Finding, attracting and hiring talent is the cornerstone of every successful business in existence. Without great people, you don’t have a great company; it really is that simple. The problem is, with the rapidly evolving technology of today’s world, organizations that aren’t focused specifically on hiring, are having trouble keeping up.
To help you focus on the channels that have the biggest impact, here are the best recruitment sources for hiring authorities in today’s modern employment market. 
Job Boards
Job boards are one of the easiest ways to expand your network’s reach. Monster, Indeed, and even Linkedin Jobs are all channels that have their own candidate databases and generate their own traffic. Using similar algorithm’s to search engines, they can match job seekers with open positions based on search criteria, and also matching hiring authorities with profiles of potential applicants.
Because of this, it’s important to use SEO best practices in your job titles and job descriptions. Make sure your job advertisement uses a clear job title and location, references the title several times throughout the body of the ad, and clearly outlines the skills, responsibilities and qualifications. The more detail you can provide, the better match you will find.
Using job boards is a great way to grow your candidate database as well. If you’re using a CRM, Applicant Tracking System (ATS), or career site, you should direct all applications to apply through your portal. This will allow you to have more control over the application process and candidate experience, and it also bulks up your database to make future hires easier.
Our favorite job boards are LinkedIn Jobs and Monster, with 80% of our external applications coming from LinkedIn Jobs.
Employee Referrals
Employee referrals are one of the best sources for hiring talent. Employees have a strong understanding of the day-to-day responsibilities of a job opening, and they know what kind of skills it takes to get the job done. Most employees have colleagues that they went to school with or worked with at previous companies who have very similar skill sets. And if they like your company enough to refer a friend, it also says a lot about your employee’s happiness at the org.
The key to employee referrals is having a clearly defined referral program in place. Do your employees know how to refer a friend or colleague for an open position? Are there any incentives for them to do so? Spend some time on the front end developing your employee referral program’s structure to ensure long term success.
Social Media
Social media is not just for connecting with friends, it’s becoming more involved in the business process from beginning to end: connecting with consumers, analyzing market data, and even to recruiting employees. Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter are great spots to begin your candidate searches. You can find people by job title, companies they work for, areas of expertise and location, shoot them a message about your opportunity and open the lines of communication for a potential hire.
Beyond sourcing candidates, you can also use social media to post jobs, screen candidates, participate in groups and communities, enlist employees as brand ambassadors and use paid advertising to promote your company and job openings.
Outside Recruiters
Companies often think an easy way to save money is to eliminate outside recruiting expenses, particularly in economic conditions where they are receiving hundreds of applications every day. They think to themselves, “Why should I use a recruiter if I’m getting a ton of applications?”
It’s a tempting cost-cutting method, definitely, but the true savings don’t add up. Companies often don’t factor indirect costs, such as manpower and lost revenue with an unfilled position over time, into the equation.
Recruiters help you fill vacancies faster, find A players for your open positions, and eliminate hours of reviewing, screening and interviewing time from your workload.
