As the unemployment rate continues to drop, 2017 promises to be a very tough year in the war for talent. Here are the top ten reasons why the very best companies succeed in hiring top talent.

 

• Planning – Organizations that are geared towards hiring the best acknowledge that it takes time to attract, identify, and land great people. You can’t just start recruiting when you need someone to start. The best employers take a proactive approach to identifying the talent they will need and building the pipeline necessary to hire the best.

 

• They move quickly – Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. The best companies have a fast and smooth hiring process. They move from resume to phone interview then on to face to face and an offer very quickly. Fast hiring processes allow top performing companies to “swoop up” in demand talent before their competitors can make a decision.

 

• Incredible candidate experience – The best employers know that candidates are customers too. They treat their candidates like a high-value commodity. They are not like a cattle call. Providing great “candidate service” makes the candidates they are courting feel important.

 

• Outstanding employee experience – The best employers treat their employees like the critical asset they are—great benefits, plenty of free parking, aggressive pay, and great career growth. You can’t fake this one. Many companies pretend to treat their employees great and then wonder why they have trouble hiring. If you’re really treating your employees amazing, they will be referring people all the time.

 

• Humility – The most effective employers are humble. They acknowledge that great candidates have choices and work hard to earn the right to hire those people. Some companies are so arrogant that they expect people to all line up to work for them. Humility will drive a great employee and candidate experience. Don’t take the “you’re so lucky to work here attitude.”

 

• Promote great leaders and fire poor ones – Great leaders have top tier followers. The best companies aggressively look to give more responsibility to outstanding leaders and get rid of poor ones. By building a culture of inspirational leadership, these companies attract the best people.

 

• They build a hiring process that identifies people who are not looking – Headhunter secret #1: the best people are not looking for a job. By putting talent attraction strategies in place that target people who are not looking, they are able to fish from a pool of better people.

 

 

• Stellar employment brand – The best employers implement #2, #3, #4, #5, and #6 to bring together a stellar employment brand. They also invest time and energy in shouting it from the rooftop.

 

• A team approach to hiring – Partnering an inspiring manager with a great HR team and headhunters who really get it create a “dream team” approach to acquiring talent. The best companies know it’s not us vs them when it comes to external recruiters and internal talent acquisition.

 

• Leaders who take responsibility for hiring great people – The final tip from the most successful attractors of talent is that management takes responsibility for hiring the best. A relentless pursuit of great hires results in guess what? Great hires.

 

While this list may not be all inclusive, it represents the top ten success practices of companies that go above and beyond to hire the best talent.

 

Happy hunting in 2017!