From over-packed job fairs to exhaustive posting of openings on job sites, recruitment efforts for many have become old and stale. But if you have an online company store packed with quality, custom merchandise, you can quickly and easily breathe new life into your recruitment process. Here’s how.
For Existing Employees
Employee Recruiting Rewards
Employee referrals are often the top source for recruiting quality talent. Current team members are already intimately familiar with your company, from what you do and how you do it all the way down to the nuances surrounding your company culture. With that kind of insider knowledge, they’re bound to be able to select candidates that make a good fit.
Offering incentives from your online company store is one way to motivate the team to bring in quality candidates. You can stage the incentives however you wish, although rewards given in stages can be a solid strategy. Use specific merchandise directly from your online company store or stock employee accounts with reward points for store purchases of their choice.
- Stage 1: This lowest-level reward goes to employees who bring in candidates that make it to the interview stage.
- Stage 2: This mid-level reward is doled out to employees who bring in candidates that end up getting hired.
- Stage 3: This high-level reward is the crown jewel, given to employees who bring in candidates that are hired and have been performing well on the job for a set duration of time.
You may even want to include an additional reward bonus for the employee who brings in the most qualified candidates overall. This tactic can boost employee recruiting efforts even further by adding a bit of friendly competition to the mix.
For External Candidates
Despite the best efforts recruiting through your employees, you may sometimes need to reach out to external sources. Doing your homework in this area is essential, as you don’t want a slew of candidates who are neither qualified nor have any interest in what you’re all about.
Handpick a Dream Team
Here you want to scope out potential candidates using the highly personal touch. Not only should each candidate be personally researched through available information on social media pages, company biographies, work portfolios and other sources, but the people in charge of the company should personally reach out to extend an invitation to apply.
That invitation, of course, can include merchandise from your online company store. This is not the place for a koozie or inexpensive pen. This is the place to wow them with thoughtfully selected merchandise and a personal note to show you’re serious.
One company tried this tactic by selecting 100 dream candidates, then sending out 100 high end custom gifts that included a message from the CEO. More than 90 of the recipients responded. Three people were hired, leaving their current jobs to come on board. And the strategy generated a lot of buzz that automatically extended the company’s recruitment efforts even further.
You may also choose to empower all or a large group of employees to send such invitations to ideal candidates they know. Having an online company store platform will allow you to easily and effectively distribute branded merchandise directly to a candidate.
Host an Open House
If you have a larger pool of candidates you want to meet, but aren’t necessarily ready to invite them to join your team, an open house can work as a keen recruitment tool. Open houses are a good way to separate out folks who are serious about joining your firm from those who run around filling out dozens of applications anywhere there’s a pen.
Review your submitted resumes, sending out open house invites to those who seem promising. Those who are not truly interested will weed themselves out of the running by not showing up. Those serious about a job opportunity will indeed attend, at which time you can thank them for their attendance with a hat, tote bag or other branded item.
Don’t mention gifts in your invites, as you want the candidates to show up because they’re interested your company, not because they want a free item.
Open houses give your existing employees the opportunity to interact with the candidates. You can also gain insight by simply watching how candidates behave in a group setting. For the most qualified candidates, items from your online company store can be given as a gift leaving a lasting impact in the mind of the candidate.
Head to Events (Other than Job Fairs)
At job fairs, not only are you competing with dozens of other companies for the candidates’ attention, but you’re faced with candidates who may not necessarily be passionate about your industry or field. They may be passionate about finding work, sure, but they may be less discerning about where they find it.
You can instead seek out candidates passionate about what you do by attending events related to your industry or field. Industry events are a solid option, as are workshops or speaker events focused on a relevant topic.
Meetups are a good place to start for recruiting local talent, with hundreds of options available. If you’re looking for a graphic designer, for instance, check out local Meetups focused on graphic design. Those in attendance are already interested in the field, all you have to do is find it if they’re qualified and interested in a job.
Bring company branded merchandise along to any of the events, of course, gifting it to those who seem like they’d make a good fit. But to truly integrate branded merchandise into your recruiting efforts, you will need an online company store platform to effectively distribute merchandise to your employees and office locations, as well as directly to candidates.
Whether you use it to incentivize, reward, pique curiosity or entice, customized merchandise from your company store can certainly play a role in your recruitment process. And at the same time it’s serving to draw in new candidates, it’s doing the double duty of raising awareness of your brand.
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SOURCES:
https://hbr.org/2016/02/6-ways-to-recruit-superstar-talent-to-your-new-company
https://www.ere.net/your-customers-a-near-perfect-recruiting-target/
