7 Best Practices for Corporate Recruiting

Large corporate organizations are always looking for new talent. Between new teams being developed and employees retiring or leaving for other opportunities, there is always a need for recruiting in the corporate world.

In large corporate organizations, teams can be dozens or even hundreds of people, but each hire is still just as important as it is for smaller teams. You need to put the right amount of attention into each open position to ensure the right candidate is hired.

However, with so many wheels turning at once, this can quickly become overwhelming. Thus, when recruiting for a corporate company, having the right systems and processes in place can make all the difference. Here are some of our best tips for succeeding in corporate recruiting.

1. Build a strong recruiting team

It’s impossible to handle recruiting for a corporate organization as just one person. You’ll need a strong recruiting team behind you to help support your hiring initiatives. However, large organizations usually require having specialists on their teams. This means you need to put particular stress on hiring the right individuals.

Corporate organizations often have different functions on their recruiting teams. Beside general recruiters, these might be recruitment coordinators, employer branding specialists, sourcers, or recruitment marketing experts to make finding and acquiring new talent more efficient.

Assess your unique needs and decide if any of these roles will improve the performance of your team. You also want to ensure you’re giving your team the tools and resources they need to complete the best work possible. Encourage good communication and make sure your recruiters are properly managing their time––especially if you’re using full cycle recruiting.

Continue to readdress your recruiting team as your organization grows. Add new team members whenever it feels necessary and focus on keeping your team dynamic. When you’re proactive about maintaining a strong recruiting team, you can stay ahead of the hiring game.

2. Create a collaborative hiring process

An efficient hiring process involves many different individuals. From your recruiters to your team decision-makers, getting the right person in your open position involves a number of opinions and ideas. To prevent roadblocks from occurring, you need a collaborative hiring process.

In corporate recruiting in particular, recruiters might not be fully aware of the needs of an open role. It’s important that each individual involved in the hiring process knows what to look for in candidates they connect with. Clear communication between hiring managers and hiring teams before, during, and even after the hiring process is important.

Develop a timeline for hiring, complete with corresponding tasks and opportunities to provide feedback to each person involved in the hiring process. Focus on creating a system that keeps employees engaged and ensures everyone is on the same page.

Also, be sure to include candidates in the feedback process. Whether an individual is hired or not, ask them for their opinion on your hiring process and the people they talked to while interviewing. Use their feedback to refine your strategy and continue to improve.

3. Invest in candidate matching

Matching the right candidate to the appropriate open position is crucial for creating a strong workforce. When you’re a corporate organization, you could have a pool of thousands of applicants from people who had applied to jobs over the years. Some of those applicants could be perfect for your new open positions.

A candidate matching and applicant tracking system can help you keep a log of all your past applicants. When you have an open position, you can scour through your ATS and see if any past applicants fit what you’re looking for.

Having an ATS and candidate matching system also ensures you’re considering applicants for other open positions you have. Because corporate organizations often have similar open positions for similar roles, using a central location to store applicant information can allow you to consider candidates for more than just the position they’ve applied to.

Make the most of your ATS by adding notes, ratings, and other factors that can make searching for candidates easier––especially if a candidate made it through multiple interview rounds. Keeping a well-organized system can allow you to find past candidates and applicants quickly and easily, making your recruitment process more efficient.

4. Adopt marketing techniques for recruitment

Techniques like search engine optimization, content marketing, and social media marketing are all common practices when it comes to targeting and attracting company customers––but what about for attracting job applicants? Developing and executing a recruitment marketing strategy can be a great investment for corporate organizations.

Create a careers page that is optimized for keywords related to your open positions and company. Run paid ad campaigns to bring more applicants to your page and retargeting campaigns to bring potential candidates back to our site. Create resources, such as blog posts or other content, that potential candidates might want to engage with.

Recruitment marketing techniques are particularly important if you have multiple office locations or if you hire remote employees. Building your company image up to be a leader in your space can create an environment that candidates will want to work in––meaning you’ll see more applicants and they’ll be of higher quality.

However, when selecting marketing tactics to implement, be sure they fit with the candidates you’re trying to attract. Don’t waste your time creating social media profiles if you’re connecting with older generations. Instead, focus on creating marketing that speaks to the kinds of applicants you’re looking for.

5. Embrace digital transformation

Technology is developing rapidly, and it’s changing industries and business just as quickly. The organizations that choose to embrace how tech is transforming their companies tend to see better results––especially when it comes to recruitment. Embracing digital transformation and creating a high-end tech stack can make corporate recruiting much more efficient.

In the recruiting world, technology makes it easier to find, connect, and hire better talent. New tools that feature AI or machine learning can give you new insights into the recruitment process, allowing you to refine your strategy and make better connections with candidates and job prospects.

However, implementing technology for the sake of entering the digital age can actually hold you back. When you’re selecting tools to use, you want to be sure they align with your team needs and enhance the processes you currently have in place. Technology should make your systems more efficient––not take over the process entirely.

You also need to be sure your team receives the proper training on your new tools and technology. Provide the proper education and resources to team members so they can make the most out of the tools you’ve selected, ensuring everyone is working in the most productive way possible.

6. Create a social recruitment plan

When high-quality candidates look for companies to apply to, they’ll try to envision themselves in that office. This can be incredibly difficult to do if they don’t know anything about it. To give candidates an idea of what your office is like behind the scenes, you need to give them a taste of your company’s personality. A great way to do this is through social recruiting.

A social recruitment plan utilizes social media to make real connections with job prospects and potential job candidates. While similar to social media marketing for recruitment, a social recruitment plan should focus on providing value to potential applicants through building strong relationships.

There are a number of ways you can do this, such as showing off your team members, hosting Q&As through a live video, or just starting conversations with your audience. However, when creating a social recruitment plan, you want to provide strong content that fits a real need. Address common questions, provide helpful advice, or otherwise listen to your prospects to determine what information they might be looking for.

You can also get your employees involved in your social recruitment plan. When the rest of your team––especially those outside of the recruitment department––get involved in conversations or share your content, you can give prospects a better idea of who is working at your organization.

7. Develop a referral system

No one knows what kind of employees your corporate organization needs more than your current team, so why not have a referral system? By encouraging your existing team members to connect recruiters with friends, family, old coworkers, or other individuals they think would fit, you can get everyone involved in the hiring process and make more direct connections with high-quality candidates.

While you can simply ask current employees to give you the contact information for individuals they think might want to work with you, you can see better results if you provide an incentive. Many companies, especially corporate organizations, offer employees bonuses if someone they refer is ultimately hired.

In order to get your referral system to work efficiently, you need to keep your organization in the loop of what you’re looking for. This can be difficult in big, corporate companies because teams are often very large. However, events like referral parties or simple promotion campaigns can get employees engaged.

Don’t let your referral program just fall to the back. Keep it active and exciting by offering new incentives or hosting new events. Measure your results, such as how many referred individuals actually get hired, so you can see if you’re connecting with the right people.

When designing your employee referral program, think beyond your current employees. Former employees, customers or partners can also be great referrers.

Conclusion

Even in incredibly large organizations, each team member matters. As a corporate recruiter, it’s your job to make sure you’re getting the right people in the appropriate open positions.

Without the right processes and systems in place, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed by corporate recruiting. However, when you implement these seven best practices, you can create an efficient recruitment process that connects and engages with high-quality candidates.

Here’s a recap of our seven best practices for corporate recruiting:

1. Build a recruiting team capable of implementing new ideas, plans, and processes for optimizing hiring.
2. Create a collaborative hiring process that keeps everyone involved engaged.
3. Invest in candidate matching and an ATS that keeps your candidates efficiently organized.
4. Use classic marketing techniques to reach new candidates and job prospects.
5. Embrace digital transformation by implementing new forms of technology.
6. Use social recruitment to build genuine relationships with the candidates you want to apply.
7. Develop a referral system to get current employees actively participating in the recruitment process.

Get creative about the way you find and connect with job prospects. Even though you’re in a corporate environment, look for new and exciting ways to give your recruitment process a refresh. These seven best practices are just the start!