New and Innovative Methods of Recruiting

Recruitment has historically been a rather dry and predictable process. Although the field always had sound principles, recruiters have often missed out on great candidates because their hiring parameters were simply too rigid. Looking around more broadly often seemed too haphazard, so professionals continued relying on traditional methods for years.

But this is all changing with rapidly developing technologies, the inclusion of AI, and the increasing ability of recruiters to look at the hiring process from more of a “hybrid” perspective. While not relying on technology 100%, HR leaders are finding interesting ways to incorporate the human element into their online hiring methods.

Innovations for all industries 

Some of the innovations that are taking place can genuinely be considered new, and others are more of a two list on traditional methods. Let's take a closer look.

Get creative

Regardless of whether or not you work in a creative industry, you can use creativity in the hiring process to illustrate your company's brand and see who it resonates with among your potential candidates. Have you ever considered using clipart in your posts? You can illustrate your brand's message in multiple ways, from developing creative videos for candidates to finding standout methods of creating job posts and more. You can also do things like ask applicants to write essays explaining what your brand means to them.

If your company works in a creative field, you now have great opportunities to allow candidates to develop presentations and content in a test-style format. They can get different periods of time to respond to test content using predefined parameters. 

Gamify your application

Another Innova way to test candidates could be by gamifying your application. This might not be appropriate for every company - if you work in the defense industry, for example, then it might not be appropriate - but in many cases it could be a great way to get candidates to open up and share their personalities with you.

Gamification is a fun and extremely useful method that an increasing number of companies are utilizing in the hiring process. This can be an excellent way of assessing different candidates’ appropriateness for positions, and it can be used at different points in the hiring process. Examples include:

• Creating a video game that creates different scenarios and assesses how well candidates meet different kinds of challenges
• The virtual navigation of a simulated plan, where they are forced to make critical decisions about supply chains and maintenance
• For tech-related roles, companies are providing coding challenges as part of the selection process.

Gamification is also being used during later stages of the hiring process, such as onboarding. 

Hosting virtual events

We've all heard of job fares. What if you could take your job fare online? More and more companies are doing this. And you can organize events in any number of ways. You can use these events to:

• Educate potential candidates about open positions 
• Create a forum where candidates can ask questions and decide if your company is a good fit for them
• Create virtual presentations and webinars about particular aspects of your company
• Host virtual networking sessions between candidates and employees

Social media

We all know social media is popular for casual use, but people tend to overlook its wider capabilities with regard to practical applications. Recruiters can utilize social media to their advantage and reach potential candidates in a variety of ways. This includes conducting campaigns on LinkedIn, Facebook, and even X. As these channels are ones that many people look at on a daily basis anyway, recruiters can reach many more people than they would otherwise. 

Recruiters can highlight various aspects of the industry, including:

• Employee testimonials. Nothing gives potential employees a better sense of what it's like to work in a place than hearing detailed descriptions from actual employees. 
• Company culture. Using Instagram to show images or short video clips of company activity can bring the culture to life for potential employees. Creating a YouTube channel can also help bring company culture alive.
• Facebook discussion groups. Facebook pages are a great way to build natural discussions around different topics. They provide an opportunity to move away from prescribed mottos and mission statements, and open up particular topics that may be of interest to potential employees.

Utilize data-driven recruitment 

As much as creativity is helping build the industry these days, it shouldn't be a full-scale replacement for the use of  statistical indicators. Another nice thing about technology is that new tools are available to provide much-needed numbers on many industries. 

Many recruiters are using data-driven methods to determine the best candidates using demographic, professional history, and other relevant data. This helps clarify the most statistically likely candidates for different kinds of positions. Data analysis combined with creative recruitment tactics makes for the perfect combination of targeted methods.

The world is your oyster

The world of recruitment is opening up to become a more dynamic, effective, and interesting one than we could ever have imagined just a few years ago. Regardless of what industry you work in, you can figure out ways to reach the ideal candidates for you. And you can give them a strong sense of what working in your company will be like at the same time. Your task is to figure out which particular methods you should use.