When one of your key professional responsibilities involves identifying and hiring strong employees for your organization, you always need to consider what steps you can take to improve your approach to recruitment and hiring. Sometimes, that entails seeking outside assistance. For instance, if you need to fill an important high-level position, you might decide to coordinate with an executive search firm. Capitalizing on the substantial experience of others in such circumstances potentially makes your job easier.

Having said that, there are also steps you can take individually to find and attract the best possible candidates more effectively. Because they are unique, some of these steps are easy to overlook, but that doesn’t mean they can’t yield major benefits.

This is particularly important to keep in mind at the start of a new year, which is an ideal time to review your practices, determining what you can do to find and attract candidates in ways you may not have thought of on your own. Examples worth considering include the following:

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Start with Contractors and Freelancers

Statistics indicate that it’s becoming increasingly common for employers to hire freelancers and contractors instead of full-time employees. Coordinate with the decision makers at your organization to determine if this is a strategy you should embrace.

There are many reasons to rely on freelancers. However, while some companies never intend to promote freelancers to full-time positions, you may very well want to do so in the future. A strong contractor will likely be a strong employee. Starting them off on a freelance basis simply gives you more opportunities to learn if they have the skills necessary to thrive. You’ll also have more time to determine whether a freelancer is a reliable person who will remain loyal and perform consistently.

Focus on Fun Interviews

It’s not always easy to know if someone will be a strong employee based on their interview performance. This is because the job interview experience is stressful and artificial. Naturally, candidates want to make a good first impression on hiring managers, but this can prevent them from behaving genuinely. The stress of an interview can also make a candidate seem less confident in their skills than would be the case if they were actually given a job.

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Consequently, many hiring managers and recruiters have begun to focus on developing interview styles and formats that are more engaging and fun than the traditional methods. They may bookend interviews by talking about unrelated topics, such as a candidate’s personal interests. They may make jokes and laugh easily, encouraging candidates to do the same.

Keep this in mind as you review your approach to interviewing applicants. There may have been instances when you decided not to hire someone based on their interview performance, despite the fact that the person actually would have thrived in the role for which they were interviewing. Some people simply aren’t great at making the best possible impression when they feel nervous. You can accommodate for this by making interviews less formal and more fun.

Develop a Recruiting Marketing Plan

Not all ideal candidates are actively seeking jobs. The right person to fill an executive role at your company may already be employed elsewhere. Although they may not be completely enthusiastic about their current job, that individual might also be content enough that they won’t spend much time seeking a new role. Hence, you might miss an opportunity to hire the right person for an important position.

That doesn’t need to be the case. With a recruiting marketing plan, you can more effectively reach potential candidates who might otherwise not know about an opening at your company. Because they aren’t actively seeking jobs, they aren’t likely to find a listing on a jobs board. You need to reach them through other means.

A recruiting marketing plan may consist of numerous strategies. You might research relevant industry hashtags and post on social media about openings at your organization. You could work with managers and executives to encourage current employees to post positive reviews of the company on Glassdoor and similar platforms, boosting the employer brand. You could mention open positions in your marketing content, such as blog or LinkedIn posts that figures in your industry may be likely to read.

This doesn’t merely help you fill executive roles. It can also assist the company in finding young talent for entry-level positions. After all, college students are often too busy to seek jobs actively. They might also feel they shouldn’t pursue their careers until they’ve earned their degrees. Nevertheless, you can let them know via recruiting marketing that employment opportunities will likely be available when they graduate.

Don’t make the mistake of assuming your current approach to recruiting and hiring is ideal. There is always room for improvement. With these ideas in mind, 2020 could be your strongest year yet.