Hiring 101: How To Hire Top Talent

WizeHire Tips

1. Know exactly the type of person you want to hire.
2. Get your job post in front of job seekers by using their language.
3. Evaluate candidates against top performers.

20 years ago you could fill a job in no time. You only had to place one short want ad in the Classifieds section of the local newspaper. Within a few days you would attract all the applicants you needed. Applicants only had one place to go to find a job and that was to the newsstand and go through the paper. Times have changed Today there are many options for job seekers to find the right job. It’s increasingly harder for your business to get the right person’s attention. This post is designed to help you hire top talent. Know Who You Need Identifying your ideal hire is easy after a close examination of the type of person you need. If you’re hiring a replacement for a current position, think about the traits and skills of the person you’re replacing. What did you like about them? What did they do/not do that made you a little crazy? If it’s a new position, think about what you want this person to accomplish in a day. What will they be taking off your plate? What type of person would excel if given those tasks? Generate a list and keep it handy for the next steps. I’m ready to hire! Market Your Job Tell a story to generate interest in your audience. Once you’ve figured out who you’re talking to, speak in their language. If you’re hiring someone for a very detail-oriented position, you’ll want to attract someone detail oriented. How do you do that? Give them details, details, and more details. If you need someone who’s more of a people-person, write a job ad with information about how this job benefits others and the advantages of doing a good job. Mention Money Gone are the days when “Salary commensurate with experience” will fly. Job boards make it easy for applicants to refine their job searches and the most popular search is how much you want to make. Be sure you investigate the average salary individuals in similar positions are earning in your area. Here’s a tool we like.  

“Salary: commensurate with experience” will not fly

  Think SEO Your ideal applicants are searching online for jobs, so be sure your job title reflects a common search term for the position. You may call them a ‘Director of First Impressions’ but this is not the time to get fancy. Call it what you want on your organizational chart, but if you’re searching for an Administrative Assistant, include that in the job title. It’s important to think about those traits and skills you identified earlier. What do the people you’re trying to attract have in their resumes? Help me think SEO Be Social The most effective job seekers are effective networkers, so give them plenty of opportunities to get together both in person and electronically. Social media provides many opportunities for hiring managers. Sharing open positions on your company’s social channels is a great way to attract tech savvy talent. Holding a recruiting fair or career night are other effective ways to get to a larger group of people and increase your applicant pool. Screen Effectively If you’ve done your job right, you’ll have built a sizable pool of applicants. How do you manage it all? How do you know what candidates say in their resumes is for real? Use a screening tool to help you find the right fit. A DISC profile may help you understand an individual, but try comparing one applicant to another. This comparison quickly becomes tedious and doesn’t shed light on performance. Instead compare your screening assessment against a benchmark of top performers in a the position. Applying these simple tips will help you get noticed and attract not just any talent, but the right talent! Start finding the right talent now