#FirstInHR: How to Recruit and Hire Like a Pro

You’re new to hiring. Because, well, you’re not a hiring professional really. The small business owner you work for spends 35-45% of business hours handling employee-related paperwork, recruitment, hiring, and onboarding… in other words, they double as an HR professional. Regardless if they are trained in HR or not, the business still has to comply with employment legislation. So, in order for the business to grow, the owner gives the HR and recruiting tasks to you so they can spend more time developing the business. The problem: you’re not trained, you’re not experienced, and you have limited resources. As a non-HR professional, what are you to do when you have HR tasks?

Not Everyone Can Be a Recruiter

Successful recruitment relies predominantly upon two things: the understanding of soft and hard skills and how they are integrated into company needs. As simple as that may sound, it’s a complex balancing act. Each candidate has to have the right combination of training or experience and the right personality traits to fit the company and the position. Considering 52% of executives and employers say the largest challenge they face is hiring and retaining talent, recruitment can’t be left to just anyone. Employees are an organization’s largest investment, so simply relying on LinkedIn access isn’t enough to recruit effectively.

The best recruiters are experts in recruitment. They are aware of industry talent needs and where to find these specific talent pools. Because they are aware of the supply and demand fluctuations in talent, they are able to use company benefit and compensation packages to continue to draw in qualified talent.

LinkedIn Isn’t the Only Tool

This isn’t to say you can’t use LinkedIn in your recruitment, by all means you can. It is an indispensable pool of talent. However, it can’t be the only tool you use. The hiring experience can make or break an employment deal with a candidate. Regardless if the candidate becomes a hire, using a touch of personality over the usage of LinkedIn can affect the employer brand. Want quality candidates to continue applying to the organization? 90% of candidates treated with respect would encourage others to apply in the future. As the most valuable corporate asset, human capital is best located when recruiters and hiring managers use a combination of technology and personality.

Tricks of the Trade

There are plenty of small businesses who don’t exclusively have an HR department. This means their hiring and recruiting efforts have to be done by those whose jobs aren’t exclusively in HR and recruiting. Even for those who are novice recruiters, there are some tools you can use to ease the talent acquisition process.

• Make employees ambassadors - Employee Referral Programs (ERPs) are an invaluable source of qualified candidates. Employees who know the job and know the company refer candidates who they feel would be a match for the job.
• Use job boards - Using aggregate boards like Indeed and Simply Hired in combination with niche boards helps to throw a wide recruiting net all while targeting specific talent.
• Internal - One place often forgotten about when hiring new candidates is your current pool of employees. Recruit internal candidates before external candidates because 60% of external hires are more likely to get fired or laid off, and another 20% are more likely to leave a job. Internal promotions or lateral transitions could be a great tool if you don’t have time or resources to onboard a new employee.
• Quality vs quantity - Use an ATS to pre-filter through candidate resumes. This will allow you to spend more time giving qualified candidates the quality of experience they expect. Don’t sacrifice quality for quantity. Berks & Beyond says:

“But when it comes to smart recruiting, it’s candidate quality - not quantity - that really matters.” - Berks & Beyond (@berskandbeyond)

Recruiting wasn’t made for everyone. The increase in online tools like LinkedIn expand the networking possibilities for candidates. However, as helpful of a tool as LinkedIn is, it can’t be the only tool you use. The human experience is lost with using only recruitment tools; you have to have a personal touch when recruiting and hiring candidates. Although it might be difficult to transition from your staple job, with a little help from essential tools and a pool of know-how, you got this.

Bio: Raj Sheth

Raj Sheth is the CEO & co-founder of Recruiterbox, an online recruitment software and applicant tracking system designed especially for growing companies. Prior to Recruiterbox, he founded two other web startups -- a classifieds portal and an ecommerce site. He is a graduate of Babson College and spent the first three years of his career as a financial analyst with EMC Corporation in Boston. Learn more about Recruiterbox right now.

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