It’s that time of the year where many businesses are looking to recruit new talent with many people changing jobs—just after the annual holiday and bonus. For many businesses, this transition period comes with a lot of expansion plans and a whole lot of newly vacated positions—leaving Human Resource managers with quite a lot of filling up to do.

With unemployment rates at an all-time low in the U.S. and many other countries, finding the right talent is becoming a much tedious task. According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, general employment is expected to increase at an annual rate of 0.7 per cent from 2016 to 2026—much faster than the previous decade.

This implies that for companies to find the best talent, they would need to put in more effort and cast their net wider than before. It would become even more difficult for smaller startup firm to be competitive in the talent market against bigger organizations when searching for that unique talent.

Here are some of the best way to help your organization find some great talent and remain competitive while at it:

Contracting a reputable talent outsourcing company

There’s a lot of great talent out there looking to switch careers and take on new challenges but finding them can be quite challenging. However, if you hire the services of a talent outsourcing company, especially one with a good reputation in your industry, you’re bound to get highly skilled workers.

These outsourcing firms have years of experience scouting and building a pool of talent that your business can leverage on. This is particularly important if you’re a startup company looking to hit the ground running with a group of talented individuals or even an enterprise business, looking to fill a crucial vacant role.

Seeking referrals

Sometimes, to find the talent you need, you can instead look inwards. Employees most often have a large network of people you can tap into.

According to a LinkedIn report, about 48 per cent of businesses admit that their top talent were employee referrals. This strategy is particularly useful if you’re either on a budget or have limited time to fill the role.

Posting on career sites and job boards

No matter how unsuccessful you’ve been in the past, online career sites and job boards are still very relevant in getting your job listing to as many people as possible.

However, to be successful with this, it is important to choose the right sites that suits your business needs as many of these job boards have a reputation for focusing on specific industries. About 43 per cent of job seekers crawl job boards for new positions, while 32 per cent use career pages instead, according to an index by Jobvite.

Leverage on social networking sites

Social media is increasingly becoming a hunting ground for talent with many companies building their brand online to attract highly skilled workers.

In fact, according to a survey by Jobvite, about 95 per cent of companies said they successfully hired candidates from LinkedIn, while 24 per cent credited Facebook and 16 per cent, Twitter. Also, social networking sites like LinkedIn and Twitter are a great way to build a sustainable and meaningful relationship with passive candidates.

Attending or organizing events and constantly networking

Job and career fairs are a great way to expand your talent pool and network with prospective employees. These events are a great way to not only meet with the right people in your industry but equally promote your business and organizational culture.

“You’ve got to cultivate your network so whenever you have a hire to be made, you can reach out to people who have worked with those types of folks before and fill that role very quickly.”

Gautam Gupta, co-founder of Naturebox

Becoming an employer of choice

Job seekers are easily drawn to a company that has a positive work culture and mission statement. Building a forward-thinking and lively company culture can attract candidates to you even without searching for them.

By focusing on your business’ core values, you are bound to find people who would key into your vision and core mission, said Manish Chandra, CEO of Poshmark.

Consistently communicating with candidates

One of the biggest turnoffs for most job seekers is an unresponsive company. While some companies have the courtesy of issuing an automatic reply to every job applicant, over 40 per cent of recruiters don’t respond at all.

Doing this leaves a bad impression on candidates and may affect the public view of your company. If a candidate proved to be unsuitable for a specific role but showed some potential, keep the channel of communication open with them as there might be a more fitting role down the line.

According to statistics, about 55 per cent of candidates said they already had a prior relationship or contact with a company before applying.

Make your current employees brand ambassadors

Leveraging on your current employees to attract potential employees can work quite a treat. Candidates like to know the calibre of talent who already work in your company and this can be highly beneficial in convincing highly skilled worker to join you.

After all, it is said that talent attracts talent. Making social media posts, video interviews, and employee testimonials can raise awareness about your company and help the wider audience get to know all about your brand. Employees can make great brand ambassadors and according to a Glassdoor report, 76 per cent of candidates want specific details on what makes a company a great place to work.

Expand your candidate pool to other regions

If you are still struggling to find talent in your locality, it is advisable to try expanding your job search area. With the pandemic changing how recruiters hire, hiring remotely has now opened a whole host of talent outside of your competitive job market. Don’t limit yourself to your region as you might miss out on highly skilled talent in other cities or even countries.

“I have on my team a mother who has to work from home because she has a child with special needs, and she has to be home with him. Normally someone like that wouldn’t have the opportunity to get back into the workforce, but thanks to the incredible tools we have … she is my right-hand woman.”

Randi Zuckerberg, CEO and founder of Zuckerberg Media