Sourcing Prospective Employees. A Cost Effective Recruitment Strategy for Small Business
This article includes an editable Sourcing Prospective Employees Guide template that can be used to encourage your staff to actively recruit talented prospective employees as a cost effective recruiting strategy for your small business.
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A Short Story
You’ve just had a bad experience at a retailer and you are not happy. You phone the customer service line and speak with a top-notch customer service representative who provides impressive service and effortlessly brings you down from the ceiling. This person is good at what they do, loves people, and is perfectly suited for their job. You have a fleeting thought that this person would be a good addition to your Customer Service team, but there are currently no open positions. And you hang up the phone.
This article is about helping you take the ‘fleeting’ out of your thoughts when you come across top talent.
We don't have a big budget. Where can I find talented candidates?
You want to hire the best people. But where are they? Chances are they’re already working for someone else.
One of the ways you can keep your recruitment costs down is by actively and continuously identifying and tracking prospects. If you want to hire top talent, you need to adopt a more proactive sourcing approach.
Passive candidates, or prospects as we call them, are already working for other companies. So it’s up to you to identify them and think of ways to get them interested in your company and keep them “warm” until an opportunity presents itself. Of course, just because we identify and track them doesn’t mean they will accept a position from us but, chances are, they just might. We also have to be careful that we’re not seen as poaching other company’s employees.
All staff can participate in the process of sourcing top talent but hiring managers have a core responsibility to proactively seek to establish relationships with potential future employees. Include it in their job description or make this a goal for next year's performance review! Do your managers get bonuses? Include proactively sourcing talented prospective employees as a measurable metric.
The Product/Services Sales Function
When we meet a potential customer, our typical sales process looks something like this:
1. We put on our marketing and sales hat to promote the Company and products.
2. We discuss the benefits and advantages of using our products/services.
3. We provide the prospective customer with sales contact information so they can reach out and learn more.
4. We alert the Sales team to follow up with the prospect.
5. We enter their information into our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution.
Prospecting Future Employees as a Sales Function
We believe that sourcing prospective employees is akin to sales – prospects should be considered potential customers, and we should approach the sourcing process in a similar way.
We all know someone who would be a perfect fit for the Company but they’re happily ensconced elsewhere. Or we happen to meet someone in our daily lives whose knowledge, skills and abilities impress us.
Steps to take when meeting a talented prospect.
Find out step-by-step how to manage the entire cycle for prospecting talented employee.
Download your free
Sourcing Prospects Guide
can be used by
your managers and staff!
Existing customers
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Final Word of Caution
Non-Competition and Non-Solicitation
You are responsible for gauging your individual actions and adhering to any and all contractual obligations you may have with another legal entity, such as a previous employer, that would prevent you from approaching an individual. Specifically, you must respect any contractual clauses that address non-solicitation of your previous employers’ staff or other individuals such as their customers or vendors.
Business Associate or Personal Connection?
There’s a fine line between coming across as a business associate whose intention is to provide the prospect with a future job opportunity and coming across as someone who is harassing or looking for a personal connection. Keep it professional at all times.
If you are representing the Company, at no time should you engage on a personal level with the individual. The conversation is always strictly about business, job opportunities, and general safe topics.
When contacting the individual, do so by email and always copy HR or another senior Company individual to reinforce the intent of the business-related communication.
Ariane Laird is CEO & Founder of ConnectsUs HR, a company that provides tools & resources to quickly set up a Human Resources department.
You can contact her directly from the Inquiry Type drop down menu.
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