Unemployment figures continue to shake recruiters to the bone. If you want to gain significant competitive advantage, you need to use strategies superior and different from your competitors’.  

You have 80 CVs in front of you and only one suitable person to interview.  Time for a reality check.  The best candidates you want to have on your team are working for someone else. You may have to lure them away from their current employer with enticing benefits and perks.   Be innovative with your strategies to recruit since there is a smaller pool of candidates available.

In a nutshell, when your competitors zig, you zag.  

OUTSIDE THE BOX RECRUITMENT TACTICS

HERE’S ONE TO THINK ABOUT – A RECRUITMENT CARD

Apple came up with a dynamic idea.  Every employee carries a recruitment card to give out to people who they think could be a great job candidate. The card contains the message, “You’re amazing. We should talk.” while on the other side it has a short phrase about how the person’s customer service was exceptional and that they could definitely fit well with working for the Apple Store.  It’s easy, limited cost factor and employees get to play an active role in building a team with spirit.

RECRUITING MESSAGE IN A BOX

Ikea in Australia slipped job descriptions and career information inside every box of furniture sold. The cost factor was zilch.   The outcome can speak for itself. Ikea received 4285 applications and 280 new hires. Kudos to the person who came up with this piece of ingenuity. Simple yet effective.

ALWAYS BE RECRUITING

Hand your business card to an especially helpful customer service person at a store or restaurant, explaining why your organization is a workplace of choice, and inviting that person to call you to explore available opportunities.

CREATE A RECRUITMENT VIDEO

If you love surfing but can’t get on a board, what’s the next best thing to do? You might be less enthusiastic to read up about it but pick out a video and watch Laird Hamilton, the greatest surfer in the world, and you are lost in the excitement.

Time to showcase your company. Take out your smartphone or video recorder and take candidates on a walk through your organization.  Videos give job candidates a taste of what it’s like to work at your company, especially with regards to office culture and structure. Help them to want to work for you and you will attract the best talent out there.

“Be so good they can’t ignore you.”  – Steve Martin, comedian and actor