This morning I’m sitting in a workshop session on the subject of recruiting and hiring. Things are just kicking off, and as I listen to the speaker and talk to the recruiters and HR professionals who are in the room, I am reminded how varied the experiences and interests among us. Just like companies recruiters have different strong points, experience levels and nuances to their business.

Recruiting is the Number One Job at Your Company

Most of the recruiters here have 100 open areas. They are scrambling to fill roles. Time is limited due to deadlines, expectations, and workload. Right now being a recruiter is one of the most important roles in the organization. We are sitting at nearly zero unemployment and yet there are thousands of new positions being added to our economy every single week. Being a recruiter is a tough job and frankly, the most important one at your company.

Effective recruiting is critical to the success and growth of an organization. It is in my mind the most important role at your company given the current talent shortage we are facing.

What Considerations Should You Make to Your Digital Recruiting Strategy

Digital recruiting is many different things. It’s a multi-faceted strategy to engage job candidates pushing them to your ultimate career destination which is your company career site.

Your digital recruiting strategy is unique as your fingerprint. No single strategy or group of tools can be 100% duplicated and applied to another company. It just doesn’t work that way. And I think that’s where we get lost. Recruiters and talent acquisition leaders need to step back and ask questions. They need to fully understand the business, the industry, specific markets in the location as well as understanding expectations of candidates.

So before we implement a new ATS system, add a text recruiting campaign, embrace social media, or invest in artificial intelligence, we need to back up and start at the beginning.

Conduct a Recruiting Audit. 

You need to understand the current state of recruiting affairs. What tools, technologies, and processes are currently being used at your organization. Where are your candidates coming from? Pull your reports to look at the source of hire, Google Analytics, and cost per source.

Mystery Shop Your Hiring Process. 

Apply for your own jobs. Apply to your competitors. Honestly, evaluate and compare the hiring experience putting yourself in the shoes of your job candidates.

Look at Your Recruiter’s Activities on a Micro Level. 

Sit down and talk to your recruiters. Understand what their day to day looks like. How are they leveraging current tools? Are they recording their activities? What tools are providing them the most success and why? This is my favorite thing to do. It’s also an area that is often overlooked because the reports and data you are looking at might not be telling the whole story. I learned this first hand when I realized a recruiting team I was working with was messaging candidates not inside of LinkedIn Recruiter but within their email not reporting these activities in the CRM. The reports were providing an accurate look in the day in the life of a recruiter.

Conduct a Social Media Use Survey.

When you are considering adding, changing or expanding your social media or digital recruiting strategies, it’s essential to understand the platforms and tools that your candidates, your recent hires, and employees are currently using professionally and personally. A simple Survey Monkey survey can do wonders to help explain to build your strategy not to mention educate your executives on the decisions behind your new digital recruiting plans.

Talk to Your Peers and Colleagues. 

Talent acquisition leaders need a trusted group of friends, peers, and colleagues to run ideas by, talk show and look for suggestions and case studies. Create a roundtable of your own and build a peer community.

I love digital. I think most all recruiting and HR teams need to invest in the digital ecosystem in recruiting, engaging and hiring. But first, we need to know where we’ve been and where we are to understand where we need to go.