Your company\’s future success hinges upon your ability to attract and retain talented employees who are a good fit with your company culture. Achieving this goal requires employers to ramp up their recruitment efforts while simultaneously nurturing existing employees to encourage loyalty. Below are five best practices for recruiting and attracting top talent.

1) Begin your search by posting open positions internally
In many cases, the best employee might be right down the hall. Posting open positions internally externally encourages talented existing employees to apply for promotions and remain with your company. Additionally, posting jobs internally bolsters morale. It shows your employees that you value them and that you would prefer to hire a qualified employee from within your organization.

2) Ensure that job descriptions accurately reflect job duties
\”For some reason, employers have a tendency to include either too little in a description or way too much. The key is to think of the job description as a marketing piece aimed at uncovering the ideal candidate. Describe the essential tasks, the expertise level needed and what you expect from the person doing the job.\” – Lauren Sveen, The Denver Post

Inconsistency between job descriptions and actual job duties is a leading cause of job dissatisfaction and turnover. Fortunately, it is easy to fix this problem prior to the recruiting process by ensuring that job descriptions accurately reflect job duties.

3) Conduct background checks on new hires
While recommending background checks on new employees may seem like a basic recommendation, research shows that more than 25% of employers do not conduct background checks on new employees. Failure to conduct background checks can lead to employers hiring workers with a criminal history, inadequate training or education, and drug usage.

4) Utilize non-traditional channels to attract outstanding candidates
While the majority of companies post positions online or on job search sites, you can enhance your pool of talented applicants by advertising your open positions on social media, at local colleges, and at trade shows. Additionally, you can offer your own courses to educate newcomers to your field and keep your eyes open for overachievers seeking employment opportunities.

5) Consider rehiring previous employees
\”When top talent leaves, your other employees get anxious and wonder why, wonder if there\’s layoffs coming, or if the company\’s not stable. But when talent returns, that sends a message that the workplace is a good one.\” – Dave Almeda, Chief People Officer at Kronos

While it is never a good idea to rehire employees who underperformed, there are many benefits of rehiring highly accomplished employees who parted on good terms with your organization. In addition to a much shorter learning curve, rehired employees are already familiar with your company culture and often bring a renewed sense of vigor with them when they return to a previous employer.

What is the best way to recruit top talent? Clearly, there are many strategies that can help you attract top talent. However, the single best way to ensure that you recruit top talent is to seek the support of an expert in talent acquisition and retention. A subject matter expert on recruiting can provide you with solutions to foster selections of the top candidates to help you establish your company as a leader in hiring top talent.

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