’t know you’ve succeeded if you don’t measure your hiring efforts. Otherwise, you’re just relying on chance.

There are a number of metrics you need to measure to know you’ve succeeded. These include (but aren’t limited to) the following:

• Cost per hire – How much it costs to fill an open position.
• Time to hire – How long it takes to hire for an open position
• Quality of hire – The value new hires bring to your company.
• Sourcing channel effectiveness – Measures the conversions of each sourcing channel.
• Retention rate – Measures the retention of specific employees over a certain time period.

Post the job ad at the right time

Not all job ad posting schedules are equal, because some are better than others. For best results, schedule posting your job ad during Fridays, ideally around noon.

Why? You’ll catch some employees looking for their next job during this time. Others may do it later that day after they leave work; a few will browse during the weekend or before returning to the office on Monday.

As for time of year: aim for the months after graduation when their excitement has waned and they’re thinking about how to pay off their loans. College seniors would likely be too busy before graduation anyways.

Likewise, avoid posting ads during major holidays like New Year (or Thanksgiving if you’re in the US). Applicants would still be in vacation mode then.

Aim for passive candidates

Fun fact: the top job candidates are usually gone from the job market in less than 10 days. So unless you can source, screen, interview and offer a job at a shorter turnaround time, you’ll have difficulty landing the best applicants.

Fortunately, there’s no such window when you’re dealing with passive candidates (i.e. those who aren’t actively seeking out a new job). According to a LinkedIn study, 85% of employed people around the world are open to leaving their current job for greener pastures.

Since passive candidates are already employed, they likely have the skills, experience and work ethic that you’re looking for. Furthermore, they don’t really have a reason to lie about their qualifications.

Use a panel interview

Forget conducting one-on-one interviews. Instead, go for panel interviews, which are more effective – provided that they’re organised properly. Here are several reasons why:

• The biases of individual interviewers are offset by others in the panel.
• The assessment in structured panel interviews are more accurate.
• It helps candidates be more familiar with the company and how potential colleagues interact.
• Weaker interviewers are given a chance to express their views in a structured setting.

Go to where your candidates are

If you want fish, you go where they are. The same goes for candidates: to find the best ones of a certain kind, don’t wait for them to come to you; search where they hang out online.

Your safest bet is to visit niche job boards and post your ad there. Here are some examples:

• If you’re looking for programmers, visit Stack Overflow.
• Need writers and bloggers? Try ProBlogger’s job board.
• For those looking for designers, developers and creative pros, check out Authentic Jobs.

These niche boards might not have the same traffic volume as larger sites, but you’ll find the exact types of quality pros you’re looking for.

Partner with Remote Workmate

If you want to hire the best talent for your organisation, do it with Remote Workmate. We handle all the heavy lifting for you, including onboarding and payroll. This makes recruitment become so much easier.

You can actually choose from our pool of top candidates right away. Simply visit our Hotlist at:
https://remoteworkmate.com/hotlist

You can browse a wide range of profiles on our Hotlist page. Once you find a qualified VA, simply fill out the form at the bottom and we’ll get in touch with you at first opportunity.