Recruiting is a long, expensive task and hiring the wrong candidate can cost your company thousands. In fact, every hire costs a company around £3000 on average, making it even more critical to find someone who's a great fit in terms of skills and personality.

how to find and hire great employees

Ultimately, solidifying your recruitment process and knowing exactly what to look for will save your business time and money. Here are some of the best ways to find and hire great employees.

Write a compelling job description

To attract the best candidates, you need to write a job description that draws ideal candidates in. Start with who you are and what makes your company great. It doesn't need to be a huge post praising your company, but enough for readers to know this is a workplace they want to make their own, encouraging them to apply.

Next, define the job role so the potential candidate knows more about the role they’re applying for. You’ll also need to say what you’re looking for in a candidate, so they know whether or not they’re the right fit for the position, such as including the experience and skills you need.

Remember to include working hours, holidays and any benefits you offer, as well as expected salary if you wish to disclose this. The important thing to remember is to be transparent about the job role, as this will attract suitable candidates. Being vague and not disclosing important information and benefits will only mean you receive fewer applications and potentially miss out on the perfect candidate.

Be open and honest so applicants know the type of company you are straight away.

Utilise job boards

By utilising a variety of job boards, you’ll open your role up to a wider audience. It’s also essential to use industry-specific job boards, as you’ll reach more candidates with the relevant skills and experience for the role.

  • They have no screening in place
  • They're time-consuming
  • It can be expensive for you to post ads regularly

You'll also need to prepare yourself to receive many applications - possibly more than you can handle. The issue here is you might also find yourself spending time working through applications from unqualified candidates and there's also no guarantee you'll find the right one. This can be time-consuming, with the ideal outcome being you only review applications from qualified candidates.

This is where using the EOS framework can also help you find and hire great employees. It's all about identifying the right people and making sure they're in the right seat. By strictly using job boards, it means you could miss out on people that aren't actively applying for roles or have applied for another and didn't see the ad for a position they'd actually be much more suited to. 

For example, they might have applied for a supply chain role when in reality, they have the skills to excel in a manufacturing role you also have available.

Take advantage of SEO

Search engines scan your content for keywords and phrases that are commonly searched. As more people click on your content while using job description keywords, your content will be more likely to be put to the top of future searches, enabling more people to see your job listing.

For example, if you’re hoping to hire an office manager, you need to ensure your job description uses keywords related to the job’s duties, such as administration, scheduling and organise. To choose the right keywords, consider how someone in the industry would search for their position and any other alternative job titles that may be similar to the job you’re advertising. 

There are also online tools, such as Google Keyword Planner and Google Trends to help find the right keywords and have your job ads land in front of the right people. 

Invest in applicant tracking systems

Applicant tracking systems (ATS) help with recruitment and hiring processes. Although learning to use a new system can seem challenging on the surface, it's a much simpler and more adaptable process than outdated methods. Applicant tracking systems are used to collect, organise and filter applicants. Instead of sorting through a stack of CVs, recruiters and hiring managers use an ATS to keep them organised. It’s particularly helpful for larger companies that are hiring for multiple positions simultaneously.

Using an ATS streamlines hiring pipelines and communication with candidates, as well as distribution of job postings.  

Seek referrals from internal staff

Creating a referral scheme has a variety of benefits. In fact, hiring a referred candidate is always quicker than advertising the role on job boards, receiving applications, screening them and taking the candidate through the interview process.

Not only that but a high performing team member will also attract other high performers to the team. And as it’s a referral, there’s already a level of pre-screening done. Some referral schemes have data that suggests the chances of a referred candidate being fired decrease by 350%.

Referred candidates already know your company and culture through the employee who referred them. This means the candidate is more likely to be a better fit compared to hires through job boards.

Provide a culture that encourages great reviews

Jobseekers pay close attention to a company’s profile on review sites such as Glassdoor. This significantly influences whether or not a candidate chooses to move forward in the application process. That’s why it’s important you cultivate a work environment your team loves to be a part of.

If your employees are happy, this will shine through their reviews naturally and encourage top talent to apply for your company. 

What to do if you need to hire a large volume of employees

For larger corporations, you’ll find you need to hire a larger volume of employees which makes the hiring process more challenging. In this case, it may be more cost-effective and efficient to outsource your recruitment process to an agency that specialises in industry-specific, high volume recruitment services. Remember, if you have many job ads and only use job boards, be prepared to review countless applications.

Specialist recruitment partners will act as an extended partner of your firm, taking your unique requirements into consideration. By selecting the right one with plenty of experience and industry know-how, they'll take care of all the vetting of candidates for you, quickly scaling as required.

As a partner like Kingdom Recruitment will offer a consultative partnership approach, you'll benefit from bespoke models catered to your needs. This will ultimately save you time and money, so you can spend resources on other important matters. 

Start your recruitment partnership today

At Kingdom Recruitment, we operate in strategic key sectors, providing the best in talent for our clients. We’ve been in the industry for over 20 years, making us experts in ethical and compliant staffing solution. If you’re looking for a recruitment partner, contact us today to discuss your needs.Contact us