Corporate Recruiting: Strategies & Best Practices

Hiring the best talent requires conscious effort. And conscious attempt calls for a thoughtful recruiting strategy attuned to the company’s talent needs and that everyone on the hiring team is on board.

While the basics of corporate recruiting are similar to those of agency recruiting - defining roles, assessing applications, interviewing, and making offers - the former is a more personal, hands-on process that can enable higher-quality recruits who stay on longer.

Let us dive deep into the concept of corporate recruiting and how you can leverage it for talent acquisition.

What is corporate recruiting?

Corporate recruiting is how executives, department heads, and internal hiring managers work to identify and attract the right talent for their open positions.

They tend to work together to define hiring needs for the department and the company and may consider both internal and external candidates.

Corporate recruiting thus involves extensive commitment from the managerial team, right from defining the list of ideal qualities up to the final offer negotiation.

Benefits of corporate recruiting

As is clear from the definition, corporate recruiting directly involves the company’s hiring managers and department heads in the recruitment process.

This allows for a degree of personalized attention that far outstrips what a recruitment agency can manage. The benefits of that include:

1. Flexible hiring

With company representatives at the helm, position requirements can be modified as needed to reflect current needs. For instance, if it emerges during the recruitment process that a particular job requirement is vague or unnecessary, it can be modified.

2. Lower hiring costs

When companies choose to fill open positions with internal team efforts rather than paying a recruitment agency, they naturally save a lot of money.

3. Better-quality hires

Without the rush of quotas to fill, as is the case with agencies, the emphasis is on picking the best people, even if it requires waiting longer. Corporate recruiters are ready to play the long game if it means finding the best possible candidate for the role, which results in a greater overall quality of hires.

4. Smoother processes

When company managers are directly in charge of recruiting, they can coordinate internally and implement processes without having to explain things to an agency. This minimizes the risk of miscommunication and/or bottlenecks in the process.

5. Better brand representation

Internal managers will understand the company’s values and work culture like no one else. Candidates who speak to them directly will thus get a clear picture of what it is like to work at the company rather than the standard responses that a recruiting agency would give. Corporate recruiting thus enables the brand to be represented accurately to the outside world - which also serves to attract the candidates best suited to the brand culture.

6. Better candidate communication

With corporate recruitment, there are no middlemen between the candidate and the company. The company representatives can thus directly handle queries and explain processes, which makes for greater clarity than if an agency were to do the same. It also creates a more personal connection with the company, which helps candidates feel more welcome right from the get-go.

Innovative corporate recruiting strategies to copy

Corporate recruiting involves a combination of dedication and out-of-the-box thinking. There is no doubt that technology has made it easier than ever to promote your job openings and reach a larger pool of talent.

However, to drive excitement about the role and your company and to connect with qualified candidates, you must gain a competitive edge, and you can do so by following these strategies:

1. Write an engaging job description

That is right! If your job descriptions are full of jargon and generic content, candidates would not be interested.

Work with an expert copywriter to craft compelling descriptions that capture the essence of the job and demonstrate what the candidate will gain from taking it up.

Talk about what the company does. Describe your hiring process in brief. Mention the must-have and good-to-have requirements clearly, along with the benefits and perks you will give.

Make sure your job description does not like a selection criterion. As always, be sure to check it for SEO. Use keywords in the title and copy that relevant candidates might be searching for.

If your job postings are not high up in search engine rankings, they will not be noticed - no matter how well-written they are!

2. Market as aggressively as you can

Putting up a job vacancy on your careers page and waiting for applications to roll in will not cut it anymore. You have to ensure you are promoting it aggressively - on social media, through referrals, by running paid ads on Google, and so on.

Marketing is key. You will want the world to know that you are hiring, and you want them to care enough to apply. That calls for strategic recruitment marketing to appeal to the candidate pool you are targeting.

Do the basics, such as creating a recruitment landing page and using the right keywords in the copy, but also create and disseminate marketing materials specifically for the job at hand.

Host a Q&A with your current employees about what they love at your workplace, or answer common questions about the job or the hiring process in the form of a fun video.

You could also boost interest by hosting an employee referral program or engaging interested candidates with a social media contest. You can share paid job postings on social media for a wider reach.

Even if the people not interested in the role you are hiring see the ad, they may know someone who is looking for a job.

3. Diversify your online talent sourcing channels

Most recruiters have their fixed, go-to channels to source candidates. LinkedIn comes at the top, followed by Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Then there are popular job boards like Monster and Indeed. But why stop there? Expand your sourcing strategies.

You can, for instance, tap into niche platforms for hiring for specific job categories. For instance, GitHub is suitable for connecting with potential developer employees. Behance is ideal for finding artists and designers.

Candidates could be more receptive to receiving messages on less conventional websites or platforms. Having a presence there can build solid fodder for custom outreach.

4. Attend industry-related meetups

Now that events are happening offline, you could identify non-recruiting meetups to meet motivated professionals eager to advance in their fields. Of course, job fairs are helpful in finding qualified talent. But there are other industry-specific seminars from which you can source candidates.

For instance, if you are looking to hire a software engineer, find an association or a local group focused on software development and attend their meetings. Plus, this will enable you to form stronger, more personal relationships with the candidates early on.

5. Conduct pre-employment assessments

Add extra credence to your corporate recruitment process by reassuring candidates the way they are getting selected is fair and square.

Be it technical ability, leadership potential, communication skills or general aptitude, you can conduct numerous tests to see how well an individual will meet your requirements and what kind of training you might have to provide them in the future. With Adaface’s help, optimize the screening process by 80% or more and filter candidates who perform well.

Corporate recruiting best practices

Hiring for roles can quickly become overwhelming for a company, especially since the managers need to do it in conjunction with their daily job needs. We recommend some best practices for easing the process while ensuring that every candidate gets due consideration:

1. Get everyone involved

There are multiple stakeholders involved in corporate recruitment, all of whom need to be on the same page. Ensure that everyone gets a say on what they need in a new candidate, and have frequent check-ins so that everyone feels like they are a part of the journey. This also includes providing them with targeting training on the recruitment tools you are using - not everyone is equally digitally savvy, so this is important.

2. Engage in social recruiting

This is a notch above recruitment marketing and involves directly reaching out to prospects via social media to demonstrate your interest in them and to answer any questions they might have. You could connect them to someone on the team for an icebreaker chat or share personalized Q&A content. Be sure to focus on content that addresses the candidate’s actual needs and sparks their interest.

3. Simplify your hiring process

No candidate likes to be put through multiple rounds of complex tests coupled with vague communications. Make your hiring process as simple as possible by sticking to the basics and communicating them clearly.

Ensure that none of the tests/interviews are too lengthy, and test only the skills that you need for the job - trick questions or unstructured interviews are not good measures of competency!

4. Have a strong recruiting team

This is a prerequisite for corporate recruitment and will usually involve having a mix of generalist recruiters, coordinators, employer brand managers, and so on. Assess your current recruitment team’s capabilities and give them the resources they need to do an efficient job, including hiring new people as necessary.

5. Have an Applicant Tracking System

There are several high-quality Applicant Tracking System (ATS) options out there to streamline each stage of the recruitment process and keep all candidate data on file.

This is also an excellent way to sift through applications and find matches with other openings you currently have, thus allowing you to hold on to talented people who have already shown an interest in your company.

Over to you

In conclusion, corporate recruitment is a comprehensive process that requires forethought, planning, and flexibility to be successful. Candidates are more particular than ever about where they work, which is why attracting the right people through the right skill-testing processes is vital. If your senior team has the time and interest, therefore, consider going the corporate recruitment route for your next hiring session. It may be an investment, but it’s hugely worth it.