Shawnee Love   •  
March 8, 2012

A few people have asked me how to attract the best candidates to their company. Recruiting for business isn’t like recruiting for sports teams where there are stats on the most consistent quarterback, most RBI’s, highest goals against average, etc. Although headhunters make a living plucking leaders and subject matter experts out of their current companies on behalf of hiring organizations, they make up a small percentage of the positions filled every year. Rarely will you have a known “perfect candidate” when a key job comes open. As such, for the millions of jobs that don’t have an obvious superstar to headhunt, or an internal candidate in the wings, the hiring organization must attract the right candidates to fill the role.

There are tons of articles out there with a myriad of opinions on what attracts the best, but in my experience attracting the best for your company involves these steps:

1. The candidate must know about your company and your job opening.
2. The candidate must be interested enough to leave their current situation.
3. The candidate must have the potential to succeed in the role (i.e., skills, experience, qualities, etc.).
4. The candidate must want to succeed in the role.

Steps 1-3 are important but Step 4 determines whether or not you have the best candidate for the job.

That is my approach, what’s yours?