Follow the Yellow Brick Road to Hiring Success

In case you weren’t all aware, recruiting is a full time job — as are employer branding, management, and being the hiring manager. If you attempt to do all of this while simultaneously growing your business and doing all the work that your prospective hires will be doing, you are already exhausted.

And then someone tells you to start thinking about candidate experience. Sheesh. It’s whirlwind of frustration. Want a way to make it a little more fun?

Welcome to the Wizard of Oz. Where all you need to hire amazing people is what all those crazy kids on the Yellow Brick Road were searching for:

How Would the Scarecrow Hire?

He wished he had a brain! And you need to use yours if you want to hire amazing people. Luckily, sourcing engines and a plethora of sourcing knowledge have made it dead simple for regular folks like me to understand the logic behind smart search, whether you pay oodles of money or not. Learn how to search LinkedIn for people in your area or what folks who are ready to jump ship start doing before they leave their cubicles, and for the love of Zeus, learn how to write a simple Boolean string!

And the Cowardly Lion? I Suppose He’s a Paragon of Hiring, Too?

As a matter of fact, yes. Why? Because he sought boldness, and that’s what you need, especially as a startup or small company. You can’t match large ad budgets and massive recruiting teams. You’ve got to make your way based on what you’ve got (hint: not time!). So use that to your advantage. Give your candidates a fighting chance by explaining exactly what you need, without mincing words. My “Intro to Red Branch” email scares a lot of folks off, but the ones who get through the interview process are ideally suited for life at an agency where I don’t have time to coddle people. According to HireRight, 51 percent of companies do not offer clear employment-branding messages.

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I Guess My ATS is the Tin Man?

Of course not — and don’t try to get ahead of me in the analogy game. The Tin Man was seeking a heart, which is what you need if you are going to attract people to your workplace. Have some empathy. Have you tried to go through your recruiting process lately? Do you ignore resumés? Take forever to call candidates back? Keep people waiting on clear and legitimate job descriptions? If so, you need to put some heart into your work. I can sum it up really fast: just answer them.  If you don’t have time to answer, schedule, or go back and forth, then install a scheduling app and start using templates and auto-responders to do the work for you. (But yeah, you need an ATS, no matter how small you are. There are LOTS of free options.) Again, according to HireRight, 90 percent of candidates who are treated with courtesy and a personal touch will encourage others to join the company in the future.

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Originally posted on Recruiter.com

photo credit: theparadigmshifter via photopin cc

Maren Hogan

Maren Hogan is CEO of Red Branch and general Bad@$$

Maren Hogan is a seasoned marketer and community builder in the HR and Recruiting industry. Maren started Red Branch Media and, before she hired all the smiling faces you see below, she ran it on her own. In marketing for over 15 years, she has deep experience in strategic campaigns and a long-term, results-based operational approach.