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3 Recruiting Strategies That Won't Cut it Anymore

Steve Lowisz
Competition for top talent has never been fiercer. Companies are under immense pressure to fill open seats, and the lack of qualified candidates is impacting virtually every industry.
 
Part of the problem is that there’s just not enough candidates. But the other half of the problem is that many companies are still using the recruiting playbook they used in 2019 and earlier. 

The talent market has shifted dramatically. If you want to succeed at recruiting in 2022, you need to adapt accordingly. Here are three strategies that were perfectly viable just a year or two ago, but no longer apply in today’s market.

Hiring From All the Same Talent Pools 

In the past, you didn’t necessarily have to get too creative to find qualified candidates. LinkedIn, Indeed, and employee referrals could often supply you with all the candidates you needed to make great hires.

In today’s market, you often have to dig deeper. Profession-specific groups and associations are invaluable, as are candidate referrals and freelance sites oriented toward your target candidates. You have to think outside the box to find where your target candidates are spending time online and go to them rather than waiting for them to come to you.

Hiring for Personality Without Looking at a Record of Performance and Aptitudes

The tight talent market means that even a single mishire can be incredibly costly. Every hire costs more due to a greater time investment in recruiting as well as higher salaries and sign-on bonuses. Furthermore, when the hire doesn’t work out, you have to wait out another protracted search to find a replacement.

With this in mind, it’s crucial that recruiters focus on what matters most in a candidate. It’s easy to hire someone because we like their personality or feel like you could be friends, but it’s important to take a close look at their performance record. Do they have a record of delivering results?

Consider a small test project to test a candidate’s abilities and aptitudes. You may also want to have them complete a behavioral assessment to see whether they will mesh with the rest of the team.

Making the Fastest Hire Rather Than the Best Hire

Of course, everyone is feeling the pain of open seats. But rather than trying to fill seats as soon as possible, you have to make sure you’re taking the time to explore the entire market and fully vet a candidate. Leaving an empty seat is better than making a bad hire and waiting a few extra weeks for the right hire is almost always the better choice.

Are you exploring every possible avenue to find candidates? Have you looked into profession-specific groups on LinkedIn, networking sites, and attended relevant events in your area? Have you performed structured interviews, completed pre-hire assessments, and verified the candidates’ ability to deliver the results you need?

If you have completed all these steps, you’re ready to make a quality hire! If not, remember that quality hires are always worth the time investment.

Now is the Time to Adapt

It can be incredibly frustrating to recruit when it feels like there’s just not enough candidates. But there’s a silver lining here. The challenges posed by the talent market is what we need to push ourselves to grow, develop new skills, and create better strategies for reaching top talent. At the end of the day, these conditions may just help you become a better recruiter and deliver more value.