Superstar recruiters produce results quickly in every stage of the hiring process. They employ effective tactics and strategies to ensure that they reach their recruitment goals all the time.

Here are 9 simple actions you can take to  become a recruitment superstar:

Finding Talent

1. Write better job ads

Usually, many recruiters pull up job descriptions from internal systems or reuse old ones. Recruitment superstars, on the other hand, know that exciting job postings are essential to finding great talent,  so they take time to craft a viral ad for their vacancies.

There’s nothing wrong with using templates for your job ads, but at the very least, rewrite some parts so that they sell the exciting aspects of the job and give applicants an idea of how they will be able to influence the future of the organization. Compare your job ads against competitors’ descriptions to ensure they are more compelling.

2. Welcome referrals

Research shows that the highest quality hires usually come from employee referrals. Superstar recruiters know how to leverage their employees’ existing social and professional networks to find top talent.

Encourage your current employees to build/mine their networks for referrals, but you will need to advise them of the best practices. When they have successfully referred a candidate, make sure you review the profile and respond within 24-72 hours.

3. Reconnect with previous high quality candidates.

Great recruiters save tremendous resources by simply revisiting the top candidates that got away. It could be candidates who withdrew their application, rejected an offer, or who made it to the final stage but a more suitable candidate got the job.

Send them a quick email or LinkedIn message and ask if they are open to exploring opportunities again with your company. Here’s another superstar move – touch base with former employees and ask whether they would consider coming back and joining the team again.

4. Focus on what works right now

Traditional recruitment – using newspaper ads, joining job fairs, and posting on large job boards – may have worked in the past, but today might be a different story. Smart recruiters prefer exploring alternative tools including employee referrals and social recruitment when finding top talent for the company.

Create an employee referral program and use social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn to find new candidates for your current vacancies.

Screening Talent

5. Use real work scenarios during interviews.

To really find out a candidate’s problem-solving skills, smart recruiters give them real work issues to deal with. It could be a waste of time if you ask them to solve a theoretical puzzle or situation. Give them actual challenges because this way, you will know if the candidate has the ability to work through them if they get hired for the position.

6. Be flexible with interviews.

Some potential candidates may be employed and may find it hard to take time off to attend multiple interviews, without endangering their current job. A superstar recruiter is flexible and is open to making changes to accommodate the candidate’s schedule.

Try to accommodate candidates with scheduling issues at least one day per week or on weekends. You can also use video interviews, if feasible. Second, consider instituting a policy where all interviews are completed in a single day.

Engaging with Candidates

7. Ask candidates for their job acceptance criteria.

It’s good to find out where you stand when it comes to candidates job acceptance. Superstar recruiters ask candidates to identify the key factors they will consider when evaluating an offer. In addition, ask them to list down deal-breaking factors that could make them withdraw their application or reject an offer.

Use these factors to customize your assessment and approach based on the applicant’s criteria.

8. Explore multimedia channels.

Strategic communication is an integral part of recruitment, which means you have to identify which platforms are favored by top candidates. Great talents are heavy users of smart mobile devices, so you need to tailor your messaging for SMS, blogs, and social networking apps.

Videos and photos can be more powerful than words, so consider making and sharing a personalized video that actually shows the exciting aspects of your firm that can be viewed on different social networks.

9. Train hiring managers to sell your firm.

Some hiring managers do a poor job selling the company to potential hires, because they fail to factor in ask the current employees for feedback on why they think their firm is superior to competitors. They use the answers to compile a list of communication points that hiring managers can use to better position the opportunity.

In the end, being a superstar recruiter is not really rocket science. The simple guidelines  mentioned above can easily produce dramatic, almost immediate results, without requiring a stratospheric budget or effort. Follow them and before you know it, you’re on the road to becoming a superstar recruiter yourself!

Do you have other simple tips to improve recruiters’ performance? Share them in the comments below.