Hunting for Top Talent in Jungles of Endless Possibilities...

Recruitment could be an extremely challenging, but also a highly rewarding profession. I'm sure everyone here knows this overwhelming feeling, when after many long hours and hundreds of phone calls and emails you bump into that one perfect candidate. Feels good, doesn't it? How about the feeling when you see all the best candidates passing right by you? Also familiar, isn't it? In an attempt to understand why some job listings seem to be more popular that others, I've browsed through many job postings on DandyProject.com, and the results of my investigation are like that elephant in the room - extremely obvious, but somehow ignored by everybody. Here's something that all recruiters must consider when their goal is to attract true Top Talent, not just a bunch of resumes from random people.

Impress from the start. If you are reading this, most probably you are a recruiter, and most probably you have seen tons of resumes throughout your professional life. So let me ask you this, would you be serious about an applicant whose resume is entitled with "My resume" or "I really need a job"? I don't think so. Now think of yourself being our hypothetical top-talent-person. You see two job postings - "CPA" and "CPA superstar needed. Great company, generous benefits". Which one do you click? As a recruiter, you have to wear many different hats, including the one of a sales person, and I can't stress enough, how important it is to sell a position, and not just advertise it.

Ever felt like people don't read job descriptions? I'm sure this is very familiar to you: you post a new position, and in a matter of days your mailbox is full. The only problem is that 99.9% of applications you receive have nothing to do with the position you are recruiting for - you see a business analyst applying for a human resources position, a retail manager responding to a posting regarding new legal secretary opening, and many more candidates that would never be a good fit for what you've been advertising. Let me tell you why this happens even to the best of us: we just copy and paste a long and boring job description, expecting job seekers to read through the whole page patiently before clicking the "Apply" button. And job seekers are busy as much as we are, they don't have time to read everything we put on the screen. The most they can do is scroll down to the bottom to check if this position requires a degree, and then, thinking that they are a perfect candidate, they blast out their resumes, not caring about us having to clean out our mailboxes 5 times a day. The solution is very simple: create bullet points on top of the page, outlining main job duties and requirements. Your mailbox will appreciate it, and it will also help you be more efficient, since you will not have to go through resumes from all those people that prefer to spam you rather then read though the whole page. Remember, you are a professional recruiter and your goal is quality, not quantity.

Want to know if this really works? I have a simple solution for you to check if my advice would really work in real life. Create two job postings: a regular one you always use, and an enhanced one. Post them both on DandyProject.com (remember, it's free to post as many jobs as you want), and see which one out of those two will bring more quality applicants.

It's always small things that make all the difference. I'm hoping this article will come in handy the next time you are hunting for the Top Talent. Feel free to add your comments and share your best practices. What works best for you? What's the secret of your success? How do you hunt for the Top Talent?

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