At Roundpeg, we are always looking for qualified interns and new players.   I thought Heather’s tips were right on target for how to recruit the best folks!

Guest Author: Heather R. Huhman

When it comes to filling internships and entry-level jobs, it’s important to find talented young professionals to fill your openings. However, in today’s job market, it can be tough to wade through the mess of resumes and applications – especially when many of the people submitting them are not a good fit.

Here are a few ways to avoid that and start attracting quality young professionals to apply at your organization:

Improve your job advertisements. If you’re paying hundreds of dollars to advertise a job opening on a major job board, you need to provide the candidate with as much information as possible. How will they know if the position is a good fit if you don’t? Important aspects of the job to focus on are:

  • Qualifications
  • Experience necessary
  • Salary/pay, if applicable
  • Benefits, if applicable
  • Company culture
  • Company values
  • Contact person and phone number/e-mail address

Overhaul your careers page. Does your current website have an informative careers page? Or do you just list openings when they happen? Be sure to include all of the information that would be listed in a comprehensive job ad—and more. Ask former employees for testimonials about your organization and include them (with their permission, of course!) on your careers page. Many young professionals use an organization’s careers page as their #1 source for information.

Promote your openings on social networking platforms. If you have a Twitter account, tweet your opening link with proper keywords and hashtags attached to it so young professionals can find it easily. Share it on your Facebook page, post it on LinkedIn, etc.

Look for passive candidates. A passive candidate is someone who is already happily employed or not looking for a job. Sometimes they can be exactly who you’re looking for, but since they aren’t looking it can be difficult to reach them. Here’s where word of mouth and referrals come in. Listen to current employees if they feel like a person in their network would be great for the opening. Reach out directly to those who are qualified but may not be looking for a job at the moment.

What other ways does your organization attract young professionals?

Author:

Heather R. Huhman is a career expert and founder & president of Come Recommended, a career and workplace education and consulting firm specializing in young professionals. She is also the author of #ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010), national entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com and blogs about career advice at HeatherHuhman.com.