Your goals, projects, and structure mean nothing if you don’t have the right people next to you in the trenches. For long-term and ongoing success, hiring right actually means everything, which means having solid talent acquisition (TA) strategies to ensure that happens.
While recruiters like myself have it down to a T, it might not be that easy for you or your team.
But don’t worry, in this article, I’ll guide you through the top 6 staffing strategies and steps you’ll ever need so you can be sure you’re only bringing in the best professionals who will surely drive business growth. From coming up with a game plan to sourcing, to screening, to actually hiring and onboarding, and more, here’s what you need to know and do:
Step 1. Come Up with a Clear Game Plan
No one likes to be blindsided by a talent shortage, and of course, no one likes to hear, “I told you we needed a new backend developer.”
And that’s where our very first talent acquisition strategy comes in. Before you can get your hands dirty in the hiring process, you have to come up with your game plan, and to do that you need to know three things: 1. What your business goals and strategies are, 2. What your talent goals are, and 3. How they mesh together. And only then can you start.
Since you now know where you’re going and who you’ll need to take you there, we suggest you:
Make a talent roadmap for your company based on at least the next six to twelve months. This means considering any upcoming product launches, market expansions, etc., so you can define which roles you will need and by when. Allow some space for flexibility in case plans change.
Get your stakeholders in the loop—managers and leaders are essential here, as they know, besides which roles your company will eventually require, what exact skills (both technical and soft skills) their team and projects will need. And don’t forget to have regular check-ins, so you can also be in the loop.
Figure out your budget. This way, you can decide whether the hiring process will happen internally or if you’ll partner with recruiters, headhunters, and/or staffing agencies.
Once you’re done with this step, you can revisit and adapt it. The great thing about it is that it will serve as the groundwork for all the following TA strategies.
Step 2. Source and Engage Talent The Right Way
Now that you’ve who you need to bring on board, let’s talk about how you can meet them, which takes us to our second strategy on our list.
As a recruiter myself, I can tell you this: relying on mainstream job boards can definitely feel like fishing with a net—there sure will be quantity, but will there be quality? Unlikely. And so, to make sure you connect to the quality ones (including those who aren’t really available since they’re happily employed and aren’t actively looking), you need to approach this step from a different angle than most people do.
Here’s how I suggest you go about it:
Go into your targeted professionals’ habitats—their forums, Slack groups, and Discord servers—and invest time in getting to know them and letting them get to know you. This will establish your company as an expert and a connection before the hiring process even starts. Ultimately, this effort will result in these skilled professionals being more open to you when you reach out to them about opportunities to join your team.
Besides going into their habitats, bring them closer to you—run events and contests such as coding competitions, hackathons, or design sprints with real projects, giving them a sneak peek of what your company works on. This is an excellent TA strategy since it allows you to show them a little bit of your company culture and creative spirit while also engaging and connecting a bit deeper with these professionals who love challenges by getting their mental juices flowing.
Keep in mind that it’s not only about building relationships but making sure you nurture long-term relationships. For one, since your game plan has been laid out for at least 12 months, these connections you’re making now can come in handy later on. Also, because, let’s say you were already hiring for a position and the candidate you wanted wasn’t ready for a change just yet, it doesn’t mean they won’t be in the future. So, when you focus on staying in touch and keeping these passive candidates in the loop by sharing updates, inviting them to events, checking in, etc., you keep connections alive and doors open for when the right time comes.
Besides these, I wouldn’t neglect employee referrals, as you can definitely benefit from your own people’s networks—just make sure you reward them when they bring you a big fish that sticks around (for at least 90 days).
And, last but definitely not least, consider targeted headhunting. This is a talent acquisition strategy that ensures you’re fishing for the right talent in the right waters, and it’s especially effective when combined with the previous steps I’ve shared so far since they’ll be able to see your company as the right pond or river for them.
Although it may seem like a lot of work (and it is), you’ll see that by implementing these sourcing and engagement strategies to your overall TA strategy, you not only tap into and connect to high-quality candidates, but you also certainly build a significant pipeline that’ll be at your disposal when the need arises to fill a spot or build a new team. So, it’s certainly worth it.
Step 3. Hire Career Driven and Skilled Talent (Fast)
While we all want (and need) people with sharp technical skills in our teams, that’s a given, right? Think about it: Would you hire someone who doesn’t have a clue what they’re doing? Of course not.
Then why would you hire someone whose hard skills are at the top of their game but whose other skills aren’t? And by other skills we mean skills such as communicating clearly through speaking and writing in English, proactivity, problem-solving, conflict resolution, self- and time management, cultural literacy and sensitivity, autonomy, accountability, and empathy—to name a few important ones.
Here at DJ, we’d pick a B+ coder with A+ people skills over a superstar programmer who can’t work with others any day.
Besides, people with great skills, the hard and soft ones, might still not be that career driven, that ambitious (in a good way), and so might not be that interested in growing, learning, evolving. And when you hire someone like that, there’s a strong possibility that they won’t just impact their own professional progression, but your team’s all well. So make sure you take that into consideration in your hiring process.
And in order to make sure that you’re doing just that, it actually comes down to screening efficiently. And here’s how you can do that:
Standardize and structure your screening process. This way all your interviewers will follow the same textbook, and therefore all your candidates are evaluated under the same criteria, preventing error and bias. These interviews should focus on technical skills, soft skills, cultural fit, remote readiness, ambition, among other things that’ll show you their adaptability in the workplace.
Implement some real-word assignments, some tasks that mirror actual tasks they’d have to work on if they get hired. This way, you can see not only their delivery but their thought process, their technical abilities, their communication style, and their personality.
Get their possible future coworkers involved in the interview process, as they can definitely help you in terms of checking how they’d mesh with the team, offering you some valuable insights when it comes to candidates’ interpersonal skills and teamwork that someone looking from the outside might miss.
And, finally, but very importantly, once you know who you want to hire, do it quickly, or you might lose them to someone else who will.
Step 4. Onboard Quickly to Integrate Seamlessly
By now, it may feel like 84 years have passed since you started out on your talent acquisition journey. And maybe it’s just flown by. Anyway, you’ve got what you set out to get: your new hire(s). And while it may feel like the journey has ended, it definitely has not, my friend.
Onboarding is a very important step in your sourcing strategy, and is one that you can’t afford to miss. And so, in order to integrate your new team member(s) seamlessly, you want to do it smartly and quickly so they can hit the ground running and start contributing to your team as soon as possible.
In order to set them up for success from day one, you should:
Start with pre-boarding, always. This means starting communication before day one, sharing with them login details for whatever software or platforms they’ll be using, making some short introductions, so they don’t come in blind on their first day.
Make sure they have a 30/60/90-day plan waiting for them, as structure makes way for success.
Pair them up with mentors or buddies who can help them out with day-to-day stuff, company culture, and any questions they might have. This saves them time and discomfort and saves you their precious time as well, since if they don’t have to go scrambling for answers, they can just do their jobs.
And since we just mentioned company culture, introduce it to them. It’s not only important for the new hires to know the lay of the land, but it also matters a lot to your business and your teams, that the new employees understand and are aware of the rituals and norms that everyone follows around there.
Step 5. Review, Refine, and Level Up
Last but not least, think of your talent acquisition process as a living one, that’s not set in stone, and can be adjusted and refined, so it can be leveled up.
I understand—you might love what you and your team have built so far. You see that the wheels are turning, great candidates are coming in, and the new hires are just shining. But, if you take some time to reflect, you’ll realize that just because something worked brilliantly last quarter doesn’t guarantee it’ll work the next one or indefinitely (as you might like), right? Right.
So to ensure nothing stops your wheels from turning, we suggest you:
Track KPIs, such as time-to-fill, offer acceptance rates, and your new hires’ performance during their first six months, to name a few. These will show you where your strengths are, and also your weaknesses, so you’ll know where and how to adjust.
Gather feedback, from all sides. Which means not only gathering feedback from either new hires or their managers and teams, but from everyone involved in the hiring process. This is really important because people’s experience and POVs can unveil some blind spots that could harm you in the long run.
Don’t wait for problems to escalate; rather iterate quickly and proactively. If your KPIs or feedback bring any weak spots to your attention, act fast. Be it by tweaking your interview questions, improving your onboarding process, or adjusting offers to make them more competitive, do it. By iterating quickly you avoid bigger problems down the road.
Step 6. Partner up with Recruitment Agencies (Staffing Firms)
This final step in our list is optional, of course. But it’s one I wouldn’t overlook if I were you.
As a recruiter myself, actually the VP of recruitment at a global staffing agency, DistantJob, I can tell you first-hand that the work we do delivers fast, amazing, and tangible results for a fraction of the cost.
We all know that the hiring process can take a toll on every business’s bottom line, and that’s true due to these two numbers here: 1. the average cost of a new hire is around $4,700, and 2. the cost of bad hire is even higher, averaging at least 30% of their first annual wage.
In truth, internal hiring can be a lengthy, complex, and as we’ve established, expensive process. And it doesn’t always yield the best results.
Now, when you partner up with us, you get the expertise of your expert and seasoned tech recruiters and headhunters, who’ll take the time to know exactly what you need and go out there and look for it.
What’s more, our talent acquisition strategies are in place and working full time, so we have a large talent pool at our disposal at all times. Which means, we not only guarantee quality and alignment to your company’s present and future goals and culture, we deliver the créme de la créme to you at a fraction of the time and a fraction of the cost.
Here’s how we do it:
- We study your company to understand its DNA, its needs, and requirements. We actually help you come up with your hiring game plan.
- Our team of recruiters get to work, setting out to find only the best talent for you. We headhunt for senior professionals already employed at companies such as innovative startups and Fortune-500 anywhere in the world. Our focus here is to bring you talent that speaks English fluently and has strong technical and soft skills, such as clear communication, adaptability, time and self-management, and so on.
- Once we have our candidates, we vet them through a multiple-step assessment process, using our recruiter’s flawless interviewing skills and experience. What they look for here is to make sure they match your expectations and work culture, and have what it takes to not only join your team, but elevate it.
- Then, we act fast and hire the top candidate(s) for you. Besides, we do all the legal work for you, meaning we act as employers of record, handle all legal paperwork, and global payroll per local laws. Meaning you don’t have to worry about international bureaucracy and compliance.
- Finally, we offer your company ongoing and proactive support. We always touch base and make sure everything is going according to plan. This way we can detect any issues before they happen, course-correcting when needed.
And the thing is—the hiring process as all processes within the company and different companies, is organic and dynamic. As we discussed in Step 5, there’s always room for improvement and changes. We know that, and we take that seriously. We don’t follow a set of rules and standards when it comes to our recruitment and headhunting strategy; we personalize our process entirely to make sure it aligns with your company specifically and its goals, dreams, and aspirations.
Ultimately, by partnering with us, you can focus on what matters most, while leaving the talent acquisition strategies to us (and also the complex legal and payroll bit). And you get, in return, only the best hires, upping your ROI, and taking your business forward.
Conclusion
These 6 talent acquisition strategies and steps I’ve shared with you are the ones that, once implemented, will up your hiring game, and as result, your company game. And while implementing them might seem like a lot of work (and it is), it’s definitely worth it. Besides, once you’ve done so, they’ll just become part of your culture, and you’ll see your own pool growing—filled with only the right and most talented fish.
So, when faced with the need to fill an important role or build a whole new team, it won’t take you forever to do so, and cost you heaps. You’ll be sure you’re consistently making the best choices when it comes to the new people joining your team and it’ll feel great. Trust me.
That’s true especially if you choose to do Step 6. So, if it feels like a lot, don’t go at it alone. Our recruiters and headhunters at DistantJob have it down to a T, and can make sure you have the best talent pool at your disposal with only the cream of crop. Get in touch with us now so we can start building your remote global dream team right away.
