If you’ve tried using job posting sites and traditional recruiting ideas but are not seeing the talent you’d like to have on your team, here are a few options that can help your company stand out from the crowd.

Remember that a little extra investment up front can lead to happy and engaged employees for years to come.

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Why the need for creative recruiting ideas?

The job market is booming, with hundreds of thousands of jobs being added each month.

This is great news for job seekers, but not so great news for employers. Companies large and small need to compete more than ever to find the most qualified candidates for their open positions.

Rather than letting competition bring them down, some companies are thinking outside the box by using innovative technology (like MightyRecruiter) and coming up with new creative ways to find talent.

Technology also makes it easier for companies to weed out applicants for in-demand positions.

Read on to see what innovative ideas the following companies came up with.

Top recruiting ideas

1. Use chatbots and Snapchat

While the supply of full-time positions is plentiful, competition for internships is still pretty stiff.

The best and brightest college students across the country compete for positions at large companies and organizations located in big cities.

The thought of interning in New York City or Los Angeles is still too good for many applicants to pass up, making it nearly impossible for companies with open internships to review all of their applicants. Agencies are now using tools like chatbots, and Snapchat to complete an initial applicant screening that requires minimal human intervention.

recruiting ideas

Minneapolis-based agency, space150, used a chatbot to serve up a set of questions to potential internship applicants.

Candidates texted INTERN to a phone number linked to the chatbot, who served up questions the agency programmed — everything from “What’s your favorite Instagram account?” to “How would a dog wear pants?”

The responses ended with a link to the job application. The chatbot interacted with about 150 applicants and gave the agency material that made its review of applications quicker and easier.

Beyond the chatbot, space150 used Snapchat geofilters and Instagram stories to drive interest in the position.

Whenever someone was in the targeted area and using Snapchat, they saw information about the internship opening. This was a great way for space150 to reach its target demographic in a place they were already familiar with, rather than forcing applicants to go to their website to learn more about the position.

recruiting ideas

Their efforts paid off, and two of the people hired as interns last summer now work for the agency full-time. They plan to use similar tactics to recruit future groups of interns.

2. Leverage social media referrals

Speaking of social media, promotion for an opening on social channels does not always have to come from a brand account.

Encouraging your employees to advertise on their individual profiles forges a personal connection to potential applicants that’s tough to beat.

Many of us have at least a few hundred friends on Facebook and perhaps even more followers on Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms.

A link to a job posting accompanied by the employee’s take on the company can go a long way in encouraging a candidate to choose your position over the others out there in a crowded job market.

Once a post is out on social media, it can be shared to a much broader network while retaining that personal touch. The candidate also has someone to talk with about the job and the company before deciding to apply, which increases the likelihood that they’ll take the position if offered.

Of course, anything in social media can turn out the opposite of what you expect. These referrals should only come from employees who are satisfied in their jobs and happy at the company.

If someone who is disgruntled or unhappy posts a link to a job opening, it can drive applicants away rather than encouraging them.

You can even incentivize referrals by offering a bonus or other perks to employees who bring in qualified applicants through their posts.

However, authenticity is king on social media, so your employees’ posts should make it clear they are interested in helping the company find good talent rather than just trying to collect a bonus.

3. Advertise

On the opposite end of the spectrum from social media and hyper-local recruiting, billboards and other forms of large scale advertising let the entire world know that your company is hiring.

Rent some space along a route that you think people you would like to recruit are likely to travel or take advantage of advertising opportunities at sporting events or other public areas that are high visibility.

What can billboards do for you?

The limited amount of attention someone can pay a billboard forces you to be creative with your content.

You will not have room for much explanation about your company or a long website address to reach a job applicant, especially if you use a roadside billboard. The last thing you want is to cause a car accident while someone is trying to take a picture of your ad or type a URL into their phone.

recruiting ideas

Examples range from straightforward “We’re Hiring” to more quirky tactics that appeal to certain types of employees.

Google pioneered this approach more than a decade ago with a series of billboards aimed at recruiting for technical positions. If someone solved the riddle on the billboard, they were taken to a website with another question, and then finally on to a job application.

recruiting ideas

Other advertising mediums to consider

Outside of billboards, you can wrap a bus or RV for a similar effect.

The decision about whether to use a billboard or other type of ad depends on your budget and the type of employee you are looking to attract.

For example, if your target candidates are likely to take public transportation, then a bus wrap may prove more effective than a billboard. If they are more likely to be sitting in traffic on a long commute to and from a job at a competitor, then a billboard is the way to go.

You can even use traffic to your advantage to play up benefits like working from home or flexible schedules.

If you need a little more time to grab someone’s attention, consider a 15-second commercial that you can post on social media or use for paid advertising on social media or other channels.

These videos should be on the quirky side and do something that will make your company stand out from other firms competing for the same top talent.

No need to spend a lot of money on production here.

An iPhone and some willing actors are all you really need to make a great video. If you have interns or new employees with creativity and some video skills, this is a great way to give them a fun, engaging project.

Once the video is complete, have your employees share it on their social media profiles to build buzz.

4. Try “poaching”

With so many people in the job market, many hires are people already working elsewhere.

Given this environment, even employees who are happy in their jobs may be inclined to consider another opportunity if presented with one.

It is never a good practice to directly poach employees from competing companies, but you can leverage their information to make them aware of opportunities they may be interested in at your company.

recruiting ideas

Many companies have “About Us” pages on their websites that list photos and bios for its team members.

These are great resources for finding out whether someone’s professional background is a fit for the job you are trying to fill. Add even more detail to the picture by checking out their social media profiles and other data you can find online.

Once you have your list of potential candidates, you can contact them to let them know about your opening. Remember these are people who are already employed and may not necessarily be looking for a new job.

It’s important to tread lightly here so you do not end up doing more harm than good in the long run.

5. Deploy an “Open house” strategy

In some ways, finding a job is a lot like buying a house. There’s an initial review, followed by a sometimes lengthy review process before a final offer is made and accepted.

Many of those home searches begin with an open house, so why should job recruiting be any different? Even if someone is not the right fit for a particular opening, you are meeting someone who may be interested in working for you down the road.

For the cost of food and perhaps entertainment, you can invite a large number of applicants to see your space and mingle with your staff. An open house also allows you to conduct informal interviews with candidates to determine who should advance to the next round of the process.

If you are doing some targeted recruiting from your competitors, an open house is the perfect event to invite them to.

The open house will allow candidates to get a feel for who you are as a company.

Making the right hire is crucial — you do not want to wind up searching again in a few months. An hour should be enough to give a candidate an inclination about whether they want to continue in the interview process.

Got some nice digs?

If you have an office that’s worth showing off, hold the open house there.

Otherwise, hold it at a bar or restaurant to give it a laid-back, happy hour feeling rather than a stuffy interview vibe. Invite people from across the company to join, especially if you have a team or teams who work well together.

After the hire

Once you find talent, use Hubstaff to track time and make sure your new employees are meeting your expectations.

Clear communication strategy is the foundation of any good employer/employee relationship, and Hubstaff provides a platform for doing that.  Use it to track time and productivity and create employees schedules. There is never any second-guessing about who is doing what and when work is taking place.

Hubstaff is great for employees who work remotely, but can also be used in a more traditional office environment.

With these ideas at your fingertips and Hubstaff behind you, candidates will be knocking on your door in no time. Your next great hire is out there if you know how to find them.

Do you know a unique way to discover new employees? We’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Category: Workforce Management