The Rea Report Fall 2017 | Page 14

Don ’ t Let Your Competition Win The Battle For TOP TALENT

Better recruiting & retention strategies are closer than you think
By Desireé Lyon , talent acquisition specialist , desiree . lyon @ reacpa . com ( Dublin office ) ompetition for top talent is fierce . So fierce that HR pros often cite “ recruiting and retaining key talent ” as one of their most challenging responsibilities .
Building an all-star team is a two-part process . The first step is to establish a continuous recruiting strategy that positions you to proactively identify and attract qualified employees . The second is to be intentional in your efforts to establish and maintain a positive company culture . Because the cost of rapid employee turnover is so high , this article will address the former – attracting qualified employees at the start .
The following tips will help you avoid future “ bad hires ” by illustrating best practices for targeting quality prospects .
Recruiting Best Practices & Targeting Quality Prospects
1 . Use your employees for candidate referrals . Your employees are excellent candidate referral sources . A referral incentive program can be a great way to reward your team for identifying talented employee prospects who ultimately become successful hires .
2 . Reach prospects using readily available resources . You don ’ t have to look far for effective recruitment methods . Powerful recruitment tools are closer than you think .
• LinkedIn & Facebook . Social media makes targeting and communicating with prospective employees easy .
• Career websites . Not only do career search engines make it easy to target prospects , some of the tools available on these sites make it easy to compare candidate skillsets . ( We like www . indeed . com and www . ohiomeansjobs . com , among others .)
• Local resources . Government websites and local career offices can help you bring qualified prospects from the area to your company and many chambers of commerce will allow you to send email blasts to their members or will let you include a posting in their newsletters .
3 . Participate in your local Society for Human Resource Management ( SHRM ) Chapters . SHRM networking opportunities allow you to share job openings and network with industry experts about what recruitment plans work best in your area .
IN TODAY ’ S COMPETITIVE JOB MARKET , your ability to recruit and retain top talent could be the
difference between long-term success and failure .
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