Is Your Recruiting Approach Making You Look Desperate?
What do you do when you find yourself suddenly needing to fill an important position, and quick? Most companies respond to the pressure by casting a wide net, contacting every recruiter in the book and putting out ads all over the web. Unfortunately, while you may trying to increase your chances of finding the right prospect, the reality is that the right prospect may be shying away from you because you look desperate. Here’s why:
- You Look Out of Control – The first time a prospect sees an ad for your company, they may click on it or save it for later. However, if they are inundated with the same ad everywhere they look, it appears that you may be hiring for a lot of positions, or like you aren’t sure what exactly you want in an employee.
- There May Be Competition – You might be unintentionally signaling to potential candidates that you are recruiting a ton of people, but only a few will make it in. This is a disincentive because it makes the job look hyper competitive.
- There May Be No Competition – The flip side of number 2 is that potential candidates may look at your ads splayed all over the web and think that you’re just hiring anyone who applies, just like fast food restaurants and other low key jobs. This is equally dangerous because it indicates that you may have poor leadership in place, or that the work environment will be full of people who aren’t serious about the job.
- You Have a Lot of Turnover – If you have ads displayed year round on every available platform, it tells candidates that you are always looking for new people. Unfortunately this also means that you must be losing a lot of people too. Signs of high turnover usually go hand in hand with poor leadership or poor working conditions. You definitely don’t want candidates to get that idea.
In truth, the best practice is to use a single recruiting source and work with them to create a clean, concise recruiting strategy. Going overboard will only deter qualified prospects because it makes your company look sloppy and careless in the selection process, which paints a negative picture of the whole operation. The more organized your recruiting methods are, the better chance you have of finding the right employee in the long run.
