The Modern Hiring Strategy: How To Find Qualified Candidates

How do I find qualified candidates for important positions in uncertain economic times? This is the question business leaders are asking themselves each and every day.

In many ways, the current labor market is an employer’s dream scenario. Over 47 million American workers voluntarily quit their jobs in 2021, and another 4.3 million walked out of their jobs in January 2022. Even as recently as January 2023, layoff announcements at Google, Amazon, and Microsoft which impacted a total of 40,000 employees, have many worried about the job market. Talented professionals are demonstrating their need and desire for change, realigning their skills and experience with companies that better reflect their personal beliefs, passions, and values.

So how do you connect with these highly qualified professionals? What do you need to know about how to find qualified candidates, and how to attract them to the prospect of joining your organization against the backdrop of outspoken worker demands for more autonomy, more benefits, and more humanity from the companies they choose to represent? Read on to find out.

How to find qualified candidates for open roles

In order to know how to find qualified candidates for the open positions in your company, you need to have the right strategy in place. This means identifying who has left the labor market, why they’ve chosen to leave their last position, and what they’re looking for in a new company. Once you have that knowledge in hand, you can position your organization as the shining example of a company that stands up for worker rights.

Identify the unique opportunity put forward by the Great Resignation

To start, what is the Great Resignation? This is an ongoing movement by talented professionals all over the country who have chosen to put their own interests first and walk away from dysfunctional or toxic corporations.

A Pew Research Center poll surveyed over 6,600 workers who classify themselves as “non-retired.” The purpose of the poll was to identify the reasons why so many people have chosen to walk away from their previous positions. To little surprise, the three biggest reasons had to do with disrespect of worker rights and a lack of new opportunities.

1. 63 percent of respondents said low pay was a major or contributing reason for their decision to leave their last company

2. 63 percent also said lack of advancement opportunities influenced their decisions

3. 57 percent said that feelings of disrespect in the workplace triggered their departures

As a company that’s asking the question of how to find qualified candidates, one simple solution is to position the opportunity in a way that speaks to those three big worker needs. People want to feel that they’re fairly compensated and that they can learn and contribute new skills.

Most importantly, talented people want to feel respected and that their contributions are being recognized. Therefore, when promoting open positions to talent clouds and recruiting communities, make sure to include details about employee empowerment. Transparently inform new candidates that worker accomplishments are celebrated, in part, through higher raises and in-house promotions when the opportunity presents itself.

Transform worker discontentment into excitement for something new

Despite recent layoffs and tumultuous uncertainty in the tech industry, in particular, many employers feel optimistic about where and how to find the next batch of professional talent. According to a poll of the CNBC Technology Executive Council, 55 percent of employers say recent churns in the labor market present a unique opportunity to attract high quality talent to their businesses.

The best opportunity for how to find qualified candidates: be flexible with compensation. According to the same poll, 86 percent of TEC member organizations admit that talented professionals are attracted by the prospect of higher salaries. However, many of those same companies are enticing workers with not necessarily higher cash salaries, but a chance to have greater equity within the company, especially those on the verge of acquiring an IPO.

Being flexible and open to discussion regarding salaries is exactly what workers are asking for from companies. It’s THE top reason why so many talented professionals have participated in the Great Resignation so use that to your advantage when deciding how to find qualified candidates for your next batch of open roles. Give people incentive to look closer at your business by promoting your flexibility on salary, benefits, equity, and other worker demands.

Build up talent communities and keep the talent pipeline flowing

Finally, it helps to always have a pipeline of capable talent in the waiting when determining how to find qualified candidates for new positions. Talent communities and talent community platforms allow you to rely on direct-sourcing strategies to recruit candidates from a digitized, global supply chain of talent.

Talent community platforms like High5 combine a robust talent marketplace with a global recruiting network that is always working to advance the interests of your company. Open positions are filled at a rate that’s 4 times faster than traditional recruiting methods. More importantly, High5 can save employers up to 25 percent in hiring costs (think recruiters’ use of time, cost to source candidates, etc.). High5 provides a more effective solution to the question of how to find qualified candidates for new roles.

When building up your talent community on High5’s platform, think about how you want to classify candidates that will become part of the talent pool. Segment the qualifications by in-demand skills, years of experience, educational backgrounds, and other criteria. Use these parameters to connect with the most promising talent with the greatest potential to impact the future growth of your business. This is the secret of how to find qualified candidates and put them to great use for your company.

Summary

When determining how to find qualified candidates to grow your business, think about how to position your brand in the minds of talented professionals. Show proof that you genuinely care about your workers, and that your organization is willing to be flexible on important negotiations like salary, benefits, and career mapping. Once you have the positioning down, build up your own branded talent community to connect with the most qualified candidates that fit your needs.

Are you ready for the High5 experience?

Our team of industry leaders are ready to help your talent management program become the best it can be. Get in touch with High5 to transform your hiring experience, and make your next new hire the best decision you ever made.