5 Tips for Recruiting the Best Candidates to Your Online Company

In this article, were going to discuss recruitment. Weve found that its a consistent pain point across our industry, and that many of our clients are always on the lookout for how to improve their recruitment procedures. This is not just an issue thats limited to the online brokerage business. Youll find that recruitment is a constant headache for organisations, especially in the modern world where very few of us are looking for that old clich of a job for life. So, read on for the top 5 things you can do right now to recruit the best workforce to your company!

1. Start In-house

It sounds so simple, but theres a lot more to this point than meets the eye. In the past half-century or so, companies have gone from filling around 90% of their vacancies through internal promotions and lateral assignments to around 30%. Now, theres nothing wrong with looking further afield for the best candidates. However, if youre getting your recruitment right to begin with, then the best candidates probably already work for you.

Whether it be a promotion or a lateral move, picking from the best and brightest on your payroll means that existing staff members are given every opportunity for career improvement. This engenders a greater sense of loyalty within your organisation and leads to new positions being filled by individuals who are already well-versed in your companys culture. Providing these opportunities in-house also means that you can bring new staff in to fill the entry-level positions being vacated by existing staff members who are moving up (or sideways).

2. Get your incentives right

As well see in the next point below, a company that treats its employees well is an incredibly hard secret to keep. Word gets around, especially when it comes to pay and employee benefits. Were not suggesting that you should spoil your people, but an above average salary scheme and attractive benefits package can often be all you need to get every future candidate thinking about your brand as the top of the mountain. As with most things in life, you really do get what you pay for.

If your company is not in a position to offer the kinds of salaries that your biggest competitors do, you can still go a long way towards offering benefits that make your company an attractive place to work. People value workplace flexibility now more than ever, so the opportunity to make up their hours in a manner that suits them, perhaps even working some of those hours from home, can be very attractive for some candidates. Also, consider offering pick n mix style benefits packages, where different members can choose different schemes, this can also make your benefits more attractive to different demographics, or even couples.

3. Your employees are your best evangelists

If we take the previous two points as a given, then a happy workforce with constant opportunities for betterment and a competitive remuneration package isnt just a loyal workforce, its also one that will sing your praises to the outside world. This is how certain firms develop reputations as being the places to work for in a given industry. If youre offering existing staff members the opportunity to apply for positions before theyre made public, then you should also encourage and incentivise them to refer people who they think may be suitable for new roles. As we mentioned in our last article on how to keep your best sales/retention staff, most employees will choose a work environment with colleagues they get along with over a higher salary elsewhere, so give them every opportunity to build it for themselves!

4. Use your website for more than just marketing

Your online real estate isnt just there to attract clients to your services. Youd be surprised how many job seekers go directly to the company websites of the brands they value most when looking for career opportunities. So, if you havent already, make sure you dedicate a section of your website to looking behind the scenes at your employees and their daily experience of working for your company. Tie this in to any CSR drives your people are involved in and make sure you document and publicise the extracurricular activities that your people get up to as a team away from the office.

5. Develop relationships with local universities

Finally, to make all of the above feasible you must constantly feed your organisation with new talent at the entry-level, and then gradually allow them to move up or across to other departments as they become more embedded in your companys culture. A good way to do this is to focus on building strong relationships with local universities. This will afford you a steady stream of fresh graduates who are eager to jump into the workplace and who can form the foundation of the other suggestions weve made throughout this article.

For more information on this or any of the other articles on this blog, as well as to suggest future topics, please dont hesitate to contact us.