How to recruit and hire top talent

Companies of all sizes are seeking great employees and working hard to recruit top talent for their businesses to continuously prosper and grow.

Ensuring that every new hire fits well into the overall company culture not only contributes to growth, but also helps maintain morale. Buzz words such as pivot, adapt, resilience, compromise and empower have all taken on new meaning for leadership in establishing career paths for their potential staff, especially as it relates to the remote workplace.

The pandemic has meant that the hiring process has become more difficult, with keeping and maintaining a stable workforce taking on increased priority.

Businesses throughout the country are looking at some unique ways to source their staffing needs. It is important to reward potential employees for attitude, not just skills.

With a great attitude, new skills can be learned. With a bad attitude, less will be accomplished.

Top performing employees really do want to be challenged. As expectations are raised, their level of performance and job satisfaction also will increase.

It is important to give your employees an opportunity to build a career, not just make money.

David Lind of David P. Lind Benchmark of West Des Moines, a long- time BBB-accredited business, conducts on-going research on employee benefits offered in Iowa.

In 2007, he produced a report called the Iowa Employment Values Study. The lessons learned then still apply today, and the information in it is very illuminating as it relates to the disparity between what things that employers and their employees find significant.

Lind found that, based upon the research he performed, employers often underestimate the importance of work-life balance — the opportunity for employees to balance work time with family needs observing that, “The pandemic has revealed this truth during the past year.”

His research showed that employees’ desire to have a sense of belonging at their workplace, noting that, “A workplace environment can become an extension of one's family, which can be a powerful tool for employers to retain and attract new employees. By having this demonstrated culture of caring, the best recruitment tool that employers have are the experiences of their existing employees. Happy and engaged employees are the best recruiters!

“Employees want to be treated with respect and have a sense of accomplishment at their workplace. When a workplace culture addresses this critical component, employers become the workplace of choice for prospective employees.”

For more information visit, dplindbenchmark.com.

A complex mix of factors has led to the current employment climate. The key is to remember that when the employees’ career goals match what the company is trying to achieve, they stay and effectively contribute to the team effort.

A few creative methods of sourcing new staff are:

Host a virtual job fair

Hosting a virtual job fair not only helps you expand your reach, but it also puts you in a position to easily capture attendees’ information so you can follow up with those who might be a good fit for the roles for which you’re hiring.

Virtual job fairs have become more common since the pandemic began, and employers have realized the benefits over holding traditional job fairs. Studies shows that many employers are adopting or increasing digital engagement, including virtual events.

To run a successful virtual job fair, here are some recommendations to consider:

Take advantage of social media

Even if your followers don’t apply for the job you’ve posted online, they can forward the post to friends who might be interested, and potential hires can look at your photos and videos to get a sense for what working at the company is like.

Harness the power of video

Creating a recruitment video is a great way to provide applicants with more information about the job, including where they'll be working and some of the responsibilities they will have in the position. Consider investing in a professional videographer, and if you're unsure about your script writing abilities, hire a professional.

This is the first impression that your business will make on new hires, and you want to set positive expectations.

Create an employee referral program

Current employees are a great resource for finding future employees. One caveat with this is, if you're going through a restructuring, and especially if you're revising your company culture, you may wish to hold off on asking employees for referrals.

Bobby Hansen is regional director for the Better Business Bureau Cedar Rapids office; (319) 365-1190.