7 Tips for Attracting More Qualified Candidates

One of the biggest problems companies face when trying to fill job openings is getting the right candidates. So, how can you advertise open positions to reach the most qualified candidates? The answer is simple — digital recruitment marketing.

In this post, we’ll take a look at seven tips for using digital strategies to find and recruit top talent to your business. Let’s get started!

1. Use search engine optimization (SEO) to build up your talent pool

The first step to finding more qualified candidates is building up your talent pool. You don’t wait for good candidates to find your job posts. Instead, you want to reach out to potential candidates where they’re searching online. When looking for jobs, people turn to search engines like Google.

And with search engine optimization (SEO), you can optimize your job postings for online searches related to your industry. SEO boosts your company’s rankings in search results and makes it easy for interested candidates to find job listings on your site.

If someone wants to work for your company, they can easily type in your businesses name, followed by the job and location. Since SEO targets people who are searching online for jobs related to your business, it will help you increase your talent pool and draw in more qualified candidates.

2. Create an employee referral program

Did you know that employee referrals contribute to nearly half of all hires but only make up 7% of applicants? Even though a small number of candidates come from employee referrals, those candidates are more likely to be hired than someone who randomly applies to your jobs. Employee referrals are successful because your employees know the qualifications of the candidate. They are familiar with their work and know their abilities.

Your employees also have a far reach.

The average employee has about 150 contacts on social media pages. If you have 150 employees, that’s 22,500 connections. The possibility of finding good candidates becomes better with an employee referral program. Many companies see success with employee referral programs.

People who are referred by employees are more likely to stay longer than other hired employees.

The immediate connection to the company, through an employee, may be the reason behind this. People who refer other candidates are more likely to stay longer, too. When you create this kind of program, current employees benefit from it too.

It also creates a great trend of long time employees who want to stay with your company.

This method is great for building your talent pool — it’s also easy to track with a top applicant tracking software. It also gets your employees involved in finding great co-workers for your business. An employee referral program is beneficial to all parties involved with your business.

3. Use Job posting sites

Job boards account for 43% of all applications a company receives for a position. It is important to make the most of your job postings in order to draw in the best candidates.

Many people will turn to job posting sites to find their next career. Sites like Indeed and Monster are popular amongst jobseekers.

These sites allow users to search for jobs in their specific field. Job boards make the process painless for job seekers. They can see all kinds of companies that are offering jobs in their field. As a company, you can post on these job sites for free, which is beneficial to your business.

Posting on job boards is a great way to draw in potential qualified candidates.

In order to get the best candidates, make sure your posts have a good amount of information and link back to the posting on your own website.

4. Invest in pay-per-click (PPC) ads

If you really want candidates to see your job openings, you should invest in pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements. PPC ads appear above organic search results, and they operate on an auction system. You bid for keywords, and if your bid is amongst the highest, your ads will appear in top search results.

Your max bid determines how much you pay every time someone clicks. With PPC, you can set limits on how much you want to spend, so you won’t have to worry about spending more than your budget. Using PPC, you can ensure that more people see your job postings online.

And since PPC targets people who are searching online for jobs related to your business, you’ll draw in people who are interested in your open positions.

5. Use social media

Social media sites can help you build your potential pool of candidates. You can reach active and passive job seekers on these sites. The key is knowing which sites you can use to reach these candidates. LinkedIn is a great social site to reach active job seekers.

Many active jobseekers turn to LinkedIn to make connections and find job openings. This is a great opportunity for your business to reach these candidates. You can post about your company culture and values and advertise job openings. Employees and people who follow you can share your posts and help you reach even more qualified candidates.

If your clients are connected with you on LinkedIn, they can share these posts too. This opens up the possibility of reaching more interested candidates. It allows you to connect with these candidates and speak to them personally to see if they would fit the open position.

Facebook and Twitter are great for reaching out to passive job seekers. These social media sites allow you to connect with people and share content. The content you share can help candidates remember your company.

This kind of content can be your company culture or the values of your company. It shows passive job seekers what your company is about. If they like your company culture, they’ll remember you when they search for their next job.

6. Build your brand/site content

You want candidates to be excited about your company, and your website is often their first interaction with your brand. In order to attract top talent to your company, you need a great website. This is where most candidates are going to find information about your company. Your website needs to be eye-catching and interesting, and your job postings should be just as engaging.

Generic posts won’t interest candidates.

Your posts should be interesting, descriptive, and enticing to get candidates excited about your company! You want your website to contain an employment section so people can see what positions you offer at your company and what it’s like to work there. It’s important that your website is functional, easy to use, and interesting to keep candidates on it.

Check out our web design services and RainmakerFX program to see how you can build a website that will attract great candidates!

7. Make the process painless

The thing that drives most candidates away is the application process. The best candidates won’t waste their time on painful application processes. What are things that turn candidates away?

Anything that is repetitive or excessive should be nixed. Don’t have candidates upload their resume and then fill out a form about their resume. This is a waste of time and deters many candidates away.

A simple and quick application is the best route to go.

You need to create your application so that you can get enough valuable information. This valuable information will help you decide if you want to move forward with that candidate.

The best way to create a painless application is to fill it out yourself. Create the application and fill it out (or have another employee fill it out), and see how long it takes to fill it out.

If it takes more than 5-10 minutes, you’ll need to rework your application. Streamlining your application process will help you attract more qualified candidates.

Start reaching more qualified applicants today

Want to attract more qualified applicants online? Check out our digital recruitment plans. Feel free to comment below with any questions, and contact us today to speak with a strategist.

We look forward to hearing from you!