5 keys to successful hiring through job boards

Written by talentspa on .

As companies have evolved from simply recruiting through traditional agencies to hiring from online job boards, the HR manager’s role has become increasingly challenging. Not only do they need to be sure that they are targeting the right destinations for hiring, but also that they are hiring the right candidates. And despite their best efforts to attract the ideal calibre of applicants, businesses can still struggle to find the right candidate, for the right job, at the right time.

The theory of recruitment analysis states the below metrics for measuring the success of your hiring strategy-

  • Applications per job/vacancy- How many applications have you received?
  • Views per job- Are you getting enough views on your job post?
  • Number of hires or conversion- How many of your total applications have you hired?

So how do you ensure the success of these metrics?

Whatever your hiring strategy might be, it should undoubtedly be ‘applicant-centric’. Try these five easy methods to help boost your chances of attracting the best talent.

Create a candidate persona

A candidate persona is a simple template that defines the ‘ideal candidate’ you are looking for. Based on your recruitment analysis data, the desired skills and experience required for the job and the candidate’s career goals, this template will work as your reference point against all applications you receive.

Here’s a quick persona checklist-

  • Job title you are looking to hire for
  • Candidate’s current organisation
  • Candidate’s skills
  • Candidate’s experience levels
  • Personal traits that match your company culture
  • Their career goalsHow are you talking to them?

The candidate persona is highly useful for-

  • Understanding who you need for a particular role in your organisation
  • Setting a template for an ideal hire
  • Catering to high volume positions (roles like customer support)
  • Finding the best fit for hard-to-fill roles (or hard-to find skills)

Use relevant technology

Using technology to get the right hire is great, but using the right technology and in the most optimal way is more important. Integrate appropriate keywords into your application tracking software to help you achieve more relevant results. Also, when it comes to using tracking and database management software, utilising the most up-to-date versions will assist in keeping you a step ahead of your competitors. Most trending job boards have inbuilt, cloud-based applications which allow you to manage your head hunt on-the-go.

Be where your audience is

And they are on social media. Millennial professionals use social media platforms not only for personal interaction but to discover jobs, explore industry updates, build professional networks and connect with prospective employers. Research by Bond International software states that 25% of job-seekers use social media to find jobs and connect with recruiters. Connecting with your prospective candidate (matched with your candidate persona) on social media, and having regular, relevant conversations with them, goes a long way in attracting the right talent.

Make an offer they cannot refuse

There’s no candidate who can refuse a great offer. Being stringent on the salary offered by your organisation will most likely hinder your chances of discovering great talent. There are various salary search tools that can help you ascertain the best remuneration for your desired candidate. Making the right offer, as per the market average and the job requirement, is one of the key factors to successful hiring.

Get up-to-date with your competition

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, as they say. When it comes to hiring, just knowing who your competitors are is not enough. As a new-age hiring manager, you need to stay informed on what they are doing on the hiring front. Are they looking at the same job boards as you? Are they following the same groups on social media? Are they connecting with the same set of graduates you are pursuing? How are they talking to prospective candidates? These are a few questions that you need to ask yourself to avoid finishing in second place.

There’s no shortcut to hiring success but with the right approach and strategy, you can increase your chances of success when hiring through job boards.

For more advice about effective recruitment, contact us here. With Talent Spa recruitment software, we ensure your hiring success by finding the right people. Using our recruitment marketing platform we can support you with multi-job board posting.