The Top 5 Sources for Finding Great Candidates

Trawling through piles of resumes and cover letters can be a daunting task. Not only that, but how can you be sure you’re choosing from the best candidates? Sometimes it pays to be proactive in your search. Instead of having candidates come to you, taking a little time to go out and find candidates for yourself can pay huge dividends. Applying for and communicating about open positions is easier now than ever before. While this results in a potentially higher volume of applications than previously, it also means finding the right candidate can also be more challenging. Let’s take a look at some of the best sources you can use to go out and find the best candidates.

1. LinkedIn

A website designed for job networking has to be a great place to start, right? While LinkedIn can be an excellent source for great candidates, the sheer volume of users seeking jobs on the site means you’ll need to really narrow down and pinpoint what you’re looking for. Fortunately, LinkedIn has some great tools to help you in your job candidates search. Narrow down searches by such characteristics as candidate location, years of experience, and current job function. Once you’ve narrowed down your searches, LinkedIn’s individual profiles provide rich information on skills, work and education history, as well as their connections and any recommendations they’ve received. LinkedIn basically provides all the information that would be contained in a candidate’s resume so you can gain a clear understanding of their background and qualifications before reaching out.

Finding job candidates on LinkedIn can also be as easy as joining the right groups. If you’re in a particularly niche industry, there might be a dedicated discussion group of experts who keep in touch and talk about industry-related topics. Perhaps you could set up a post outlining what you’re looking for in a candidate, or simply start engaging with users in the group to start building relationships and uncovering great potential employees.

2. Facebook

You may have heard Facebook is no longer considered "cool" among today’s youth, but it still remains the most popular social network in the world and, as a result, one of the best places to find good employees. The average US consumer spends 40 minutes per day on the site which makes it an excellent place to find, attract, and interact with potential candidates. Post about your company and try to establish yourself as a great place to work. Great candidates seek out places they want to work, and establishing your presence on the largest social network can go a long way to bringing them in to your company.

3. Twitter

The relationship between job candidates and social media is one that gets its fair share of negative attention. We’ve all heard those stories of job candidates having job offers revoked after their new employer looked at their Twitter account and didn’t like something they saw. And social media channels like Twitter can certainly be a way to disregard certain candidates who don’t appear to be a good cultural fit for your organization. However, Twitter can also be an excellent source for uncovering great candidates. Searching via hashtags and metrics like retweets and followers help you identify subject matter experts. Depending on your industry, there may even be dedicated feeds for job postings.

4. A Staffing Agency

A staffing agency can serve as a great way to find good employees. With options to hire temporary, temp-to-hire employees, or direct hires you can be sure of a pipeline of quality employees specifically matched to your needs. Hiring through a staffing agency gives you the flexibility to ensure cultural fit and skillset are both exactly what you’re looking for in a candidate before permanently hiring them. Staffing agencies give you access to an enormous pool of talent, prescreened and ready to start contributing to your business.

5. Online Forums

Depending on the industry you find yourself hiring for, there are probably dedicated online forums that may be worth checking out. Interacting with forum participants or just generally looking out for subject matter experts who would excel at your company, is another way to uncover talent. Forums are a place where people ask questions for experts in their fields to answer. If you’re impressed by the knowledge displayed by a commenter, this may be a sign to reach out and start a relationship with them. Who knows? They could turn out to be your next great hire.

Going beyond the traditional processes of finding candidates—posting a job advertisement, gathering applicants, and then interviewing to find the best one—may require some additional engagement and out-of-the-box thinking. But aligning your candidate sourcing tools be more proactive can ultimately lead to more satisfactory hiring experiences.

For more information on the best places to find good employees, contact J&J staffing today!

3 Staffing Strategies for Growing Companies

Planning for the financial or physical growth of your business can be a tricky thing to navigate. While most businesses have the confidence they will continue to succeed and grow, external factors that are beyond your control such as the state of the overall economy can make forecasting the future a difficult proposition. Businesses should, therefore, take the time to establish solid staffing strategies and be prepared ahead of time. Suddenly finding yourself in the position to grow and add more staff without having a solid staffing strategy in place for doing so can ultimately lead to setbacks. Not being prepared for the growth of your business invites poor staffing decisions and negative business growth and expansion. Let's take a look at some of the ways your business might plan ahead.

1. Create a pipeline of qualified candidates

Any company experiencing business growth and expansion sometimes has to make quick staffing decisions. Say, for instance, you suddenly land that huge account you’ve been pushing for: that’s great news for your business, but do you have the staffing resources in place to get the work done? Building a pipeline of qualified candidates ahead of time can help you avoid making the snap hiring decisions that you may later come to regret. Creating a pipeline of candidates also enables you to gather some sense of the financial costs associated with those hires. This financial data is important to incorporate into your future budget plan.

Sustained business growth and expansion takes time and you shouldn't expect to hire the perfect candidate in every instance. It's natural to expect some level of turnover. Formulating candidate pipelines can ensure your business growth stays on track and can be sustained over time.

2. Analyze your current staff: will you be able to promote from within?

Business growth and expansion does not necessarily have to be an effort concentrated outside of the organization. The alternative of looking toward your own staff requires a realistic analysis of their skillsets. Are there certain current employees who, if they were promoted or given additional responsibilities, would thrive and help the business achieve the growth it’s looking for? Finding the right people to take your business further can be a challenge, but sometimes they are already working at your company.

Staffing strategies should include a comprehensive plan to enrich and educate your current staff members. Do you have a plan in place to educate them and turn them into more valuable assets for your company? Perhaps there are certifications specific to your industry they could obtain that would likewise increase their value to you.

3. Utilize the services of a staffing agency

If making concrete plans for staffing strategies is still a little firm for your business, employing the services of a staffing agency can offer more flexibility. Making use of temporary or temp-to-hire employees can give a business a more fluid staffing situation. Perhaps you want to ensure candidates can significantly contribute before making them a permanent part of your team. Using a staffing agency enables your business to adjust its staffing strategy easily.

A staffing agency also takes away a lot of the headaches and time that go into bringing in additional labor. Since they handle the screening, interviewing, and salary negotiation with temporary or temp-to-hire employees, you’re able to get your staffing need addressed quickly and get on with growing your business.

In all aspects, businesses need to plan ahead and formulating staffing strategies is no different. By gaining a strong understanding of the financial state of your business, what you’re currently capable of, and your realistic business goals based on the long-term prospects for your industry, you will get a sense of which strategy will serve you best moving forward.

Experiencing business growth, whether sudden or over a long period of time, can be exciting. Taking the time to strategically plan your business growth and expansion ahead of time protects your business from making rushed decisions that could potentially backfire. When incorporating additional labor into a business, there may be some turnover. This is to be expected, however, but with strong staffing strategies in place, your business can make sure it remains on course for sustained growth.

Allow J & J Staffing Resources to be a part of your business growth staffing strategy today!