Every organization, irrespective of its size and scale, understand the importance of having highly skilled employees in its organization structure. Employers have been able to create their brand value because of the contribution of talented resources. The challenge, though, is how to find the most niche talent and ensure brand sustainability.
Listed here are the top 5 secrets that can help the hiring managers to deal with this challenge.
- Avoid the ‘perfect fit’ mindset and re-qualify your positions
A clear Job Description for any particular position is a benchmark to find niche talent. However, you may rarely find a resource that fits perfectly as per the JD. Hiring managers ought to be open about other attributes that may benefit the organization. A pharmaceutical company, for instance, looking for a social media manager, should recruit one based on his/her experience and expertise in social media management. It would not be appropriate to make a judgement on whether they have specifically worked in a pharmaceutical setup. You can aim at bringing a fresh perspective within the company if a candidate has managed the social media aspects across various industries. Together with this, learnings and best practices from other domains may also come in handy.
One of the best examples where recruitment was made based on how well a team knew their job was London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital. The hospital utilized the expertise of Ferrari’s Formula One Pit Stop team to bring significant improvements in their intensive care patient handover process. This brought their process errors down from 30% to 10%.
Companies like Facebook, Google, etc. have achieved great success because they did not limit themselves to fill a vacancy based on requirements laid down on paper. These companies have shown immense flexibility to look for talent beyond the ‘perfect fit’ perception.
- Source Globally
The other best practice to find a niche talent is to hire at a global level. This is because a specific geographical area may not provide you the required talent pool. Sourcing globally will not only increase the probability of finding the best resource but also increase a company’s competitive advantage. Hiring managers can have access to the best skills and experience spread across different countries. They get the opportunity to understand cross-cultural perspectives.
For an organization, a diverse workforce helps in encouraging creativity and innovation. An organization spread across different locations, allow relocation of ideal talents whenever and wherever required.
Understanding your niche talents’ preference and need is another important aspect. This help in deciding the appropriate channels to reach out to them. If offered competitive compensation packages, these resources remain loyal and motivated.
- Network well to find niche talent
The current market dynamics demand everyone to advertise their products and services to gain an edge over their competitors. This includes the recruitment industry. You may argue why the recruitment industry needs networking when it’s the job seekers who are looking for job opportunities. This is because of the fact that employers equally want the best people to work with them.
Candidates with exceptional skills usually, remain in high demand. It is very important that these candidates are effectively communicated the value of working with you. The niche candidates should be looking forward to getting associated with you. Having an established brand name is not enough. Flexible working hours, ability to lead, making contributions towards organizational growth beyond their designated responsibilities are some of the other factors that the niche candidates aspire for.
A survey backed by LinkedIn has revealed that 85% of jobs are filled through effective networking.
Hiring managers should be proactively looking for networking opportunities. They need to attend or host relevant events so that they do not miss out on opportunities to come face-to-face with potential candidates. If you want the right people to approach you, networking should be a critical part of your niche talent sourcing strategy.
- Explore contractor market
Contractors are highly skilled specialists in their respective domains. Very often, an organization would need resources to work on project-based assignments, or time-bound projects, or experts with very specific skill sets. In such scenarios, hiring experts through a contractual agreement makes a lot of business sense instead of selecting a full-time employee.
Contractors are aware of their strengths and knowledge with respect to the job expected of them. They can come very handy when a resource is required on a very short notice or when a highly-skilled professional is needed to fill a position as quickly as possible.
Freelancers/Contractors are always on the lookout for more work. To beat the competition, offering them flexibility to work, longer contracts can always prove to be a great strategy.
- Consult Recruitment Providers
Recruitment companies help candidates in finding the right people for the right role. Not only this, they play a supporting role for the hiring companies as well. Hiring managers connect with recruitment consultants to brief them about the roles/positions that are open. These consultants first look into their database to find niche candidates. If they do not see an appropriate match, they post the job online so that the candidates with the required skills and talent reach out to them.
Employers may sometimes find it tough to reach out to niche resources. This can be because of geographical limitations, or non-availability of hiring managers, or may be because of limited knowledge on available skills when setting up a business in a new location. In all such scenarios, recruitment providers can be beneficial in doing the first level of screening of suitable candidates.
The recruitment industry has contributed to a 9.3% annual increase in turnover for the Service Sector.
Conclusion
We understand that getting the best talents within the organization can be an overwhelming task. Hiring managers are aware of how big a responsibility this can be because the organization’s name is at stake. But the strategies discussed above can ease the pressure immensely.
