1. Brand your recruitment efforts

Building a strong brand around your recruiting efforts increases recognition of your company. It also helps prospects decide if your company’s identity, values and opportunities align with what they want. Branding involves all aspects of how you present yourself, including your phrasing, tone, images, colors and interactions. Being consistent and ensuring those attributes represent your company well can help with recruiting.

2. Identify hard-to-fill positions

You can likely think of at least a few roles within your organization that are hard-to-fill positions. But digging deep into the jobs that are hard to fill can help you come up with a plan.

Review each position within your company to identify the ones that are consistently difficult to fill. This might be entry-level jobs with lower salaries or highly technical positions that require skills, certifications or training that not many people have. It could also be jobs with dangerous working conditions or not-so-glamorous duties.

Evaluate those jobs to figure out what makes them difficult to fill. This can help you identify ways to make hiring for them a little easier. For entry-level jobs with high turnover, you might bump up the starting pay or offer a longevity bonus for candidates who stay long-term. If you have positions with dangerous working conditions, you might increase your safety protocols, provide more training or shorten the working hours.

3. Refine your job descriptions

Your job description is often the first impression a prospective candidate has of your company. Making it engaging and attention-grabbing can help get more eyes on the opening and encourage more people to apply. The goal is to sell the opportunity and set yourself apart from other companies hiring for similar positions.

Start by reviewing the details to make sure the job description is accurate. You want it to be truthful and detailed so applicants can see if it’s an opportunity that fits what they want and need.

Then, you can spice up the wording to make it more appealing. Begin with a hook that makes people want to read the description. Use phrasing that helps express your brand and gets job seekers excited about the opening. Sell your company and the opportunity to get prospects excited. Let them know about your mission and company culture. Describe all those special benefits and perks you offer.Consider listing a salary or salary range for full transparency.

4. Build a talent pool

Don’t wait until you need a candidate for the jobs that are hard to fill. Proactively recruiting candidates helps you build a diverse talent pool so you’re ready when a vacancy opens. It involves nurturing relationships with prospective candidates to keep them interested until you have an opportunity that fits their skills and qualifications. Doing this can give you a good starting point when you need to hire and could shorten the hiring process.

5. Consider flexible options

Offering flexible working options could make the position more appealing to job seekers who have the skills you need. Flexibility isn’t an option for all positions, but many companies can provide some leniency in details such as work location and scheduling. You might offer a remote or hybrid work option, for example. This not only appeals to people who want to work from home, but it can also let you expand your candidate search outside your geographical location.

Offering leeway in when the employee works can also attract more applicants. It could help applicants work around their other commitments or work a schedule that’s more appealing to them. If you need coverage during a core part of the day, you might provide some flexibility within a certain window so employees have some control over their shifts.

6. Revisit your benefits package

Improving your benefits package is another way to stay competitive and attract more applicants. Evaluate the compensation to ensure it’s competitive for the role and duties. Look at average salaries for similar positions nationwide, in your area and among your competitors. Increasing the salary or offering monetary bonuses can help you appeal to candidates with the right skills.

If you can’t offer a higher salary, you might consider providing other benefits. You could increase the amount of paid time off the chosen candidate receives. Extra perks such as commuter benefits, tuition reimbursement, gym memberships, free meals and a pet-friendly work environment can also set you apart from other employers. Getting feedback on your benefits from current employees can help you improve the package overall.

7. Diversify your candidate sourcing

If you’re using a single source to find candidates for hard-to-fill positions, you could be limiting yourself. Incorporating several methods can help you reach job seekers you might otherwise miss. Some options include:

• Job boards
• Professional associations related to the industry
• Networking
• Job fairs
• Collaborations with local colleges and universities
• Social media promotion
• Paid ads
• Previous employees
• Online groups
• Job postings in windows

8. Create an employee referral program

Your employees could be the source of your next successful candidate for one of those hard-to-fill positions. Because they’re familiar with your company culture and expectations, your employees might have friends or acquaintances they think would fit well.

Creating an employee referral program sweetens the deal for your staff by giving them an incentive to recommend people. Getting rewarded for referrals can improve employee happiness and help keep your current team around so you don’t have to fill their positions anytime soon.

9. Promote from within

Your current workforce could be a good source of candidates for jobs that are hard to fill. Those candidates are already familiar with your company and know how things work. You might be able to do a little bit of training or pay for the employee to earn a required certification to move them into the new position.

Promoting from within can shorten the hiring time. It can also keep employee satisfaction high because your staff sees that they have advancement opportunities. While this strategy still leaves a vacancy on the team, the promoted employee’s old position might be easier to fill with an external candidate.

10. Improve the overall opportunity

You can help draw in more candidates simply by making your organization a better place to work. Many candidates want a company with a positive work environment and an employee-focused mentality.

Work on improving employee satisfaction for your current staff. Keeping them happy can turn them into advocates for your company and improve your overall reputation in the community. That, in turn, can encourage more people to apply for your vacancies, even the hard-to-fill positions.

11. Streamline the application process

Making it as simple as possible to apply for the opening could increase your number of applicants. No matter how great the opportunity is, many job seekers won’t go through an overly complicated process.

Choose a mobile-friendly application platform to accommodate applicants using different types of devices. Allow applicants to import information from their resumes so they don’t have to enter everything manually. Avoid extra steps that aren’t necessary for the process.

12. Listen to feedback

Being receptive to feedback can help you uncover ways that improve your hiring processes. Find out why employees leave the hard-to-fill positions to see if you can enhance those roles. For instance, you might find out that employees feel the pay isn’t high enough for the expectations or conditions of the role.

Job candidates who don’t complete the interview process or turn down job offers for those roles could be a source of feedback on why the opportunity wasn’t appealing. You can’t always change those things, but you might be able to overcome some of the objections or make the jobs a little more appealing by listening to the feedback.