There are more job seekers than the number of jobs we have open in the job market. While many employers think it’s easy to get more applicants in a candidate-driven market like this one, the successful employers figured out that it is not about the number of applicants anymore, but it is all about the quality of applicants who can be a right fit for the organization. Recruiters often face this challenge when they receive hundreds of job applicants but hardly a few right ones for the position they’re trying to fill. And culture fit is a long gone story!

So what can employers and recruiters do to attract the right candidates and have them pursue their next career with you?

7 Tips to Attract the Right Talent to Your Organization

1. Amplify Your Employer Brand:

Build your employer brand and share authentic stories of your employees on what it is like to work at your organization and what differentiates your employer from the many out there. Have your employee community join you to spread the word, that way the stories are much more real and genuine. Your employees are the best resource to help you amplify your employer brand and help you share why someone should come and work for you. Use social media to your advantage to help share the stories, start an employee blog and share content that captures employees experience and journey with your audience.

2. Encourage Employee Referrals:

Your employees are your best storyteller and  can help you connect with the right talent. They know best when it comes to who may be a right fit candidate that would align with the organization's culture. Your employees are your trusted partners who can help you make a connection to your next candidate, who will have a better probability to succeed in your organization than someone who doesn’t have a connection. Here are some tips if you are  looking to build your employee referral program with less budget.

3. Revamp Your Careers Site to Attract the Right Talent

Your careers site is at the heart of the employer branding efforts. Job seekers consider careers site as the top avenue to research data and decide if they’re interested in working at your company or not. Most often candidates would feel a sense of purpose, sense of pride associating with an employer whose careers site is well built and learning more about the organization will help them make a decision whether to apply or not. Make it easy to apply for a job, even on the go. Candidates look for easy to navigate, mobile friendly, culture-centric careers site where they can get the inside scoop on what it’s really like to work at your organization. So if you don’t invest in your careers site then you might be missing the mark for those jobseekers who land on your careers site and leave unimpressed, inevitably choosing not to apply.  To avoid missing out on top talent, here are some tips if you’re looking to optimize your careers site and boost your employer brand.

4. Make Your Job Description Stand Out:

Recruitment is all about marketing and sales. No doubt about it. When it comes to your products or services, you would create a buyer persona, write compelling marketing and sales copy to attract more leads. Same with recruitment too. A well-written job description keeping your candidate personas in mind is going to be the one to attract the right talent for you. Here are some tips for you to create your candidate persona. Make your job description stand out by writing it like you are talking to your right fit candidates. Share about, who they are, what they will do, what you are looking for and what’s in it for them. Make sure you are using a job title that matches what job seekers would use to search for that job. While you want to utilize an industry-specific job title, be sure to also incorporate a standard job title that is commonly used in the job market to help you increase the visibility of your job posting.

5. Build a Pipeline of Engaged Candidates

You built your candidate persona aka target candidate profile for a particular job. Be proactive in building a candidate pipeline using your candidate personas. This way you don’t have to rush searching for candidates when a position becomes open and don’t have to make a hiring decision based on timelines. Look internally first. If you have an internal employee who has the skill set and is ready to move to another position when that position becomes open, then this will be the most cost-effective way. But if you’re looking externally, make sure you’re keeping track of those candidates you considered in the past for various positions but were not selected at that point. Keep your talent pipeline engaged through email marketing, newsletters, or by hosting virtual and onsite events to get to know them and for them to get to know you as an employer.

6. Incorporate Your Candidate Personas Within Your Sourcing Strategy.

You know by now who will be your target candidates, the social platforms/groups that they hang out the most and the benefits that matter the most. Use this information to source your candidates, use the information to create personalized messages when you reach out to them, and do some targeted promotions on the platforms that you know where your candidates are. Use the information to create targeted recruitment marketing and attract your candidates where they are! You will see a much better response on the quality of candidates and will be able to fill the position in a short period of time!

7. Provide a Great Candidate Experience

Attracting and engaging the right talent continue to become more competitive than ever and employers cannot afford to miss out on top talent. From the job application process to interviewing with the recruiters and hiring managers and getting offered, job seekers make the perception of your company's recruiting and hiring process and make a decision to work with you or not based on how positive their experience was.

An online survey, conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of  Glassdoor in May 2018 highlighted specifically the reasons that cause frustration among job seekers and make them pull out of a recruitment process. 47 percent said that potential employers not responding in a timely manner and 40 percent mentioned a poor first interaction with a recruiter or hiring manager.

The CandE report from Talent Board found that of the candidates who had a positive candidate experience:

  • 62% will increase their relationship with brands products and networks
  • 78% would refer someone in the future
  • 62% would apply again

Fixing a broken candidate experience and providing a great candidate experience will help you attract and engage with your top talent and become successful in finding the right fit candidate at the right time. Below are some tips for delivering a great candidate experience. Here are some tips for delivering a great candidate experience.

What other best practices would you like to add it to the above list to attract right talent?


For more recruiting and interview insights, join us in Philadelphia this August 6-8,  2019, at #SRSC where talent acquisition leaders connect to leverage emerging recruiting practices.

Nisha Raghavan is the Talent Attraction and Employer Branding Specialist at the American Heart Association. Prior to this, she worked in the telecommunications and media industry to help attract, engage and retain talent. She writes about her Global HR experiences at her blog Your HR Buddy!! Connect with her on LinkedIn and on Twitter at @TheHrbuddy