Recruiting top talent is important in every industry. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in or the size of your company; recruiting and hiring new employees is hard today. Understanding how to appeal to top talent and move them through the hiring process may help you increase the number of highly qualified employees at a company.

Industry experts say there are several reasons some of which include the Great Resignation, people taking early retirement due to the pandemic, and a lack of access to childcare.

Recruiting and hiring new employees isn’t something to take lightly. It’s a costly and time-consuming process. With a good amount of HR’s expenses allocated toward recruitment, you want the most effective and efficient process in place. So, what should HR do to achieve that? Here are some of the practices to secure top talent:

Focus on company culture

When you think about recruitment techniques, company culture isn’t the first thing that pops into your mind. However, when it comes to selling your company to job candidates, a strong company culture can seal the deal. People want to work for companies that have stellar reputations

Companies that have a good brand communicate to candidates they’re professional and take their business seriously. Plus, people nowadays look up companies on social media and job posting sites that have reviews. If potential candidates read that a company doesn’t pay or treat their employees well, they’ll be gone faster than the speed of light. Once they’ve read the bad reviews, their mind is made up.

Make sure your company culture is clear and concise because you want to attract like-minded people with your core business values. As far as social media goes, give potential candidates a look at what it’s like to work at your company.

Develop effective job descriptions

If you want to find the best candidate for a position, it all starts with writing the most accurate job description.

The job descriptions created for a company are as effective as possible. While including a list of the role’s responsibilities and qualifications is useful, it’s also helpful to include information about what it’s like to work at the company or how a candidate can benefit from working there.

Top talent may be interested in a job description that discusses the basics of the job and includes relevant information about the company or industry. For instance, a software developer likely wants to know what training they need, what programming languages the company uses, and what types of software they’re developing. These are all important pieces of information for deciding if a job is a good fit. Including what makes the company special and how an individual could thrive and improve the company can make the position even more desirable.

Treat candidates like you’d treat your customers

The first impression does matter, so whether the interview is via the phone, Zoom, or in-person, makes a great first impression. You want candidates to believe you’re excited to meet them.

Treat candidates like you’d treat your best customers. That means being respectful of their time – being prompt for interviews whether they’re in-person, via the phone, or via a video conference. And finally, give them your contact information in case they have any follow-up questions.

Plant interviews are based on talent.

Most companies have a standardized interview process all candidates have to complete. This might include a screening interview with a recruiter or HR staff member, any necessary skills assessments, an interview with the hiring manager and possibly their team, a reference check, and an offer. While this is an effective method for most candidates, if you have a candidate, you’re extremely interested in hiring and you want to move quickly, you might decide to change the process.

Create an employee referral program

Employees are a valuable recruiting tool. They’ll tell their friends and colleagues if they like working at their company. It’s easy and fast to fill your pipeline with qualified candidates. They know what the job entails and are good judges of character.

If you don’t currently have a referral program, it’s important to create one. It should offer incentives and recognition to employees if their referrals are hired. Once it’s created, circulate it to all employees.

Stay connected

Hopefully, in your search for the perfect candidate, you’ll meet a lot of “almost perfect” candidates. Stay connected with them because you may need them in the not-too-distant future. You can keep connected with them via LinkedIn or send them company updates. Employers that do this show they care about more than just their current employees

Adopt technology to help with recruitment

Technology is HR’s friend. There are several different technology platforms available that’ll help streamline the hiring process. They help HR find candidates, manage their data, and screen, onboard, and manage talent.

To thrive in the future, most companies should be using data-driven recruitment tools to help them streamline their recruitment and hiring process. Because the faster you can make an offer to a candidate, the less likely you’ll be beaten out by the competition.