Dr John Sullivan Talent Management Thought Leadership

Recruiting is one of the least scientific of all business functions. Very few recruiting departments take that time to track which recruiting tools are the most effective. Some that are used frequently (like many newspaper ads) often produce mediocre hires, while other recruiting tools consistently work at finding top performers and convincing them to accept our offers. If you haven’t taken the time to ?run the numbers,? the following is a list of those that consistently produce high-quality results.

1. CEO calls – Having the CEO of the firm call (or visit) a candidate directly and then telling them how important their contribution to the firm will be.
2. Employee referrals from our top performers – “A” players know other “A” players. Referred candidates are pre-assessed and pre-sold by people that know us well.
3. Referrals by “Friends” of the firm – Referrals from our ?friends.? Like former top performing employees, customers, the references given by previous hires (that turned out to be top performers) and others that know top talent and are willing to refer it to us.
4. ?Who’s who” database matches – Individuals that appear multiple times in our top talent database because they have been independently identified by several different employees as being a top talent in their field.
5. The Web – Individuals whose ideas and work have been found to be superior on technical listservers, chatrooms & on individual’s portfolio web pages.
6. “Invited” open houses on your site – Individuals that have been ?pre-qualified? are invited to our facility to meet with managers and key team members, as well as to see some of the exciting projects and equipment they might be working on. The process becomes even more effective when ?same day? offers and acceptance bonuses are included.
7. Converting “temps” – Identifying top performing contractors, consultants, ex-employees, interns and temporary workers and converting them to regular employees.
8. PR and Branding write ups – Getting written up for great technical leadership for management practices in leading business and technical publications. Conference presentations and being listed in one of the “great places to work” magazine listings are also extremely effective.
9. “Non-recruiting events” where people are not expecting to be recruited – Identifying and building relationships at social events (wine and beer festivals) that are frequently attended by professionals in our target field. Trade fairs and conferences can also be effective.
10. “I’ve always wanted to be” questions – Getting hot prospects to fill out a questionnaire highlighting elements of their “dream job”, their criteria for accepting a new job or what frustrates them about the current job?