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Hiring for businesses large and small can be a real headache! But it doesn’t have to be. With a bit of planning you can breathe new life into your recruiting strategies. As Ben Franklin is often quoted as saying, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” 

Recruitment and hiring with AHA Business Consulting

 
Think of the most desirable and popular employers we’ve heard about in recent years. This conjures up images of Google, Apple, Chick-Fil-A and the like. Now, think of the local versions near you. It isn’t luck that gets these employers a great reputation. Becoming a great place to work and having candidates clamoring for jobs at your business, company or organization involves some preparation and planning. 
 
Here are a few tips to help you plan and prepare as you become an employer of choice. 
 
#1. Be social. When it comes to hiring, you have to go where the candidates are. With 610 million users on LinkedIn, you’ll need a professional profile as an individual and as a company. As an employer, ensure a professional presence with a logo and by listing your company mission and services. When you have an open position, post it and ask your network and current staff to share it. There are lots of great ways to get exposure for hiring using social media, especially on the best-known, business-oriented social platform.    
 
#2. Choose the right vehicle. Consider what method or channel your ideal candidates spend their time communicating. For many of us, it’s texting. Today, the likelihood of an initial phone call being answered is decreasing while the ease of texting is preferred. Meet your candidates where they are by using their preferred method of communication to schedule phone screenings and interviews. Technology can enhance the way you use texting beyond using your personal cellphone, which is bound to drive you batty! We offer a simple text-for-hiring tool without using your personal cell, just ask us how. 
 
#3. Use video. Speak directly to your ideal candidates with a video showcasing your brand. Video is a powerful tool, in part because viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it compared to 10% when reading it. Employers can use video to explain how their hiring process works, share the assets they provide to employees and showcase a few genuine testimonials from current staff. With 75% of executives watching work-related videos on business websites at least once a week, video is a great tool for your employer brand when it comes to business-to-business related activities as well. 

#4. Leverage the phone screen. Instead of meeting in person with every applicant that makes the cut, institute a phone screening process.Doing so effectively will save you time and is a cost-effective way to ensure you are only meeting in person with your top candidates. Be mindful of setting expectations, following through and asking behavior-based questions. Not sure how? Check out our previous blog all about how to make phone interviews work for you. 
 
#5. Use long-game tactics. Shaping your employer brand doesn’t happen overnight, but there are ways to take steps to get there. As author Karen Lamb said, “A year from now you’ll wish you started today.” Creating a strong employer brand is about telling your story. And sharing that story will fuel your recruiting strategies. There are reasons that managing your employer brand helps to create a candidate pipeline, which we shared here. For now, know that each step you take to share about your employees, teams and functions can serve you in recruiting. The stories that make up what people in your business or organization do each day will help you position yourself as an employer of choice for new candidates and recruits.   
   
We hope that these 5 tips will help you refresh your recruiting strategies. And if any of this still seems overwhelming, we are here to help. That’s why we created our Hiring for Results and Ongoing Impact (HROI) Package. If you’d like to find out how the HROI package might work for your business, company or organization we are here for you.