Believe it or not, you have more control over who is applying for jobs at your company than you might think. You probably have a limited recruiting budget and you know that you need to maximize your resources.  To top things off, the candidate pipelines are running pretty dry these days due to economic influencers.

Let’s look at some tips for developing a solid candidate pipeline…

Brainstorm keywords that describe the jobs you have available. Many recruiters put out very generic job descriptions with no relevant keywords so every Tom, Dick, and Harry ends up applying for the job. Sit down with the team and brainstorm a really good job description with targeted keywords that accurately describe the position and required qualifications. You have every right to be choosy here, contrary to popular belief. You have an ideal candidate in your mind so visualize them when creating your job postings.

Take another look at the job title. This goes along with the keywords where if you are putting out generic job titles then you will not stand out from the crowd of other companies looking to hire and/or you will pull in generic job applicants. Choose descriptive titles that coincide with your new job descriptions in order to catch the eye of your ideal candidate.  You might also consider updating the title of your posting if you’re not getting the candidates you need.  They might be searching for a slightly different title.

Consider how your company looks to job applicants. One of the first things that applicants do is look at your company website to find out more about the work environment and try to determine if your company would be a good fit for them. So, go back through your website and add as much detail about your company, work environment, team, jobs, and company mission as you can. This actually helps weed out people that know they wont be a good fit for your company so you don’t have to later.  Employer branding is one of the primary efforts often overlooked as a recruiting effort.

Make it easy to apply for your jobs. I have personally run across so many companies that make it impossible to apply for their job without having to jump through hoop after hoop. Many candidates just give up after a few minutes of trying to figure out where to submit a resume. This is one of the ways that companies lose great, interested, qualified job candidates everyday! So, don’t be one of them! One-click apply is the way to go!  Don’t make them create a user name and password either.  Even this is considered to be too much effort by most candidates.  Create a streamlined application process that focuses on collecting the most important information from applicants without asking the same question over and over again. Keep in mind that you will be interviewing candidates too so you don’t have to ask them every single detail about their lives and job history in the application. Gather enough information to weed out candidates that definitely don’t fit and then focus on the rest during the interview process.

Build a strong online presence. Many of us know that reviews online and on social media can make or break a company as far as sales go, but how many of us know that online reviews can drive applicants away from applying for jobs? Focus on looking at how your business is being reviewed online by past and present employees. Then, consider if you do need to make changes to your corporate culture based upon the feedback on review websites. Make the changes necessary or reach out to people that have left negative feedback. This falls in the realm of employer branding outreach. In a candidate driven market, candidates will be much more particular about company culture and brand.

In today’s candidate-driven job market, partnering with a recruiter will help widen your company’s search for the top-tier candidates.  When partnering with Emplicity Search, you will only meet with the best of the best while we work behind the scenes to locate, screen, and present only what we feel exceeds every expectation of the position. Candidates are vetted and prepared in order to spend your valuable time in the most effective way.  Contact us today to kick off your search!