If you want to know why expanding your candidate pool is still a good idea, read this article we build. Here, you will find why this action remains important for companies today, and how you can perform it correctly. To do that, we will show you the following topics:
1. What does it mean to expand my candidate pool?
Let us analyze this situation: You have a vacancy in your company, and there is a high amount of available candidates. Logic can make you think that the way you should assess this is by adding filters in the evaluation. By doing so, you would be returning to rigid candidate requirements.
However, in this “new normal” environment, this is not the right approach. In fact, expanding your candidate pool means that you should go in the opposite direction. It involves the increase of the options available for certain positions, which will give you a higher chance of finding the right employees.
As you will discover here later, this nontraditional approach to the acceleration of permanent unemployment can bring you substantial benefits. In short, you need to erase the phrase “the right person for the job” from your vocabulary. Hence, you should consider candidates that do not fit the traditional expectations.
2. Why is expanding my candidate pool a good idea?
Answering this question will require analyzing it from different perspectives. The COVID-19 pandemic generated trends that companies took into consideration to keep their businesses running for a better future. Every perspective considered comes from companies taking advantage of one of these trends regarding staffing and recruitment.
2.1. Measuring the employee value from behavior, not background
By taking a moment to inquire about how candidates apply their knowledge to navigate a job, you will be assuring to hire workers with more value. Here, it is how well a certain employee performs their tasks by applying what they know matters the most.
Your company will have a high-value workforce if you take this philosophical approach to your hiring process. Therefore, you will have a competitive advantage among competitors, and will also look more attractive to job seekers.
Staffing companies can take care of this activity. This is one of the reasons businesses hire them.
2.2. Transferring skills that are the most valuable ones
Beyond an employee’s qualifications, there are key skills he/she must master in the job, like attention to detail, and communication. However, these skills can only be found in experienced candidates, who had worked in any industry before. This is not the case for less experienced candidates, such as new graduates.
As a result, it is important that you evaluate if a certain candidate demonstrated great ability with those key skills, no matter of their background or limited experience. The missing knowledge they may have for the job can be fulfilled by your new hire training process.
On the other hand, all of these tasks in the staffing process can be time-consuming. To not lose productivity in your company, you can choose a staffing service to do it.
2.3. Building an active upskilling culture
One frequent question made in job interviews is how you see yourself in some years. Candidates who answer that question with phrases like “with more knowledge in the field” or “improving my career” are the ones perfect for an active upskilling culture. In essence, they are curious and adaptable people.
Expanding your candidate pool can increase the possibility of finding motivated people who want to continuously learn more. It can also expand the variety of industries from which candidates come. Consequently, this will bring multiple perspectives to problem-solving teams in your organization.
Motivated employees like these will definitely increase motivation among their fellow workers in your company. However, this may not be enough to accomplish this.
3. Which tips should I know to expand my candidate pool correctly?
After we took you to see the “why”, let us know get you to learn about the “how”. Expanding your candidate pool can depend heavily on the type of industry you are in. However, there are tips that can be applied in every class of business to pursue the benefits above explained.
Most importantly, you will discover that these tips will help you beyond staffing. They will give your company a better image for your customers. In a way, it is a “good” vicious cycle: You find motivated workers, manufacture and sell more products, and turn more attractive ones into candidates.
We will present you here 5 awesome tips that you or your staffing agency can apply to widen your candidate pool.
3.1. Make your company culture an appeal
The candidates in the job market of today seek more than good salaries and a benefits package. Here, companies with clear transparency can be the most attractive, by resonating with their workers on a personal level. Therefore, the company culture has become an essential part of its structure.
The secret to this is to make your company unique in comparison with its competitors. In essence, a company with a great culture highlights everywhere, and workers often feel lucky to be a part of the organization. This will increase the number of candidates interested in your job offers.
3.2. Apply a wider hiring criteria
When the posted criteria in your job offers are too stringent, you may be losing some potential candidates. Hence, lowering your hiring requirements can open up your candidate pool tremendously. Remember, with a larger number of candidates, the possibilities of finding the right one increase.
3.3. Use social media for recruitment
As it is at any level of the business world, social media changed the way everything is done. From marketing to future sales projections, companies use these platforms to have a better understanding of their business. Talent acquisition has not escaped this reality.
Therefore, the screening of potential candidates on social media has become a standard procedure. You may think that it ends there, but it does not. In addition, applying an effective social media strategy to attract people who resonate with your company values is also a good idea.
3.4. Built job postings with creativity
When it comes to posting a job ad, you have to look beyond the job description, the company name, and the requirements and skills needed. A good practice you can apply is to read your posted job offer from the candidate’s perspective. Think outside the box to review your post.
The main goal here is to make it unique for candidates. You need to search for ways to get the candidate to feel excitement when applying for the vacant position. For instance, one way you can do this is by highlighting your company culture in the post.
3.5. Work with a staffing firm
Staffing agencies, such as Connect Staff, can help you in all this process of expanding your candidate pool. It can be expensive and time-consuming to do this with your own staff. Hence, turning to staffing firms that are experts in the process of finding new candidates is definitely a smart move.
4. Where can I find information about expanding my candidate pool and more?
According to the staffing agencies, there are several types of staffing services you can get. In Connect Staff, we believe in doing meaningful work for you, by providing the staffing services you require for expanding your candidate pool.
Do you have any questions about our staffing services? Feel free to contact us to get more information about them by sending us an email at contact@connectstaff.ae, and one of our representatives will talk to you to answer all your questions and inquiries.
