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Hiring quality talent is essential for any company but knowing where to look isn’t always straightforward. When it comes to learning how to find employees, an effective recruiting strategy is multifaceted and efficient in minimizing the cost of acquiring new talent.

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You also want to get hiring right the first time. Turnover, recruiting and onboarding can be expensive, so companies need to feel confident in their hiring decisions.

If your business is growing, you need to replace a role fast, or you have contractor positions to fill, industry professionals use the following recruitment methods for businesses of all sizes. You never know where you’ll find your next star employee, and these tips can give you a competitive edge in discovering your ideal candidate.

Explore four ways businesses of all sizes can find top talent.

1. Job boards.

It’s no secret that job boards are one of the most common ways hiring managers discover top talent — and for good reason. A vast majority of job seekers begin their search on job boards, so it makes sense for companies to use these platforms to recruit actively.

ZipRecruiter is one popular job site that offers free and paid features that make hiring easy. It’s rated the #1 job site in the U.S.1, and employers can streamline the hiring process with tools like ZipRecruiter‘s powerful AI matching technology, job description templates and Applicant Tracking System integration.

Another effective tool is ZipRecruiter’s Invite to Apply feature. It allows businesses to invite top candidates to apply for their jobs. In other words, instead of waiting idly for applications to come in, you can be proactive about hiring on job boards. That’s huge.

2. Employee referrals.

Sometimes the best place to turn for finding talent is internally. You can expand your reach and simplify hiring by leveraging your employees’ networks. An employee referral can aid your hiring managers by reducing the time spent on the screening process.

Existing employees can tell if someone they know would be a good fit in many areas like office culture, work ethic, technical experience, and soft skills, which could lead to a successful hire and reduce turnover.

3. Social networks.

Social recruiting strategies are gaining popularity. It’s an effective way for organizations to demonstrate company messaging, and it can be relatively inexpensive compared to other hiring practices. By establishing a social media presence, you can use your platform to showcase your work and office culture to a relevant audience. This can take time to develop but could eventually become an inexpensive recruitment tool that pays dividends.

4. Career fairs and universities.

Consider recruiting graduating seniors at local colleges and universities for entry-level roles and contract work. It can be a fantastic way to gain enthusiastic employees who genuinely want to learn and develop.

Career fairs allow your recruiters to meet with potential candidates face-to-face and build relationships with the schools. Creating an internship program can also introduce you to rising talent and motivated students who want to get a jump-start on their careers.

1 Based on G2 satisfaction ratings as of December 31, 2020

This article is from Entrepreneur.com

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