Develop and Process a Pool of Qualified Candidates

One of the biggest problems in hiring is that companies do not generate sufficient candidate flow. What this means is that they are forced to choose from two small a pool and simply hire the best of what is available – in effect hiring the tallest pygmy.

Lack of candidate flow arises partly because managers are worried about being submerged beneath too many resumes to be able to sift through effectively or cost-effectively. If you can get enough resumes and handle them efficiently then you can be much more selective. You can if you have better advertisements and a process to handle strong candidate flow effectively  

Write the Right Advertisement and “Sell” your Company Effectively  

Your advertisement needs to be very clear about your requirements and the kind of person you are looking for. You can use the information contained in the job benchmark to create an effective advertisement that runs in whatever media (newspaper, bulletin board) seems most appropriate.

It is essential to “Sell” your company effectively in the advertisement. Mediocre two line advertisements will attract similarly mediocre people. There are ways to use Web Sites to tell applicants about your company….and tell them why it is a great place to work.    

Be Aggressive in your Advertising Strategies 

If you are going to generate candidate flow, then you need to advertise as widely as possible. If a hiring mistake costs you up to three times annual salary, then worrying about the cost of a relatively small up front investment is clearly short-sighted.   

Advertise as widely as you can and be prepared to have a system in place to handle a volume of responses that could stretch your resources.

Set up a System to Handle Responses

What happens if your advert is wildly successful in attracting candidates? You need a system that can help you screen and identify the applicants most likely to fit your requirements.

Edge Initiatives has a software product that will allow you to direct people responding to the advert wherever it runs to a webpage that:

• “Sells” the job and the company
• Allows you to stand out from your competitors and attract more serious candidates.
• Requires that candidates fill in a questionnaire so you can screen out people whose experience does not fit.
• Creates a database so you can search for those matching your criteria.
• Winnows out the people who aren’t serious enough about your job to take the time to fill out a questionnaire.