By definition, a best practice is a method or technique that has been generally accepted as superior to any alternatives.
The idea of “best practices” can be misleading, especially in recruiting. This is because companies, teams, and target markets can be vastly different across regions.
Rather than profess to know the best way to optimize recruiting in every setting, we thought it would be useful to speak to industry leaders to learn where they go when looking for advice.
The experts confirmed there are few universals truths when it comes to recruitment and leaders must always consider the context before implementing any new practice.
With these considerations in mind, here are four recommended practices to consider as your recruiting team begins to plan for the year ahead.
1. Become a Data-driven Team
Tricia Morris contends that data-driven organizations will ultimately win out with six significant competitive advantages: consistency, longevity, awareness, responsiveness, feedback and the ability to make fast, confident decisions.
As you build your team’s strategy for the year ahead, be sure to consider industry benchmarking data from ATAP Global and Lever to ensure your objectives and key results are on target.
Third party talent teams can rely on resources from BountyJobs for a snapshot of industry trends. 
2. Empower Everyone to Recruit
Creating a culture of recruiting is essential to maintaining a healthy recruiting team. Building personas make it easy to paint a picture of the ideal candidate for all relevant stakeholders.
ERE Media, Greenhouse and Google Hire consistently publish articles on what works best across organizations.
Additionally, recruiting teams should strategically utilize and share community sourced insights found on the web. Facebook recruiting groups and Katrina Collier’s Social Recruiting Show highlight relevant, anecdotal insights from leading practitioners.
3. Focus on Candidate Experience
With record low unemployment rates, hiring teams are feeling the pressure to compete for the best talent. As a result, the candidate experience is more important than ever.
Candidate Experience is “closely linked with Employer Branding since it also creates goodwill for the employer.”
Talent Board and the Candidate Experience (CandE) Awards, founded in 2011, is “the first non-profit research organization focused on the elevation and promotion of a quality candidate experience.”
The Talent Board believes “that there’s no better source of real recruiting insight than crowd-sourced candidate impressions.” Visit their website to explore a vast array of resources.
4. Cultivate Community
Whether internally through an impactful referral program or externally via community outreach, the strongest recruiting teams recognize the power of community.
Zappos reimagined their hiring process in 2014 and recentered it around the idea of a talent community to much success. When positioned properly, talent communities can hold “remarkable power.”
For ideas on ways to cultivate community and build your employment brand, start with resources from Yello, Recruiter, and Randstad.
Next Steps
As you refine your team’s processes, share your learnings with the recruiting community to spark continuous growth and iteration.
Special thanks to Tangie Pettis, Mawulom Nenonene and Jan Tegze for their contributions to this guide.
