When recruiting, we often know that the talent comes first, at the behest of everything else. Usually, the most qualified person will get the job. But that’s not always the case. There are many other factors which we use to determine the best applicant, and to structure a successful employment period at our firms.
But remember, deliberating between applicants is not the start of the story. Finding the talent pool to recruit from is. However, in many businesses, it can be that the top minds are often competitive in themselves, leading businesses to clamor over a select few names while ignoring some of the prime talent they might find elsewhere.
If you are willing to become a little more patient in your recruitment efforts, you can make a lot of difference when searching for your best potential employee. On top of that, you might even apply practices to gain yourself a loyal employee, one who cares for the professional development they can experience at your firm, met with a strong desire to contribute in the best way they can.
So then, let us advise you towards recruiting from a larger and more diverse talent pool. You’ll likely appreciate the effort:
Hire Globally
For jobs that require a high level of qualification, it could be that in your local town or city, there are few candidates to choose from. On top of that, jobs that require high levels of achievement to even get in the interview process for are usually well paid, and competitive to a degree. You might not have a chance of hiring from a global talent pool if offering a job as a retail clerk, but for a management or executive position? People may move countries for that.
Hiring globally can be a worthwhile process, but it requires that you open up your interview process to more than just an in-office sit down. You may start with a phone screen interview when reaching out and contacting those who could be necessary to your operation. On top of that, you might find that video conferencing calls provide you with a more personal interview context. You can also see little things, such as the attention to detail they’ve put into how their camera and microphone works. It sounds silly, but little problem-solving tests like this can help you see how someone approaches a task they might not be qualified in, and how much they are willing to invest in it.
Then, as a third stage of the interview, you might have them come to your offices for a tour, a sit down, and perhaps a working lunch. This can give you more of an insight into the character of the person, and as it will be a third interview you will be close to hiring them anyway, so you’ll likely only practice this with a few candidates.
Recruiting from a larger and more diverse talent pool can be an essential part of living your best life. With this effort, we hope that becomes more of a reality.
Consider Ancillary Skills
Consider the ancillary skills you might wish to see in those who you may hire from a diverse talent pool. Of course, many take diverse to mean hiring from any race of people, but you should be doing that anyway without any second thought to it, because color holds absolutely no value when it comes to anything in terms of a professional life, for better or worse. However, searching for diversity in talent and skillset is an essential component of growing a worthwhile business.
For example, when hiring abroad, there’s a higher chance that your applicants may be bilingual, have an understanding of a particular industry abroad, or bring the best of the common business norms from said place and use said inspiration to suggest ideas and optimize their workflow. Now this is the kind of diversity you need.
Ancillary skills come in all shapes and sizes, and can sometimes be surprising in their utility. For example, an older professional who might have had particular insight from the golden age of a certain industry could bring ideas that have been long since abandoned yet still hold innovative potential in the modern day. It takes a worthwhile talent scout to find this, but it can be worth its weight in gold.
Put Your Business Feelers Out
Contacting headhunters from different countries, registering a domain extension for different countries so your website careers portal can be accessed, and generally seeing who the movers and shakers of your industry can point you in the right direction. You cannot expect all candidates to come to you. But you can extend your range, and therefore your results.
With these tips, you are certain to recruit from a larger and more diverse talent pool.