While reactive hiring methods are useful for short-term goals, they won’t provide you with a steady pipeline of qualified candidates that you can present to new clients and job openings when they emerge.
Proactive hiring is all about having foresight and anticipation. Proactive hiring is, in short, having a steady pipeline of candidates ready for job openings before those job openings present themselves.
With proactive recruitment strategies, you can stay ahead of the competition, become a reliable resource for valuable clients, and be ready to provide for your clients when they need you. Proactive recruitment will provide your recruiting firm with the flexibility to take on shortages in staffing or an increase in client demand with less hassle and more confidence.
Here are some of the most important steps in the proactive hiring procedures and processes.
Proactive hiring procedures aren’t just about connecting with as many qualified candidates as possible; you need to have a plan.
The most important component of your proactive recruitment plan should be your monthly, seasonal, and yearly projections. You should be able to identify hiring seasons throughout the year and have the available candidates to meet demands when hiring is busiest.
Additionally, this is a great opportunity to reach out to clients and discuss their needs. By reaching out to clients, you not only get an accurate assessment of what future demands might be but you also indicate your interest and value with those clients.
Proactive recruitment is about building relationships and networking just as much as it’s about have a ready pool of valuable candidates ready to fill roles.
Sourcing potential hires and resumes into an active and comprehensive talent pool will give you the ability to make strategic decisions as opposed to reactive ones. This means that having a capable and competent CRM+ATS are a given for any recruiters looking to go from reactive to proactive recruitment.
A state-of-the-art CRM and ATS will allow you to simplify and automate data entry and maximize productivity when it comes to organizing large pools of clients. Additionally, one of the best ways to retain a steady pipeline of candidates is by referring to old talent. A competent CRM will give you all the tools you need to refer to and track down old talent.
Once you’ve made your connections and reached out to a substantial amount of potential hires and talent, you need to develop and nurture those relationships. While it’s important to acquire a large amount of candidates to have ready in your talent pool, you also need to ensure that those candidates stay in your pipeline of talent and feel like their best interest is in your hands.
Utilizing your CRM to track candidates, send periodic emails and messages, and refer to important upcoming dates and events will cover the basics of nurturing your relationships with candidates.
Beyond the basics, you should be trying to actively engage candidates with things they’re interested in. Introducing a talent pool to an online talent forum where candidates can pose questions, start discussions, and build a community is a great way to engage potential hires under your brand.
Reaching out to candidates with a talent newsletter is another great way to provide information that is relevant to your candidates. This not only instills a greater sense of value and connection between you and your candidate, it provides them with valuable information that they can associate with your firm and brand name.
There are several proactive recruitment strategies that all firms should be considering in their long-term plan. What they all have in common is they 1) further to enrich and deepen your recruiting firm’s stance within the hiring community and 2) engage clients and candidates directly.
Her are some ways recruiting firms can diversify their proactive sourcing strategies.
Having the drive to turn from reactive recruitment to proactive recruitment is only half the battle. In order to succeed, you’ll need the right tools to manage, organize, and track your candidates along the way.
Loxo provides recruiters with the most innovative and easy-to-use CRM+ATS technology to manage all of your candidate-acquisition needs. Loxo’s candidate sourcing automation will unearth top talent, ensuring that you not only have a steady pipeline of ready candidates but that they’re available to you at the highest quality. Become a proactive recruiter today and schedule your free Loxo demo.
