Why word of mouth recruiting is important to secure the best talent

Word of mouth recruiting is one of the most common and natural ways to fill vacancies at your company. This is because once your staff are happy, they’ll be willing to spread the word to have their friends and acquaintances come and join the same great company they’re at. These days, companies spend a lot of time building their online employer profile to ensure that they’re seen as good employers to the wider world. Websites like Glassdoor are integral to help develop a company’s reputation. Bad ratings on Glassdoor affect a company’s ability to secure great talent. So if word of mouth recruiting isn’t a part of your recruitment strategy, here’s why it’s important and how to do it. 

Why it’s important

Word of mouth recruiting is a natural process where employees spread the word about their company to others. Some companies offer referral bonuses, but the main crux of word-of-mouth recruiting is happy employees spreading the word. So before you can even start leveraging this form of recruitment in your company, there are a couple of things you’ll need to do first. 

Start with a recruitment strategy

Recruitment strategy isn’t just about finding staff. It’s a strategy that details what roles your company needs and how you will find the best talent. Tie your recruitment strategy to the company’s overall plan. Word of mouth recruitment is a way to help the strategy, but it’s important to create have one in the first place. Once you’ve defined your recruitment strategy, you can then detail how you plan to implement and achieve this strategy. This is where word-of-mouth recruitment comes in. 

Define your brand and culture

As part of your recruitment strategy, you will define your company’s brand and culture. Without a good culture, word-of-mouth recruitment won’t work. Your company’s culture needs to align with its values, and through that, you will recruit people who will live and breathe your company culture. These are the people who will spread the word that your company is excellent, and this is how word of mouth becomes a vital tool to help secure the best talent. 

It’s important to note that if you haven’t built a great culture, just having free fruit and bean bags isn’t going to cut the mustard to get a successful word of mouth. You need to do the time and listen to your current staff to make sure that they’re happy. As we mentioned earlier, bad culture equals bad reviews which equals bad talent.

Tap into employee pride

Now that you know who you want at your company and developed a strong culture, you can now tap into your employee’s pride. For example, when you look at the companies that top the best companies to work for, the main thing that they’re known for is the fact that they treat their employees well. Even in a pandemic, these companies could secure great talent because of their focus on doing right by their employees. For example, Cisco, the company that was voted number one employer by Fortune Magazine during the pandemic, focused on employee well-being and provided multiple “Days for Me” to step back and recharge. This earned Cisco the top spot on the list, and their employees are filled with pride when they talk about working for Cisco. Hearing this, wouldn’t you want to join them? This is the best example of word-of-mouth recruitment doing its thing. 

Secure the best talent

Now that your employees are spreading the word that your company is great, you will probably be inundated with applications from people wanting to join. How great is that! Well, having too many applicants may not necessarily be the best. You will have to whittle down your list to make sure that you’re finding the best talent. To do this, make sure that your recruitment process highlights your company culture so you can figure out who will fit best. Make sure that your recruitment process is fit for the role you’re recruiting. Not all roles fit the generic test plus a three-panel interview. Even interview processes get spread through word of mouth. A terrible interview process will be a barrier to people applying, so keep that in mind when you’re putting it together. 

Word of mouth recruiting is an important part of your recruitment strategy because it can help you find the best talent. Make sure to use different strategies to build a diverse workforce, but since you’ve made sure to create a great company culture you will no doubt find the best talent to help scale your company.