Recruiting Your Ideal Employment Candidate in South Africa
Recruiting your ideal employment candidate in South Africa these days can be quite a daunting task. With the high rate of CV fraud currently being experienced within the job market, you need to make sure you take every possible step to ensure you get exactly what you are looking for. Typically a job description that clearly tells potential employees the exact requirements required from them in order to fulfill the position is useful. An even more useful process is to develop the job description internally and determine the ideal behavioral characteristics of your ideal employment candidate. One way of achieving this is to assemble a team of people who currently represent the best qualities of the people who currently hold the same or similar position, include in this process the hiring manager.
Make sure you and your team develop a job description that outlines clearly the key responsibilities and outputs of the position. Then, define the behavioral characteristics of the person you feel is your ideal candidate. Finally, list your five – ten key responsibilities and characteristics you will use to screen resumes, perform phone screens and eventually, establish the questions for the candidates you interview.
It might sound like it is a lot of effort, but you will have a much clearer idea of the characteristics of the ideal candidate you would like to attract to your company. Ultimately you will know exactly what you are looking for and be better able to sift through the mountain of CV’s to find candidates that fit the predetermined criteria.
Do not underestimate using word of mouth to spread information about the position that is become available, employees usually socially engage with people who are similar and if you happen to have a top employee, it would not be surprising if he knows of other top candidates, these top people may be part of their network of friends or associates. Popular social media platforms such as Facebook , Twitter and LinkedIn are just a couple of the online sources where you can effectively link up with hundreds and even thousands of good quality candidates.
If possible use trade show booth time to meet and get to know potential candidates as well as customers. Encourage your employees to gather business cards from, and develop relationships with, high potential possible employees, think about setting up a finder’s fee for bringing in good quality candidates, ultimately you may be saving a fortune using your staff’s networks to secure top talent.
Take Advantage of Your Industry Contacts, Association Memberships, and Trade Groups for Recruiting Candidates
Invest in letting your employees participate in and network in industry groups, conferences and trade shows. Periodically, create master lists of industry leaders and other potential employees from customers, colleagues, co-workers, and friends. Develop a plan for contacting these people systematically and regularly. Be prepared to share your job description with them through the mail, email, on the Internet and by fax. Follow up on every good lead.
Use extensive telephone networking. Bring people in for interviews before you have an available position. You may even want to consider starting a periodic company newsletter to keep your master lists of potential employees, customers and interested others up-to-date about company progress and happenings.
Use Your Web Site for Recruiting Candidates
Does your company have a “Join our team” tab? Make sure you have the ability for potential employment candidates to be able to visit your website and send in their CV. If someone visits your website and they like what they see, they may be just the candidate you are looking for.
Don’t use your website to simply advertise typical job positions, your Web site needs to include your company vision, the information that really sets your company apart from others in your industry. Your job listings must sparkle with a personality so a potential candidate thinks, “this organization is for me.” And, now that you have their attention, you also need to provide a way for candidates to easily submit resumes for consideration for future positions.