3 Strategies for Filling Specialized, Knowledge-Based Roles

Hand holding a phone with a job application on the screen

If talent professionals have learned anything over the years, it’s the value of creative thinking. They’ve had to re-imagine the candidate experience from top to bottom, including recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, and more. Much of that work was on the fly, out of sheer necessity.

As more and more companies ramp up their hiring, that creativity can be harnessed in more thoughtful ways to optimize the overall talent acquisition process. That’s especially important in today’s labor market, where jobs are plentiful, and talent is scarce.

Our new e-book How to Hire Top Talent Quickly provides key insights and actionable tips for any talent team that’s struggling to hire in the current labor shortage. The e-book also explores five common scenarios facing today’s talent teams with expert guidance to help navigate these dire circumstances.

We’ve already shared our first scenario, hiring for a high volume of positions, and today we’re going to go over how to attract top talent for roles that require special skills or experience with our next recruiter, Celeste.

Hiring challenge: high-skill and knowledge-based roles

Celeste is a talent manager for a financial services firm. The company was forced to downsize last year, and now they’re ready to start rebuilding their staff. She needs to find and hire qualified candidates for several highly skilled roles including brokers, advisors, and investment bankers.

Positions that require special licensing or certifications can be difficult to fill, especially when candidates are in short supply. Fortunately, Celeste has a game plan to grab job seekers’ attention, screen more efficiently, and fill those specialized roles as quickly as possible.

Game plan for specialized hiring

1. Invest in your employer brand

It’s almost impossible to overstate the value of a strong employer brand. Companies with a stellar employer brand spend less time and money on recruiting because they don’t have to work as hard to attract high-quality talent. According to LinkedIn research, 75% of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before they apply for a job. And in a tight job market, your employer brand could be the key to enticing top candidates who might not otherwise consider applying.

Building and maintaining your employer brand is no small task, but it can provide major benefits over the long term. Your career site is a great place to start! A good career site is more than just a collection of job listings — it’s a powerful recruiting tool and the face of your company. Jobvite’s career sites tool puts your employer brand front-and-center to capture the attention of top candidates and make a great first impression.

2. Delight candidates with automation

When you need to engage with a limited pool of highly specialized candidates, delivering a great experience is key. But what does that actually mean? According to our Job Seeker Nation Report most important aspects of candidate experience are great communication from the employer (54%), ease of scheduling (47%), easy application process (45%), and a quick hiring process (30%).

The good news is that automation can help with all of these! Use tools like text to apply, smart self-scheduling, and chatbots to help with screening interviews and ongoing communications. This creates a streamlined, personal experience for every candidate while cutting down on tedious manual processes for your recruiters.

3. Find the right match

Interactive matching tools help you find the right match by filtering large amounts of complex data, like candidate and job description data. They’re common in places like dating sites and online quizzes — and now this AI-powered technology is available in the recruiting world to ensure the most qualified candidates rise to the top.

Jobvite’s candidate matching helps recruiters sort through contacts and identify those most closely aligned with a job description. Jobvite ATS integrates with LinkedIn Recommended Matches, helping you efficiently access qualified candidates from the largest professional network. Automating previously manual processes lets recruiters quickly prioritize candidates and focus on those with the necessary skills and qualifications.

Let Jobvite help

Whatever hiring challenges you’re facing, having the right tools and technology in place will help you streamline workflows, increase operational efficiency, and improve the candidate experience. Jobvite empowers recruiters with solutions and services to find, engage, nurture, and hire top talent quickly. Visit jobvite.com and schedule a demo to learn how!

This blog series also covers topics like hiring for high-volume roles and managing The Great Resignation — so check back often! Or download How to Hire Top Talent Quickly for more advice to help you hire right when talent is tight.