Creativity is an important soft skill in a lot of professions, including recruitment.
With so many recruiters out there, you have to stand out if you want to attract talent, and getting creative is a powerful way to do that.
In a November 2022 Recruiting Daily article, Brianna Rooney, also known as “The Millionaire Recruiter,” wrote that “recruiters need to get creative to keep talent flowing.” Her suggestions for this included taking another look at some groups of candidates who are often overlooked in the hiring process, including parents, veterans, retirees, and people with disabilities — we would also add anyone over 45 to this list, as this age group, not just retirees, is often dismissed in hiring as well.
We reached out to Rooney to ask for some more ideas for how recruiters can get creative to keep talent flowing. Here’s what she had to say.
Make use of the creative parts of LinkedIn
“If you’re trying to find talent or attract it, it definitely has to start with your LinkedIn,” Rooney says. “I know that doesn’t sound very creative, but LinkedIn has a couple of creative aspects to it that people don’t use very much.”
Recruiters strictly using LinkedIn on desktop should know that there are a few features that only work on mobile, Rooney says. “For example, something that launched last year but that we still don’t see a lot of is the ability to make 15-second videos and use them as your LinkedIn profile picture.
“That’s a pretty powerful way to differentiate yourself and ‘Hey, this is who I am. This is what I do.’ Because, as a recruiter, if you don’t stand apart from all the noise, you’re never going to win.”
Another thing recruiters can do to cut through the noise, says Rooney, is put their profile in creator mode, which is a profile setting for people who create content regularly and want to grow an audience in their areas of interest.
Rooney explains: “This helps you appear in more searches which elevates your profile and make you more visible. And if candidates see that you’re the authority in an area that they’re interested in, they will come to you instead of you always having to be hunting.”
Video content and webinars
Video content is another way recruiters can get creative, Rooney says. “Creating something like a live webinar will set you apart. I think live webinars are a great tool. This is a trend right now that helps showcase who you are, and showcasing who you are has become a key element of successful branding.” Live webinars can also be reposted to YouTube and made accessible at any time after the fact.
Show who you really are as a person
Use your web and social content to show who you are, not just professionally but personally. Rooney says, “There’s a fine line now between business and personal and that line has gotten blurrier. There used to be this idea that in our work lives we have to be super professional and buttoned up, and I think there is much less of an appetite for that now. People want to work with real people.”
One way to do this is to create a one pager about your “why”
“You can write up a bit about yourself, like ‘why am I recruiter and what do my processes look like?’ This is a really cool thing to have on your LinkedIn and website, saying ‘This is what I do, why I do it, and how.’
“For example, ‘I’m a recruiter because I decided that I really like matchmaking. I decided I wanted to be involved in the ROIs of companies. I wanted to help build them.’”
Look out for soft skills
Identifying soft skills in candidates is key. “I think now the trend is leaning toward different soft skills versus hard skills,” says Rooney. “Recruiters who can bring someone to a company that not only has the required hard skills, but whose soft skills they have also already identified will set themselves apart.”
Be clear about what you offer, particularly for Rec2Rec
Rooney points to the trend around “everyone calling themselves a ‘people first company.’
“Everyone says that,” she says. “We’re a people first company.” The phrase has become cliché. Rooney adds, “I think what recruiters are searching for is a little more transparency. If you put real information in your job description, like what KPIs people require, what kind of training you offer, what your onboarding looks like, that will go a long way. Recruiters, I think are the biggest sticklers for job descriptions because we’re the ones that build the job description. We don’t want to waste our time. We want to know what exactly we get and what you expect if us.”
Be specific in your employer branding
And make those things known in as many ways as you can.
“Promoting all of those things, whether it’s on the job description, in your marketing outreach, or your employer branding, is super important,” says Rooney.
“I’ve seen some really amazing career pages where they list exactly what’s expected of you in the interview process and in the onboarding process. The more thorough companies are with this, the better. When creating job decisions, I would link out to the company career page. People should have the option to very easily look at the team, the values, and all the things that make a company.
“Job descriptions should also list managers. Highlight the manager and link directly to their LinkedIn, or list that person’s three top values. If you involve them more, and people see that they are a good manager, that will attract people to this particular job.”
These are just some ways recruiters can get creative. You can probably come up with some of your own. Use your creativity.
