5 Recruitment Strategies that will Help you Find Hidden Talent

Having a carefully planned recruitment strategy and its proper execution can help you find hidden talent even in a highly-competitive job market.

We have broken down some helpful strategies to help you succeed in your quest to find the best talent.

1. Attend Networking Events

In a competitive job market, the probability of attracting a highly qualified candidate cannot be limited to posting job descriptions alone.

Networking is paramount for both recruiters and job seekers. The former can get hold of talented individuals, and the latter can become aware of the innumerable career growth opportunities.

Although many companies today are experimenting with social media as a part of their recruitment strategy, attending networking events is another good option that can open doors for better identification and evaluation of talent.

Traditional in-person networking can never go out of style because of the innate human tendency and desire to communicate and be communicated to. Virtual networking events are also a possibility and a lucrative opportunity to find hidden talent.

Highly skilled candidates want more than just a job. They want to work at a place as well as with people who can contribute to their professional horizons. When networking, do not forget to give them a glimpse into your company culture. With this, they get an idea about what it would feel like to work with your organization.

Networking events spark meaningful conversations, and you could even host a networking event yourself and have industry leaders and influencers attend. This is a good way to attract candidates that are otherwise comfortable in their current positions to know your organization.

2. Go Beyond Top Schools

Campus recruitment is the most common recruitment strategy that skews job opportunities towards candidates coming from top-tier schools.

There are numerous reasons why prioritizing just a handful of schools to look for potential candidates is not a good idea and perhaps one of the biggest mistakes recruiters make when looking for hidden talent.

Firstly, the criteria to evaluate a student’s academic performance are not the same as workplace performance. Some talented folks might not even make it to top schools because their grades do not make them eligible for admission.

Multiple case studies demonstrate the insignificant correlations between creative minds and having a degree from a prestigious institution. Moreover, when you recruit pupils from top schools, you might be overspending.

Pay scale data show that graduates from top schools have a high median salary higher than those who did not belong to colleges that form a part of the lower rung. You might be spending more on an average candidate from a top school than you would have spent on a talented candidate from another school.

Another bias that creeps into this recruitment strategy is that minorities will be underrepresented in the organization. We know most top schools do not ensure that proper representation in their selection procedure.

3. Check Skillsets

Focusing only on hard skills, certificates, and degrees is an obsolete recruitment strategy. Organizations today are on the lookout for candidates with a more diverse skill set.

An essential tangent to this discussion is the need for soft skills or interpersonal skills. An organization does not exist in isolation, and its operations are a result of the directed efforts of a body of individuals.

Therefore, recruiting a candidate with technical expertise but with zero interpersonal skills is a bad choice. What differentiates a good candidate from an exceptional one is the presence of soft skills that break the monotony of job applications.

A few marketable skills that recruiters should look for in a candidate to find hidden talent are communication skills, the ability to adapt to changes, collaborative skills, complex problem solving, basic management skills about time and focus management, and leadership skills.

While you are likely to find these skills listed on a prospective candidate’s resume or cover letter, the best place to evaluate these skills is through interviews or a group activity devised for shortlisted candidates.

You can assess the candidate based on skills that are most suited to the job requirement and proven past experiences that demonstrate the relevance of the skill to the position you are recruiting for.

4. Assign Out-of-the-Box Tasks

Even if you have a talent pool to choose from, recruiting the best among them requires a bit of effort.

One way to do it is to assign out-of-box tasks to a select few candidates. On the other hand, have a set performance indicator to measure the degree of success for each potential name.

Organizing competitions and gamification of tasks will increase the likelihood of participation by interested candidates. For instance, you can let them act as managers and carry out certain tasks. Assigned tasks can be closely monitored to check how it gets aligned with the way your organization functions.

By organizing such competitions their skills as well as their performance will get tested as per expectations.

5. Identify Passion for Work

An employee who is not passionate will not be motivated to work. Also, it is a liability than an asset to an organization. While looking for top talent, you should also devise a strategy that helps you identify their passion for work.

You could conduct an analysis of their demeanor and their response to questions. If they seem reluctant and lack the zest, they are probably not someone you would want to hire.

You could also ask questions that reflect whether the potential hire has a growth mindset or not. Individuals with high expectations benefit not only themselves but also the group they are a part of.