–This post was written for HR Avatar by guest blog author, Lexie Dy. Visit the author's website at ReadyJob.org.

Trying to find new members for your team at work can be challenging, so taking the time to come up with a comprehensive marketing plan to attract the right candidates is critical. While it's easy to become hyper-focused on one method of recruitment, it's best to utilize multiple methods. HR Avatar can help you with pre-employment testing, reference checks, and interviews.

One consideration to think about when you're planning your marketing strategy is where you're likely to find suitable candidates. Think about the various avenues available to you. These include social media, mainstream marketing, ad placements in local publications, word-of-mouth referrals, and employment agencies.

Attracting the Right Candidates

You must ensure the candidates who apply to work for your company are ones who can complete the necessary duties involved in the position. There are several ways that you can do this:

• Be clear about the requirements and duties of the position.
• Offer perks that candidates appreciate and that set your company above competitors.
• Show what the culture of your company is like by producing a recruiting video.
• Highlight your workers in the business' social media campaigns.
• Implement a referral program to incentivize first-person referrals from your employees.

Choosing Candidates That Fit Your Company's Needs

Getting candidates to submit applications or resumes is only one part of what needs to happen as part of the recruiting process. You have to determine if a candidate fits your company's needs. You can do this in many ways.

Interview Candidates Who Have Appropriate Training and Experience

Conduct an interview with the candidate, either in person or via a video chat. When you do this, be sure to avoid asking questions that are forbidden. These include questions about a person's family life or religious preferences. Instead, focus your questions on the person's professional experience. Ask about their training and professional certifications. Find out if they're familiar with the tasks they need to perform for your company.

Narrow Your Short List Using Pre-Employment Tests

Once you have your shortlist written out, you can proceed with other steps to determine if a person is a good fit. One of these is to use employment tests that help to determine a person's personality. The employees you hire must fit in with the company's culture as well as with other employees.

Pre-employment tests can help prevent you from hiring people who may have narcissistic tendencies. It can also help you avoid hiring bullies or people who have attitudes that don't benefit your company. Some tests include the Enneagram, Big 5, and Myers-Briggs, all of which can give you an idea of how candidates are likely to handle the conditions that are present in your company.

While it may be tempting to rush through the recruiting process, it's critical that you ensure the person you hire for each position is the best one for the job. Work at a diligent pace, but don't become so frantic that you hire the first person you find who meets the basic qualifications for the job.

Putting It All Together

Once you implement your marketing plan for recruiting new candidates, you have to vet them. One way you can do this is to utilize employment tests to help determine candidate suitability. Contact HR Avatar to find employment tests that benefit your company's hiring process. Request a demo today.