If the above sounds familiar, you are not alone. Many industries are encountering shrinking skills pools as the best candidates gravitate toward companies with the strongest branding, most company perks and greatest public recognition. 

It’s a common feeling – booking out diaries for back-to-back interviews, only for each candidate to fall short of requirements. Yes, they look good on paper, but you can tell within five minutes of meeting them that they aren’t suited to the role.

The only way to break this trend is to go back to basics, review your recruitment strategy and investigate some of the new tactics proving successful for others. Here are three recruitment methods to consider.

(1) Social recruitment

If you’re not already using social platforms to recruit, why not? Networks like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are the perfect platforms for finding potential employees, sharing job openings, and developing relationships.

A CV will set out a person’s perceived skills, and a recruiter will wax lyrical about their candidate’s strengths, but social platforms add a new dimension to a person: personality. Searching through social platforms you can find and contact skilled workers and have a much better chance of ascertaining cultural fit and therefore reducing time wasted on blind interviews.

And, while a future recruit might not be actively searching a job site for new roles, you can be almost certain they will be a member of at least one social community. Being on social media, facilitating informal online conversations and demonstrating your company culture on a social platform, will mean you have a better chance of reaching your ideal employees and of them reaching out to you.

(2) Video recruitment

Screening candidates can be a time-consuming and demanding task. The hassle of having to schedule first-round interviews, the percentage of people that don’t show up and the wasted times in between are definitely negative factors. 

If you’re short of time and looking for a way to minimise the number of first-round face-to-face interviews you have to work through, then video recruitment might be the method for you. It can reduce recruitment time by up to 60 per cent as you can identify the best candidates in a fraction of the time. As a direct result, the cost per hire can be cut dramatically.

As with social recruitment, video recruitment does wonders for boosting a candidate’s experience, letting you communicate company branding prior to any formal interview taking place. Two-thirds of adults in the UK own a smart phone – and they’re spending two hours online on their device every day. Factor this in, you can see why video interviewing is also proving popular with candidates – it says something about you as an employer: that you are modern and moving with the times.

Read more about the recruitment space:

• Jobvite, the recruitment platform used by Twitter and Starbucks, opens UK office to tackle Europe
• Government plans to reform recruitment legislation and stop UK firms hiring only overseas workers
• How Hiring Hub is changing the recruitment process for British SMEs

(3) Online networking

Online networking is likely to be the lesser-known of these three approaches.

In a nutshell, online networking is using instant messaging to engage candidates. At its most involved, a company can create a fully-branded event microsite, list open positions and job descriptions, and invite candidates to register and attend online events to discuss the advertised roles. On an event date and time, interested parties login and join the live session during which they will be matched in one-on-one timed chats with your representatives.

Like video recruitment, online networking is brilliant for promoting your brand and it can reduce the number of hours you (or a candidate) spends travelling or talking to people who aren’t a good fit. Though, unlike video recruitment, you don’t get the chance to hear the candidate speak or visually judge their reactions.

Various surveys have reported companies are struggling to find the talent needed for their businesses; unless tactics change, this situation won’t improve. Adaptation is needed in order to streamline the process, locate and attract the right recruits. There are numerous methods to employ, but social, video and networking recruitment are good places to start.

Simon Hughes is co-founder of Jobatar.