We are all looking for the same candidates in an increasingly tight marketplace. If you’re an HR manager or a recruiter, you may be wondering in you’ve done everything in your power to find the best candidates. It’s a good question, and in this job market, you’re probably not the only one asking it. Are you in the right channels with the right messaging? Where is the hidden talent you’re seeking? Are you forgetting something in your search for top talent? The answer is: Probably.

Here’s what you may be missing in your recruiting efforts, and here’s how you can broaden your candidate search.

How Can You Broaden Your Candidate Search?

Where to Find Candidates?

First, we should mention that if you allow employees to work remotely, you broaden your candidate pool to a national audience. Looking for someone local is one thing, but if you can extend your search to a national audience, you automatically reach more people.

Some of the more standard job search channels you may be using intermittently or not at all. We recommend using all of them regularly, including: 

  • Job boards with search engines. The best job boards allow you to search candidate resumes as long as you pay for the privilege. One tip to broaden your search is to post your job on some of the niche job boards out there as well as the big players like Monster and Indeed. 
  • Social networks like LinkedIn offer the opportunity to reach out to passive job candidates as well as post your job. Their search engines are excellent, and the filters are fairly sophisticated at finding talent. You can back up your LinkedIn research on Twitter or Facebook to find out more about the candidate.
  • Build your brand to reach more candidates. This is an area that many companies are learning to use to their advantage. The idea is that you build your company as the go-to destination for a good job by posting videos and messages that promote your company culture. You can truly use this to attract more talent to your organization. 
  • Referral programs with your existing staff are incredibly important. Each referral should provide you, employees, with a financial reward, and you should actively work to promote the program. When a new, referred candidate gets hired, make sure you let the rest of your staff know. It’s a great way to warm up your candidate pipeline with some “known” talent. 
  • Use a recruiting firm to help supplement your candidate pool. Recruiting firms spend a lot of time searching for passive job candidates who haven’t applied to your company. They have extensive social networks and can bring these candidate pools to your doorstep. It’s a great way to immediately broaden your reach.

How Are You Currently Finding Candidates?

If you’re undertaking all of these recruiting channels, things can get messy fast. You need a next-generation application tracking system (ATS) like Exelare to carefully applications and the activities you’re undertaking to reach them. Call on us today to find out how our ATS can broaden your candidate pool.