How to Fish: 3 Ways to Find Candidates Who Fit the Bill

Sure, you can cast a net into the sea of job search engines but with the entire world to pick through, you may not come up with anyone you don’t want to throw right back. You might be surprised to learn that the best way to find candidates may be to cast the net aside and let the fish come straight to you. Here are 3 ideas.

1. Add a careers section to your homepage.

If you don’t already have one, this is a key element not only to find candidates but to find candidates with some interest and expertise in what you do. Visitors come to your site for various reasons but they have one thing in common – and that’s a connection to what you do.  Keep it current with job openings or if you don’t have any, with job descriptions for the positions you may be hiring for in the future.  Encourage connection even outside of a job search by offering to add applicants to your resource files.  Do this long enough, and you’ll have a database of interested candidates whenever you do have an opening.

2. Stage a career fair.

The career fair has staying power for a reason. If you target your potential candidates through some smart social networking, they will come.  Whether it’s an open house at your medical practice or a convention-sized event, you’re sure to end up with some good leads for the in-depth phase of your search.  Big or small, you can host a foolproof event with the planning checklist at the bottom of this page. Download it for free and find candidates that work.

3. Create and recruit for internships.

Internships, whether paid or not, tend to attract the most ambitious and focused candidates, albeit young.  With no obligation to hire and little budget expended, you stand to gain a lot. You may discover a candidate who fits into the company culture and will hit the ground running when you do hire. Contact local colleges and universities – you might even set up a program that works within the curriculum.  Draw attention to the internship using social media and less traditional job sites like craigslist that are trafficked by the young and eager.

It may be that to find candidates, you need only open up the hatches.  They’ll swim right in.