Recruitment Tips to Find Talents in Your Own Backyard

If you are the one who manages the recruitment, then you will find it useful to discover more about all of your prospects that are local and potential talents in your own backyard...

If you are the one who manages the recruitment, then you will find it useful to discover more about all of your prospects that are local and potential talents in your own backyard, right? So, what are the best ways that recruiters can find talents in their own backyard?

Grow talents from within your company

Talent is where you find it. If you’re looking for new hires, your first thought might be to look outside your company. But don’t overlook talented employees already working within your company.

There are plenty of reasons why you should look inside before reaching outside: having existing talents on board means no need for training and an immediate positive impact on productivity—and a more engaged and loyal employee base, as well.

Create an employee referral program

Employee referrals are one of the most effective ways for employers to find new candidates. Companies can boost these hires by offering an employee referral program (ERP) and enticing their employees with incentives like bonuses and rewards.

Referrals from existing employees have been shown to have a significantly higher acceptance rate—and even increased interview scores—compared with applicants who come from other sources, like job boards or social media. They also tend to be better fitted for the companies that hire them.

Talk to your colleagues for referrals

Word of mouth is still one of your best recruitment resources. Talk to your colleagues, friends and neighbors—and find out who they’d hire if they needed help with their project. You may be surprised at how many talented people you already know or have worked with before—but have never thought about hiring.

Have a network of recruiters that will assist in times of need

If you’re a recruiter, it may be time to put those resumes that are collecting dust into good use and reach out to your network of recruiters for recommendations. Ask them if they have any hot candidates that are looking for work – and if so, ask for their referrals. If they don’t have anyone available, ask them how you can assist them with their efforts.

Maybe someone from another part of your organization is looking for a new job; maybe an internal candidate is about to leave for another position, or maybe someone outside of your network has sent in an application but hasn’t responded back yet. Use these opportunities as chances to bring on new talent!

Create a list of potential candidates

Before you start posting job listings, take some time to create a list of potential candidates. Talk with your current staff, post ads on social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter, ask for referrals, and check local employment resources for available talent. The more effort you put into finding good people, the better your chances of making an ideal hire.

Go through your current employee’s networks

One easy way recruiters can find great talent right in their own backyard is by tapping into employee’s social networks. Because you have an established relationship with your staff, it’s likely that you know a lot about their friends and families. Ask your employees if they could introduce you to some of these people.

This could yield huge returns, as these friends and family members would be more inclined to connect with someone from your organization than a complete stranger who cold-contacts them out of nowhere.

Use social media

There are so many good recruiting resources out there on social media. If you’re having trouble finding local talent, do a Twitter search for hashtags like #hirelocal or #localexperts and see what you can find.

Identify places where your target demographic spends time—bars, gyms, coworking spaces—and see if there are opportunities at those locations that fit with your team’s interests. Social media is an incredible resource, especially when it comes to putting faces (or voices) to names. Use it as part of your recruitment strategy!

Set up In-person meetings

One of your most powerful tools as a recruiter is your network—and it’s also one of your greatest assets when you’re looking for candidates. (But don’t just tap it passively; you want your network to be engaged and out there.) Reach out to everyone you know—former colleagues, business contacts, family friends, alums from college and high school—and invite them to coffee or lunch. It doesn’t have to be an interview, but make sure you take notes on everyone they tell you about who might fit into your company culture. Take these notes with you everywhere so that they stay top-of-mind. And have fun! It might feel like work at first, but chatting up new people really will help expand your perspective on potential hires.

Use job boards

Job boards are one of your best options for finding talent. There are hundreds out there, but some that cater specifically to professionals in your industry (and are unlikely to be frequented by anyone other than candidates you’re looking for) might offer better results. A few worth checking out: TalentBin, Idealist, and Coroflot. And if you’re hoping recruiters will come to find you, try listing jobs on major boards such as Monster and CareerBuilder.

If you’re starting to feel like the options available to you in the local marketplace are running thin, don’t worry—you’re not alone. Recruitment can be particularly challenging when there aren’t many candidates around, but don’t let that stop you from reaching out to everyone you know and putting together the best team possible for your organization.