The talent acquisition process is one of the most important parts of running a successful tech company. However the HR Director for PERQ, Julie McCorkle, knows it isn’t always easy. “Finding candidates that encompass the right cultural characteristics and have the technical skills can be tricky…The tech talent marketplace is also very competitive right now, so we must constantly be on top of our game.”

In order to ensure that you are getting the right person, it’s good to remember that hiring is a process—one that can take some time (even in tech!). That’s why it’s good to know what strategies are working for others, so you can test and apply them in your hiring practice.

What is Talent Acquisition?

The talent acquisition process goes beyond hiring someone to simply fill a void. It’s the process of finding the right person with the right talents who fits into your company’s culture like a glove.

“It’s the best job in the world and a very challenging job,” said Genesys’ Trisha Borme. “We have an opportunity to partner with smart leaders and help them build their diverse teams. It’s a great feeling knowing you have hired someone to help the business move to the next level and be a part of an individual’s career journey. Finding the perfect match is extremely challenging and exciting.”

Recruitment skills and talent acquisition skills are also about how your talent acquisition leader recognizes candidates who share core company values. Talent management is the most important factor in helping your company grow–without it you won’t get the cohesive team with shared values you need to help your tech company innovate.

4 Innovative Talent Acquisition Strategy Examples

1. Recognize Your Business Goals

Do you know what your current business goals are? How about in 5 years? Fullstack COO Dawn Lively elaborates, “Having talent acquisition strategies is about having your roles defined as well as your roadmap of based on our growth … What roles are you looking to fill this year, next year, the year beyond? What are the hard skills and the soft skills that you need for those people?” By focusing your search on not only the people who know you need now, but also in the long term is one of the best talent acquisition strategies.

2. Shared values lead to shared success

Finding the people who are going to fit into your team from day one can be tricky, but it was a cornerstone of talent acquisition strategies of 2018, and is the talent acquisition strategy of 2019. Nicole Bickett, VP of People and Administration at Springbuk, asserts that finding people with shared values is the best talent acquisition strategy to have in your talent acquisition strategy framework. “The number one tip for acquiring the right talent for your organization is to be sure they align with your core values. This requires companies to have these values clearly defined and train hiring managers on how to assess these qualities in addition to the experience they are looking for in the role.” It takes some pretty deep introspection to nail these core values down, but it is one of the key talent acquisition process steps.

Dennis Nash of Witkemper Insurance Group emphasized that part of a business’ goals for growth should be understanding what employees want and expect, too. After all, sharing goes both ways! “More than ever, employees are demanding a wider variety of benefit offerings from their employer,” Nash said. “Consequently, many employers have increased their benefits package to meet those needs by including not only health and wellness benefits, but also including partners and family in the benefits, providing retirement plans, student loan relief from the employer, and more.”

3. Look at who you hired before

Recruiting isn’t easy, but if you’re at the point where you are hiring new team members, then you must be doing something right. You’ve already got talented people so use them to figure out where to get more. This is one of the more innovative talent acquisition strategies because not many people think to look from within. Find out where they looked for jobs and go from there, Jaqueline Cooley who leads HR and talent acquisition at DriverReach has this advice, “So first you figure out where they hang out online and then you go find them. And that sounds really simplistic, but as long as everything that you’re saying matches up with the brand that you’re portraying for your company online, then you’re going to have some success.” Which leads us to the next piece of advice that can even be a global talent acquisition strategy.

4. Be authentic

When thinking about hiring a new recruit you need to remember that, as Jaqueline Cooley mentioned, what you say about your company in an interview or job posting needs to match your brand messaging 100%. Your candidates will do their research and if it doesn’t match up, there is a good chance that they are going to go elsewhere. One idea that’s helped me is to go through all of your branded marketing to make sure it lines up with what you say in conversation.

And the thing is, you don’t have to choose just one of these strategies either. The more you test and combine these, the more likely you’ll find the talent you need and a team member that grooves with everyone else.

How to Hire the Right Talent for Your Company

While every company is going to have a different talent acquisition framework that meets its specific talent acquisition goals and objectives, it’s important that your recruiting team has talent acquisition policies in place that meets the company’s goals, shares its key values, and remains true to itself. Take some time to formally develop your company’s values and discuss what kind of teammate your company needs in order to find the right fit. Your next rockstar employee could be right around the corner.