Hey folks!
We don’t know who needs to hear this but – “eeenie, meenie, minie, mo” – is NOT an effective strategy for selecting the right individual for the job. Looking for candidates after a job post goes up is NOT the right strategy for finding quality prospects. And, operating in this climate of the “Great Resignation” without a sustainable plan to keep your employees happy, will NOT prevent them from quitting!
Recruitment is like matchmaking. You find the right employee for the right role – and voila – it’s a match made in heaven. When the opposite happens, it can cost an employer up to two times the employee’s annual salary to recruit and train a new worker. Recruitment is fast becoming heavily dependent on solid relationships more than ever before, and companies must formalize this process to keep up in the global rat race for top talent.
Want to up your game and learn the ins and outs of relationship-based recruiting (RBR)? Here’s everything you need to know to stay in the game.
What is Relationship-Based Recruiting?
RBR is a strategy that involves building a pipeline of qualified prospects and maintaining a relationship with them. When a job vacancy opens up for which a couple of your prospects are qualified, companies throw out the opportunity, pick from their hat of suitable candidates and boom – the role is filled without a frantic manhunt.
6 steps to successful RBR
Step 1: Create a Pipeline
Now that you know how RBR works, it’s time to create a well-calibrated pipeline. They say data is the new gold and that it’s more valuable than oil. But do you know what else is a valuable commodity? Labour. Roughly 49 million people quit their jobs last year in the US; cloud-based, AI, and other tech industries are experiencing explosive growth rates, and the ratio of jobs exceeds the number of folks filling them.
If there was ever a time that you needed a well-calibrated pipeline of prospects with interests in areas that your search is focused on, it’s now. Finding Black talent or any other talent begins in your backyard. Look at your friends’ list, network, former employees, conferences, events, and user groups. Suppose you’re a corporate partner or executive looking to recruit Black talent in North America. In that case, obsidi.com is an all-in-one marketplace with 11k+ Black tech and business professionals connecting and leveraging new opportunities daily. If you don’t know where or how to recruit Black talent to build your pipeline, start at Obsidi and tap into your network before shopping online.
Step 2: Build Relationships
Matchmaking or relationship-based recruitment only works if all parties invest in the relationship. After creating a pipeline, you have to nurture and maintain it. Many recruiters and companies undervalue the importance of having a “face.” People want to work for “real people,” not brand names or logos. To be good at RBR requires actively pulling up to communities, circles, groups, networks, and events – wherever employed and unemployed top talents are hanging out. On platforms like Obsidi, Black professionals in tech and business are constantly connecting and seeking new opportunities to level up their careers. It’s an ecosystem where you or someone from your company can actively put candidates on your radar or download their resumes for when the right opportunity comes.
Connect, start conversations, make introductions on LinkedIn join the interactions in our community chat at our Global Masterclass Series. If you’re constantly building rapport, the relationships will naturally grow, and folks will want to work with you. Waiting for a colleague to resign or for a vacancy to open up before you go on a cold talent hunt might leave you with the frustrations of a limited candidate pool, talent misfits and quantity over quality. If you stay ready, you’ll never have to get ready.
Step 3: Engage Your Talent
Now that we’re getting comfortable in our relationships let’s keep things festive through engagement. FYI, pulling up to social media platforms and community groups to throw up job posts to get a flood of top-tier applications is a little ambitious and ludicrous. After the pandemic, employees complain of not being engaged, and millions quit. Recruitment in the Black community starts with genuine and authent