Despite the worsening economic conditions, the employment market is still strong, and there is a concerning shortage of good, qualified, skilled workers. The shrinking talent pool is creating a situation whereby it is the candidates who are driving the recruitment process, with more jobs to choose from and less competition from other candidates.
You need to make your company stand head and shoulders above your competitors in your field. To do this, you need to develop a new range of strategies to recruit sales employees. Here’s our five-step guide to putting yourself ahead of the rest and winning the attention of the best candidates.
Write a strong job advertisement
Write a job advertisement that is going to entice and engage. Your job advertisement is going to be the first point of contact with you, and you want to make a strong impact from the outset. Recruitment advertisements should be considered a vital part of your company branding, so they should reflect your tone of voice and company values in the same way as any form of communication with your clients.
Hitting the right notes will ensure the right candidates with potentially the right culture fit will apply for the roles you are advertising.
Make use of recruitment companies
You need to be reaching as big a talent pool of potential as you possibly can. Researching and selecting the right recruitment partner to work with will give you access to a database of candidates over and above anything you could create using your own methods.
Introduce an employee referral scheme
A much under-used source of finding ideal candidates is often right under your nose – existing employees.
Your existing sales team will have social media accounts full of potentially brilliant candidates who are all young, enthusiastic, and perhaps have that little bit of competitive energy that can inspire and motivate.
Encouraging your existing employees to recommend available vacancies as part of a referral scheme, in which they get rewarded for successful introductions, will incentivise them to spread the word far and wide to those who may not particularly be looking for a new job but have their interest piqued by their friend’s media posts.
Check out the competition
Your competitors are an excellent barometer of your own business and actions. Are your competitors also actively recruiting at the moment? Are they looking to replace leaving staff or grow an existing team? Are they offering special incentives, employee perks, bigger salaries, and more holidays? In a word, does working for your competition seem more appealing than working for your company?
Using this knowledge and information, you can craft an employee retention package that will not only entice the best candidates to apply for your vacancies but will also ensure that your existing staff are well looked after and will not be lured away by the competition and their bigger pay cheques! Retainment is an essential part of recruitment.
Recruit employees effectively
Once you have the candidates primed and accepting your offers, make sure that you follow through on your raft of employment promises. Knowing how to recruit employees effectively will save you thousands in future recruitment costs, so make sure you implement the correct processes to monitor their progress, keep them engaged and learning, integrate proactive professional development and set out a clear path for job progression.
Are you floundering in your search for new employees in this candidate-led market – upload your vacancy and tap into our vast pool of excellent sales talent.
