Rather than go after people with desperation, create a website that is exciting and that compels interest in your organisation. No matter what your organisation does or how big or small it may be, your organisation has unique characteristics that are attractive. The key is to define your target audience very clearly and go after it with specific messages and promotions.

Many organisations promote generic criteria and using generic messages that are not aimed at any particular group. This means that many candidates ignore you and others, mostly the unqualified, apply in droves.

Hire a Specialist Recruitment Firm

If you are really struggling to attract good people, it may make sense to contract with a specialist recruitment company that can help promote your organisation and that has access to a wide community of potential talent.

Look Inside

Larger organisations have many talented, culturally aligned, and productive employees who would welcome an opportunity to do something different. Many leading-edge firms have developed internal systems that allow recruiters to locate people with specific skills within the organisation.

The systems capture employees' skills, performance history, education, and interests. These employees are usually passive, or not looking for an internal move and not aware of the opportunity.

Yet, they are often eager to take a look at that opportunity once they are approached. These systems also allow actively looking employees to add personal information or apply directly for posted positions. When there is a need to fill very highly specialized positions, internal people are frequently the best qualified to do so with the least amount of training.

Short-Term Training and Coaching

Many times employees can be given skills more quickly than we think. Countless large organisations have put together short-term, intensive training programs that enabled employees to gain new skills and become productive in a matter of weeks. This is often no longer than it takes to source, screen, interview, and hire a candidate from outside who, after being hired, still needs time to become productive and to learn the new culture.

With e-learning, mentoring, and coaching, employees can be given skills they need quickly while being productive.

Rotations

Sometimes it is a good practice to let people rotate through several jobs so that they acquire at least some skills in many areas. This way they can be moved to fill gaps very quickly and with a minimum of additional education.

Rotations can be done frequently but on a short-term basis so that the impact on the employee's current position is minimal. It just takes some creative thinking to make this work without much bother. Do this in slower times, when work tends to be less than normal.

Educating Hiring Managers

Managers now need to better understand the talent marketplace. It will be harder and harder to find qualified people over the next decade.

For some jobs, including certain finance positions, nursing, and pharmacy jobs, as well as management positions, there will be a crisis.

Managers must have a better understanding of these issues and you as recruiters need to make the business case for managers approaching talent acquisition from a variety of ways, rather than to simply go outside to meet every need.

Talent acquisition is getting more complicated and requires recruiters who are strategic talent advisors more than just "order takers." The best recruiters have learned more options and have sold those internally.