7 Strategies Every Recruiter Needs to Find the Best Candidates

To hire quality employees with the right skillsets requires a lot of research, background checking, and a great deal of planning. 

Recruiting is the one profession that cannot produce success without the implementation of key strategies. 

Before we can gain a distinct understanding of what strategies entail, let’s uncover more about what a recruiting strategy is, first.

What is a Recruiting Strategy?

A recruiting strategy is an organized plan of actions that involves a company’s attempt to successfully recognize, select, and hire high-quality candidates. The objective is to recruit a pool of applicants who can fill open positions in businesses. 

But, recruitment methods do not have to only transpire within company walls. 

Recruiting procedures can go beyond the use of a company’s existing employees. Instead, they can become the responsibility of a recruitment agency, consultant, or agent. 

Companies of all sizes can enlist these organizations to handle the entire hiring process for them. The reason most businesses choose a recruiting agency is that they have the expertise.

Agencies know how to adequately develop and execute recruitment strategies, which saves your company time and money.

But what does a recruitment strategy look like?

Examples of Recruitment Strategies

No “one” strategy carries through from the beginning of the hiring process until the end. It takes the planning and execution of many procedures, at least one plan for every single step of the recruitment process.

It is difficult to show an example of what a strategy looks like for your business; it needs to be personalized for it first. 

But, there are two essential factors that usually affect every hiring strategy.

Two Essential Factors that Affect One Hiring Strategy

 This is the result of two essential factors. 

1. Recruiting is a sales profession
2. People are at both ends of the sale with the right to change their minds at any time, which can cause difficulties.

To form a comprehensive recruiting strategy, it needs to comprise of many, smaller plans throughout the strategy. 

For each of the five steps of a recruiting process, it needs a “smaller plan” made that focuses on meeting specific goals of that step.

5 Steps of a Recruiting Strategy

The implementation of “smaller plans” for each of the five steps, takes place at the start of a hiring strategy and goes to the very end.

“Smaller plans” need to include the duties of each step, such as the collection of candidate resumes and lists of recommendations.

Another step of the process may require a document or contract signing, which will also need the makeup of “smaller plans.”

Think of it this way, each “step” is similar to climbing up a ladder. The overall “strategy” is to make it to the top, which requires you to go one “step” at a time. 

The “smaller planning” of how fast you want to go and how you want to position your footing are necessary for helping you achieve your overall “strategy” of reaching the top of the ladder. 

Use the same type of concept and apply it to a hiring or recruiting strategy. Keep in mind that your job for the recruitment strategy may start on the third step. As the step you start on is determined by your job descriptions and duties.

For Example:

Search consultants may require more strategy than say hiring managers because it is necessary for them to deal with more steps of the process. Whereas hiring managers do not have to find clients or get job orders, but a search consultant does.

So, although the responsibilities of a search consultant and hiring manager are different, both positions are needed to complete the same strategy. (In other words, it becomes harder to climb a ladder when steps are incomplete or missing.)

The recruiting process comprises these five related steps:

Step One: Planning

Step Two: Strategy development

Step Three: Searching

Step Four: Screening

Step Five: Evaluation and control

When developing a recruiting strategy, this list provides some idea of what the steps are that it needs to include to ensure one is not missed.

Keep in mind that the “smaller plans” within a recruitment strategy will change because of several factors, including to fit a job position or to match the company that is doing the hiring.

To develop the most effective strategies, ones that staffing agencies use, you need to know which step of the five-step process you are to start on. 

Once this is determined, you will need to become familiar with the “smaller plans” of your “step.” If this is not yet in place, you must create one. The “smaller plans” should include job duties and goals that the “step” is expected to meet and complete.

To accurately organize your strategies, understand the order of your strategy’s steps. 

For Example: 

A search consultant is a step that comes before a hiring manager. Thus, even though both are working on the same strategy, what they must handle and when differs.

7 Strategies Staffing Agencies Use to Find the Best Candidates

With that in mind, it is nearly impossible to offer a recruitment strategy example for every single step of the process. 

Yet, top staffing agencies like these develop smaller plans for each of the most critical steps of the recruiting strategy. Below is an example of the steps and smaller plans. Feel free to move these around as needed to fit your recruiting strategy best.

Step One: Planning

“Smaller Plans” for this step, includes:

1. Getting job orders

• Fill your existing job orders quickly and with excellence.
• Build and cultivate relationships with hiring managers and hiring authorities.
• Market MPCs (most place-able candidates).
• Work the job orders of other recruiters through membership in a split fee recruiting network.
• Offer contract staffing services so that clients will give you contract job orders.

Note: contract staffing is a great way to get more job orders from existing clients, in addition to securing job orders from new clients.

2. Avoiding fall-offs

• Get to know your candidate.
• Encourage candidates to ask current employers for changes.
• Get a verbal agreement about a potential job change.
• Establish roles and set expectations.
• Get the candidates’ “skin” in the game.

Step Two: Strategy Development

“Smaller Plans” for this step, includes:

3. Recruiting candidates

• Recruit on the opportunity.
• Recruit on the organization. 
• Recruit on the company culture.
• Recruit on what the move will mean for the candidate’s career.

4. Collecting fees

• Lowering your percentage but in exchange for a recruitment agency exclusivity agreement.
• You can also lower your percentage in exchange for multiple searches instead of just one. For example, instead of 30% for one search, you reduce your fee percentage to 25% for three exclusive searches.
• Lowering your fee percentage slightly (usually 2% or 3%), but only if the client pays your invoice within a specific time frame. This time frame is typically between 10 to 15 business days.
• Lowering your fee percentage, but only if you’re being tasked with helping to hire an entirely new department or if you are assisting a start-up.

Step Three: Searching

“Smaller Plans” for this step, includes:

5. Sourcing candidates

• Create your own recruiting database
• Gain candidate referrals from other candidates
• Social media recruiting (LinkedIn)
• Online job posting services

Step Four: Screening

“Smaller Plans” for this step, includes:

6. Finding clients

• Cold calling
• Email marketing
• Referrals
• Social media
• Job posting websites

Step Five: Evaluation and Control

“Smaller Plans” for this step, includes:

7. Closing placements

• Recruiting is a form of selling, thus, know your ABC’s: Always Be Closing. We also mentioned earlier that there are people on both ends of the sale, which increases the degree of difficulty. Keep this in mind when closing.
• One such recruitment strategy is called the assumptive close. With this close, you act like the candidate is going to accept a job offer throughout the entire recruitment process. It tends to make it harder for candidates to turn you down.

Remember, employing several “smaller plans” in the right order for you and your hiring process, is how to use staffing agency strategies to get the best candidates. 

Design your own ladder of success. Developing an effective recruiting strategy is the most productive way to climb your way to the top.

Matt Shealy is the President of ChamberofCommerce.com. Chamber specializes in helping small businesses grow their business on the web while facilitating the connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.