With historically low unemployment rates, finding new recruits to join your team is increasingly challenging. However, instead of giving in or settling, recruitment manager Virginia Sharpe from CBC Staff Selection guides us through her strategies for successfully recruiting for those ‘impossible’ positions.

Throughout Virginia’s 21 years at CBC, professions such as engineering, accounting, IT, legal and remote roles, have always been challenging to fill. What has changed is that unlike a decade ago, when salary packages in Cairns and Townsville couldn’t keep up with major cities, the playing field is now more aligned in many industries. With money now often out of the equation, we asked Virginia to take us through strategies employers can adopt to help them attract the talent they deserve.

Playing the dating game

Successfully securing the ideal candidate for a hard-to-fill position requires business owners and recruitment managers to consider every aspect of the process. Whether we like it or not, it is a candidate’s market. Or at the very least, the balance of power between employer and employee is now equal.

Recruitment is now a lot like dating. Candidates and employers scan what’s available and consider whether that’s attractive to them. This evaluation happens at every stage, from researching opportunities to applying, interviewing, and even during onboarding. If something doesn’t click, then they move on. Quickly.

With this in mind, developing a successful recruitment strategy requires us to consider the touch points and optimise every step along the way.

Making a great first impression

You have a new position to fill. You pull out the job description and job post from the last time you recruited, and you begin to repeat the same steps you’ve always followed. However, times have changed, and what has worked previously may not bring the desired results.

We recommend taking a step back to evaluate how compelling your recruitment ad is. Then, take the time to optimise it to ensure it adequately sells not just the role but also your culture and how working for you will help candidates progress in their careers. In a competitive environment, you need an offer that sets you apart. Identifying what is unique about your opportunity and how it can benefit the candidate is a step that employers often miss.

Ensuring you are looking in the right places is also important. Job boards are often the starting point, but other alternatives must be considered, especially in a tight market. Social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook could help you reach passive candidates. Similarly, utilising the network of your existing team or contacts to raise the awareness of your opportunity, may draw candidates that are not actively looking.

When applications start coming in, the deal is by no means done. While the candidate may have researched your organisation, the role, and who will be interviewing them, we are still in the early stages of the matchmaking process.

We always seek to find a great fit when recruiting, even for hard-to-fill positions. The interview is usually where both the candidate and employer evaluate this fit. While the candidate is asking, ‘Can I see myself working for this person or organisation’? The employer should also evaluate whether the candidate would fit in with their team and culture.

This is important because even if there is a shortage of candidates, a bad hire can be more damaging than having the position remain unfilled.

Flexibility is the key

It’s crucial to go into the recruitment process with an open mind. A successful recruitment strategy often relies on some flexibility to ensure you secure the right calibre of candidates.

People are moving back to Cairns and Townsville from a sabbatical in major cities for many reasons. From alleviating the cost-of-living pressures to raising their families or looking after their parents. While people moving into the area are more likely to be ‘on the market’, the reasons for their move may dictate the type of work they are looking for.

A little flexibility in their work arrangements, such as supporting working from home or hybrid roles, or having some leeway in work hours and shift patterns, could help you land experienced talent trying to achieve a better work-life balance.

While that may not be what you originally had in mind, it does help your offer become more attractive and will help you fill those ‘impossible’ positions.

Review your offer

Employers should look beyond remuneration to ensure that what they offer is enough to lure the best to join their team. To become an employer of choice, business owners and recruiting managers need to have some extra gems up their sleeves.

Career progression, support, and training are increasingly vital in attracting talent, particularly younger recruits eager for mentoring. Candidates who learn more about the opportunity and how their new potential employer will nurture their careers are far more likely to be excited by your role than those that don’t.

Reward and recognition do wonders for team morale and aligning their efforts with your organisational goals. By sharing a common goal and having clear KPIs that individuals can work to, new recruits can see how they can add value to their potential new employer and their careers.

Extending your reach and increasing your chances

In cities like Cairns and Townsville, where everyone seems to know everyone, confidentiality is often a primary concern for candidates. So, often, they simply don’t apply for that job with a competing organisation. One of the many benefits of a recruitment agency is it provides discretion for those who may be tempted to look for something new within their profession.

For hard-to-fill positions, a recruitment agency intimately involved in your industry or profession could add another string to your recruitment bow. Through reputation, networking and an existing database of possible off-market candidates, this partnership will open up many more potential candidates for you to consider.

A recruitment agency will also help guide your strategy by utilising their experience and knowledge of your industry and the employment market. From evaluating the role and package to reviewing candidates and finding the best fit for your business, their involvement increases your chances of success.

Sometimes, employers playing the dating game are a little out of practice. Having a recruitment professional in your corner will help you get up to speed and ensure you make a great first impression. For hard-to-fill positions especially, having a recruiter’s expertise and connections will almost certainly increase your chances of success.