subject: How Do You Attract Good Candidates For Open Positions? [print this page] Despite the number of people currently out of work, a company is finding it very difficult to attract qualified candidates for technical positions. Many applicants don't possess the requisite skills, and recent graduates aren't responding to job posts. What works best attracting good candidates for open positions?
Advice from a group of CEOs:
There is a wide array of specialized online resources to help you find qualified candidates. As an example, for tech candidates, try DICE.com. For a reasonable cost, you can post position on DICE.com or get employer access to the database and search it yourself using key words. Do remember that the folks who use job boards are usually unemployed.
Better results come through networking with vendors, suppliers and customers to identify currently employed and highly qualified candidates. This should be established as a company practice with objectives for employees who have regular contact with these companies and their employees.
It is feasible to hire nationally and to relocate. As long as the employees and young and not invested, relocation expenses are not severe, and the Bay Area is appealing to young workers. For these candidates, companies frequently use an initial telephone interview, and then bring qualified candidates to the office for a face-to-face 2nd interview.
Push current employees for referrals. Give them a reward for successful hires that stay with the Company for a pre-set time period. One company pays $5-10K for referred employees who stay with the company for 1 year. This is a great deal in comparison with the cost of recruiters. Employees are also hesitant to recommend poorly qualified people; they recommend those that they want to work with, usually meaning quality individuals who they respect.
There are some highly targeted recruiters in Silicon Valley who specialize in technology positions. Do a search for these and get to know them. They may already have candidates who can fill your positions.
A number of companies have had good luck with semester or summer interns from local colleges and graduate schools. In one case, two summer interns had a very positive impact on the engineering department where they worked, and are also very interested in post-graduation employment. Current students are highly aware of the challenges finding a job once they graduate, and unemployment among recent graduates is very high. Therefore you may find good response to posts for intern positions. There is no guarantee that an intern will want to work with you upon graduation. However, the employment picture is not expected to improve soon, so that is a very viable alternative for bringing on young talent.
