In this employer-balanced job market, we all know great candidates are out there. But it can still be surprisingly hard to find them. Unemployment levels are at record highs, but even in this bleak economy, managers having a difficult time finding appropriate matches for open positions.

Why is this happening? In some cases, local pools of talent are simply not offering the highly specific skill sets employers are looking for. But just as often, hiring managers and HR pros aren’t putting much strategic effort into candidate sourcing. Many of them assume that they can just publish a job posting on an internet job board like Monster and then sit back, let the bleak economy do all the work, and watch the applications roll in.

This doesn’t usually happen as planned, and when it does, managers are rarely pleased with the results. Broadly targeted applicants tend to have only a few, or none, of the required qualifications, and are rarely a perfect fit for the culture.

So what can employers do to narrow their sourcing channels, target only the right candidates, and still bring in enough applicants to provide a meaningful panel of options?
 
Employees as Recruiters and Brand Ambassadors

Consider a vast and often untapped candidate resource: Your current employees. Why do current employees make great candidate sourcing tools?  Here are few simple reasons.

1. Nobody understands your culture better than those who actually contribute to that culture, shape its direction, and live within it on a daily basis. As they evaluate and reach out to potential applicants, your employees can rely on their own intuition and institutional knowledge to decide who may or may not thrive here.

2. Your employees, most likely, are happy here. Or at least happy enough to keep showing up every day. As many managers know, this makes them great brand advocates for your product, but it also makes them ideal brand ambassadors for your workplace. If your employees feel respected and fulfilled by their jobs, encourage them to spread on the word, both in person and online.

3. Employees often appreciate having agency over company decisions, especially those that affect them directly. When you have an open position to fill within a certain team or department, it’s a good idea to actively enlist the help of existing team members. Deliberately send them off on a mission to source candidates. Chances are, they’ll appreciate the opportunity to influence who they may be working with every day. 

For more tips on optimizing your staffing resources, contact the Houston, Texas employment pros at Expert Staffing. We can help you source applicants, screen candidates, and fill your open positions without breaking your budget.