To design an effective recruitment strategy, organizations must define the ideal candidate for open positions before advertising. This involves creating a candidate profile based on assessments of top performers, interviews, and prioritizing key traits that contribute to success. Understanding candidates' preferences and behaviors in their search for jobs is also crucial to attract the right talent.

2. Design your recruitment strategy with the outcome in mind. Can
you define the ideal candidate for your open position? If not, you
need to do that initial work before you build your recruitment
strategy. Without an ideal candidate profile, you are missing out
on an opportunity to attract the best candidates in your
advertising content.

3. A job description describes the duties of the job, the daily tasks,
and other details about the position, and the competencies that
candidates need to have. A job description describes the position,
while an ideal candidate profile focuses on attracting the best
candidates by getting them excited about the company, the
opportunity and the qualities needed for success in the position.

4. There are many different
ways to build your ideal
candidate profile but here
are a few practical methods
that we have used
effectively:

5. 1. Assess your top
performers in the open
position by using a
comprehensive selection
assessment like Prevue
Assessment, Profile XT
or another talent
assessment of your
choice. The talent
assessment you use
should offer valid and
reliable assessments of
cognitive abilities,
behavioural or
personality
characteristics, and
work motivations or
passions.

6. Your ideal candidate profile will identify the qualities that your
top performers have in common. Here is an example of an ideal
candidate profile using this method: ability to solve complex
problems, excellent communicator, assertive, outgoing, decisive,
independent, creative and enterprising.

7. 2. Interview your top performers in the open position identifying
the qualities that they have in common. Here is an example of an
ideal candidate profile using this method: smart, open-minded,
innovative, entrepreneurial, productive and engaging.

8. 3. Use a sorting and prioritizing method like Focus Your Hiring
Interview to identify the qualities that you are looking for in
your ideal candidate. This method requires you to sort and
prioritize qualities related to people smarts, solutions, business,
expertise and human factors (i.e. behavioural traits).

9. You are simply
identifying the
qualities that you
know will drive
success in the
position. Here is an
example of an ideal
candidate profile
using this method:
Open-mindedness,
Courage, Integrity,
Humility,
Emotional
intelligence and
Leadership.

10. Recruitment and Staffing Solution USA
Without researching how to reach your ideal candidate, the above
methods will be much less effective. Try to get into your
candidate’s head: What are they looking at online? What social
media do they use most? What groups are they a part of?

11. What professional organizations or networking sites are they
participating in? Most importantly, how do they prefer to
communicate? Now you have a few different ways of creating
your ideal candidate profile. Advertise this profile to bring your
ideal candidates into your recruiting and selection process.