Recruiting the perfect employees for an organization isn’t easy. Not only do you have to find someone who meets your qualification and skills requirement but you also need someone who can fit within the culture of your office comfortably. And of course, once you find them, you must learn how to keep each one of your employees happy which, again, is not the easiest thing to do but it’s not impossible either. It is essential for employers to know how to recruit employees correctly if you want your business to work like a well-oiled machine. Here are 6 tips for you that you should definitely take into consideration if you’re looking to enhance your recruitment process and build long term relationships with your employees.

Know What You Want, but Don’t Be Too Harsh

The first is to write down exactly what you’re looking for. And the next is to throw that idea in the trash. It’s not the best thing to have something so specific in mind when you’re looking for employees. Yes, a general idea of what you want is great, but don’t let that hold you back. If you think an employee could grow your organization and has a great attitude towards learning, it doesn’t hurt to give them a try.  Yes, certain jobs do require a very specific set of skills but most out there can be taught. A skilled employee with behavioral issues is going to be a big problem when they refuse to listen to orders. Have an outline of what you want and work around it to find the best employee for the position. Take the example of Tech in Asia, it works by hiring people as interns first and then they polish them and offer them a permanent job.

Candidate Pool

Posting an ad about a job will get you many responses but it is quite unlikely that most of those people will have what you’re looking for. Reach out to recruiters, university placement offices and such to narrow down your search while also giving you a large number of people to choose the perfect employee from. If you do want to go the more Ads route, LinkedIn is a great source. You sure must have heard about LinkedIn if you’ve been in the game long enough. It’s a professional platform where companies can find potential employees and contact them easily. You have their entire profile that really just acts like a resume, available to help you with the process. Professional association websites and magazines are another great way to advertise professionally.

Post at the Right Time

Yes, sometimes you need to recruit an employee urgently but for the most part, try to have it organized in a timely fashion. When you advertise is just as important as how and where you advertise. Advertising at around Thanksgiving, New Year’s, and Christmas is really not a good idea. All you’ll get are poor results. Apply during months where you have people graduating as it would again widen your candidate pool and give you a good chance at finding an employee that fits closest to your demands. Well, when the reality of having to pay back loans hit, you’ll see many graduates running for jobs. If you live in a country where Friday’s are the last working day, that’s probably when you should advertise. People that have jobs tend to look at advertisements on weekends so you can reach out to the most people.

But Wait, In-House Candidates?

Before we get too carried away with finding new employees, look into your own organization. Is there someone that may deserve a promotion? Promotions and raises, of course, positively boost the working environment tremendously and makes your staff feel accomplished and appreciated. This then motivates them to do even better. Looking at positions internally is perhaps the most beneficial as the employee will already know the work ethic of the organization, and how things work there. It’ll be much easier for the employee and the employer to adjust, and coworkers as well, since they are already accustomed to having them around. Interviewing potential candidates is a way to spread the word for your organization as well, but sometimes, it is better to find a player who’s already a part of the game.

Smartest One Wins

Now, this doesn’t mean that the candidate with the fanciest academic degree wins. The winning candidate should be an all-rounder that already has the qualities you are looking for. All you should have to do is refine them and build upon them. Starting from scratch with any candidate is going to waste a lot of your time, money and possibly effort as well. Find the “smartest” person for the job; the one who could perform the best. You can’t change people in general, so don’t expect them to change when you have an employer-employee relationship either. Yes, you can train them, but don’t waste your time trying to work a lost case. Internship programs can be launched for teaching candidates who may want to work for your organization, but as far as it goes for permanent employees, you must hire someone that won’t have to be coddled.

Pay the Highest

If you truly are looking for the best candidates, you must pay them the same as well. People care about money and for majority of us that is why we get jobs. The better you pay than your competition, the higher the standard of your candidate pool is going to be and that means better employees. Don’t go cheap here. Even if you do get lucky and find someone who isn’t being paid much, you can be sure that they’ll run the first chance they get and then you’d have to repeat this process all over again.  It will make them feel unappreciated and cost you way more in the long run when you have to wait months for another employee again. And if you can’t afford to pay them that much, there must be other privileges you offer that your competition doesn’t. This can affect your organization much more though, so I’d advise you to go with a better pay. Or a balance between the two works great as well. A little higher than average pay, and a few privileges. It makes both, you and the candidate happy and with maximum profit.

These are just a few tips that could help your organization grow, and create a professional, happy environment to work it. How happy your employees are does affect your reputation in the market so pay close attention to that.