In 2010, many companies are starting to dip their toes into the hiring pool again. How can employers enhance their current recruiting strategy? Here are three high impact, cost effective ideas.

Get to know your candidates with open houses (and get them to know you!)

Open houses offer candidates a great opportunity to learn about the company’s business and culture, and allow you to assess whether they will be a good fit for your organization. They also allow you to see hundreds of candidates in a short amount of time –saving time and money.

To get the most out of your open house and help build your employer brand, try these tactics:

* Create a presentation on the company for candidates as they wait for their interview
* Have team members meet and interact with candidates
* Give group tours of the workplace


Tap into the power of social networking

Did you know? More than 70% of undergraduate students and IT pros in North America maintain a social networking profile.

Using social networks allow you to target specific demographics by tapping into industry-specific groups. For example, with LinkedIn, individuals select their industry type when creating their profile. This provides HR with a list of potential candidates right off the bat, and gives access to employment history.

While using social networking for recruiting purposes is a hot topic, executives are often hesitant to fund a comprehensive social network recruiting strategy. We’ve found some great advice for HR managers on making a compelling business case from ere.net, a leading source on recruiting. Read the story here - The Many Benefits of Social Network Recruiting: Making a Compelling Business Case

Give your employee referral program a boost

There are two main reasons why employee referrals are and will continue to be the most effective way to recruit A Players. Number one, candidates referred by your employees are highly qualified; and number two, candidates referred by your employees come at a lower cost per hire.

To give your employee referral program a boost, create a reward program that incents employees to actively refer talent. Through experience we have found that the best way to get employees involved in the recruiting effort is to offer employees PIC rewards for each referral. PIC stands for positive, immediate and certain.

Why? Employees have no control over whether their referral gets hired and therefore, employers need to reward them for what employees do have control over – the initial referral. By offering them a reward for actively referring a candidate you ensure positive repeat behavior. Worried that employees will start referring any candidate in order to get a reward? The fact is, by referring a potential candidate, employees are essentially putting their stamp of approval on the individual. They are personally invested and are therefore less likely to refer unqualified candidates.

For more recruiting best practices read our blog post Rock Star Recruiting.