By taking a close look at your hiring practices and employing a little creativity, it’s possible that your company could be bringing in nothing but the cream of the crop.

All Uncle Sam had to do was point during World War II, and what would later come to be known as “the greatest generation” responded. Recruitment doesn’t come as easily for your company as it did for the war effort, most likely, and it takes a lot more than just saying “I want you” to round up the best and brightest for your efforts.

Fortunately, there are steps your business can take to ensure that the candidates you bring in for interviews are more “four-star” than “4F.” Experts in the areas of recruitment and retention say that the best companies recruit with an eye to innovation and approach the process with a holistic perspective that considers a candidate’s personality and behavior almost more than their actual skills. By taking a close look at your hiring practices and employing a little creativity, it’s possible that your company could be bringing in nothing but the cream of the crop, and you may never have to worry about hiring a washout again.

Think Beyond Industry
Dr. Uma Gupta has a PhD in engineering and an MBA, and she currently serves as a business consultant. She says she became a consultant after doing some research into best hiring practices for her MBA. Even though every company is different and skill sets vary wildly across different industries, Gupta says there are some definite similarities that carry over from company to company when it comes to successful recruitment.

“The two traits I see, one is companies that are able to attract talent are companies that are very innovative in their approaches to recruiting talent,” she says.

Too often, companies limit themselves by recruiting based solely on experience or skills specific to their industries. Oil and gas companies, for example, hire overwhelmingly from other oil and gas companies. This leads to rampant cannibalization and, over time, stagnation as the industry recycles the same ideas and approaches again and again.

“There is very little cross-industry fertilization,” Gupta says. “The reason why companies do this is because so many of them are running fast and they are short-staffed.

“What I would recommend to executives is to at least set aside a small percentage of their hiring budget to hire people from other industries where they have proven they can be successful,” she adds.

The majority of job descriptions describe the functional skills candidates need, but Gupta says these are not as important as many executives think. Instead, she says, companies should be looking for candidates who have the behavioral skills necessary to succeed – things like leadership and communication skills. If a candidate has proven that he or she has these, Gupta argues, he or she can always catch up in the functional skills.

“Let’s say you’re hiring for a position,” she says. “Pick five resumes that are superior in terms of their functional skills. Then, pick another set where you say, ‘I’m not sure about the functional skills of this person, but based on the problems they solved or the education they have, they might have the behavioral skills.” Conducting telephone interviews with the second group is a good option for executives without a lot of time on their hands.

In the same vein, Gupta warns against handcuffing your company by being too literal in the job description. For example, she says, consider why your job posting specifies “eight to 10 years’ experience.”

“Do you have an understanding of why that number is important?” she says. “Does that mean that someone with six or seven years of experience is not qualified?”

Cultures Matter
According to Jerry Glass, president of human resources consulting firm F&H Solutions, the key is to make sure both your company and the candidates are looking for the same thing from each other. “In terms of successful recruitment, the No. 1 thing is matching up a client’s expectations with the prospective candidate’s expectations,” he says.

Like Gupta, Glass says pigeonholing candidates does neither the candidate nor your company any favors. “One common mistake is not looking enough at an individual’s skill set,” he says. “In other words, they’re more interested in whether or not they are a specialist or a subject matter specialist in a certain area.

“One of the things we insist upon when we’re recruiting for clients is that we present them with a diverse spectrum of candidates,” Glass adds.

Companies need to consider their culture when hiring and take that into consideration when reviewing a candidate’s behavioral skills. He says, for example, that a company that doesn’t place a high priority on financials doesn’t necessarily need a candidate with a lot of experience in those types of organizations. “On the other hand, if you are one of these companies … it’s important that you tell us so we’re looking for those types of people that are comfortable in front of Excel spreadsheets and are comfortable in front of CFOs,” Glass says.

“You have to think long and hard about writing a job description and making certain that it reflects what you truly need in the organization as opposed to what you want,” he adds. “And when you do that, you’re more likely to get a better outcome for your organization.”

Canvassing Cyberspace
Gupta says the second quality she’s noted in companies that hire successfully is a high degree of technological savvy. She says the Internet is perhaps the greatest recruitment tool available today, but not many companies utilize it.

“I will challenge CEOs and senior executives to really go through their online recruitment process,” she says, adding that doing so will allow them to see flaws or areas where candidates might become frustrated or lost in the system.

To make the most of the Internet as a recruitment tool, Gupta advises, companies need to reach out to potential candidates and keep them engaged until an interview. This can keep the process from becoming too cold and impersonal, she says. She also endorses becoming a greater presence on the Internet than the occasional job posting.

“Don’t just post a job on these sites, most of them have expert columns, interviewing tips; become a player in all of those,” she says.

Pressing Onward
Let’s face it – your recruitment situation will never be as important as Uncle Sam’s was. That’s why your company needs to focus in on successful recruitment strategies that zero in on the best candidates and bring solid talent into your organization.

By keeping an open mind about the skills your company really needs, maximizing your Internet presence and paying attention to the combination of the candidate and your culture, your recruitment efforts can lead you to victory.