Attract Better Candidates

By Don Georgevich

Phase Two of the Scientific Hiring Method: Attraction

The best time to find strong candidates is before an open position turns into an emergency.

Most companies begin recruiting when someone resigns, growth creates an immediate opening, or a manager finally admits the team cannot keep carrying the work. At that point, the clock is already working against them.

The job gets posted, applications begin arriving, and the company hopes the right person happens to be looking at the right time. When the response is weak, the natural reaction is to post in more places, lower the standard, or choose the best person available rather than the person the role requires.

Recruiting should not begin with a vacancy

A vacancy may trigger the hiring process, but it should not be the first time the company thinks about talent. Recruiting works better when it is connected to the direction of the business.

Ask which roles are likely to become important during the next six to twelve months. Consider planned growth, turnover risk, skills the company lacks, work the owner needs to hand off, and positions that would be difficult to fill quickly.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management describes recruitment as an ongoing process that should continue even when an organization is not actively filling jobs. Its hiring-reform guidance also says recruiting strategy should be informed by workforce planning and that posting an opening is not a substitute for focused recruiting. See OPM’s Hiring Reform guidance.

The lesson for a small business is not that it needs a large recruiting department. It is that the company should know where its next important hires may come from before it needs them.

Attraction starts with a role worth considering

A recruiting channel cannot fix a poorly defined or unattractive opportunity. Before searching for candidates, make sure the role itself is clear.

Strong candidates want to understand what they will own, what the business needs them to accomplish, who they will work with, what authority they will have, and why the opportunity may be better than staying where they are.

This does not mean every role needs a glamorous story. It means the company should be honest and specific. A position may offer the chance to build a process from the ground up, take meaningful responsibility, work closely with an owner, solve a difficult operating problem, or grow into a larger role as the business expands.

The work defined during Phase One should become the center of the recruiting message. The same outcomes used to evaluate candidates should help the right people recognize why the role matters.

Know which candidates you are trying to reach

“Qualified candidates” is too broad to guide recruiting. The company needs a clearer picture of the people most likely to succeed and where those people can realistically be found.

Begin with the role outcomes and required capabilities. Then consider where people performing comparable work spend time, which companies or industries develop similar skills, what professional communities they belong to, and whether they are likely to be actively applying or quietly open to a better opportunity.

Do not narrow the search so much that only one familiar background appears acceptable. The purpose is to identify promising talent pools, not to write a résumé stereotype.

Use more than one path to the market

Job boards can be useful because they reach people who are actively looking. They become a problem when the entire recruiting strategy depends on them.

Some strong candidates will come through direct outreach. Others may come from employees, former employees, customers, vendors, professional associations, schools, apprenticeship programs, local communities, specialized recruiters, industry events, or people the company has stayed in touch with over time.

A useful recruiting plan usually combines several sources because each one reaches a different part of the market.

Build relationships before you have an opening

A candidate pipeline does not need to be complicated. It can begin with a simple list of people the company would like to know better and a regular habit of staying in touch.

Hiring managers may meet promising people through customers, vendors, conferences, professional groups, online discussions, introductions, or interviews for other roles. Instead of forgetting those people when no immediate job exists, keep a respectful record of the relationship and the type of opportunity that might interest them.

The goal is not to collect names or send constant recruiting messages. It is to build familiarity over time. Share useful information, congratulate people on meaningful work, ask for their perspective, and keep them aware of where the company is going.

When an opening appears, the first question should not be, “Where should we post this?” It should be, “Who already knows us, and who have we already identified as worth talking with?”

Make outreach about the person and the work

Most recruiting outreach fails because it sounds like a mass message. It describes the company, announces an opening, and asks the person to schedule a call without giving them a reason to care.

A better message shows why the person was selected, explains the business problem or opportunity, and makes a small, reasonable request. The message should be specific enough that the recipient can tell it was meant for them.

For example, an owner may explain that the company is growing, the current sales process depends too heavily on the owner, and the new leader will have the chance to build a reliable system rather than inherit a finished one. That tells the candidate far more than saying the company has an exciting Sales Manager opportunity.

Protect candidate trust

Attraction is not only about getting attention. It is also about what candidates experience after they respond.

Tell people what the process will involve, how long it is likely to take, what preparation is expected, and when they should hear back. Do not keep candidates engaged for weeks without useful communication. Do not exaggerate the opportunity and reveal the limitations only after the person is invested.

Candidates talk to one another. A company that treats people respectfully builds a recruiting advantage even among those it does not hire.

Use referrals without depending on a closed circle

Employee referrals can produce valuable introductions, but they should be one source among several. The EEOC warns that relying heavily on word-of-mouth recruiting can create legal risk when the existing workforce is not broadly representative and the same networks keep reproducing the same applicant pool. See the EEOC’s guidance on prohibited employment practices in recruitment.

The practical answer is not to stop asking for referrals. It is to widen the networks the company uses, communicate opportunities broadly, and apply the same job-related standard to every candidate regardless of source.

Measure source quality, not just application volume

A recruiting source is useful when it consistently produces people who meet the standard and move through the process for the right reasons.

Track how many candidates from each source pass the first meaningful screen, reach the interview stage, receive offers, accept, and perform successfully after hire. A source that produces ten applications and four strong candidates may be more valuable than one that produces two hundred applications and two strong candidates.

Also watch the amount of time each source creates for the team. High volume can look productive while quietly increasing screening work and slowing decisions.

What Phase Two should produce

By the end of Attraction, the company should have more than a job posting. It should know which roles are likely to be needed, which candidate groups to reach, what message will matter to them, which recruiting channels to use, and how relationships will be maintained before and after an opening.

The output is a repeatable recruiting system that can be improved over time. The system does not guarantee that every search will be easy, but it reduces the chance that every important hire begins from zero.

Legal and fairness note: Recruiting practices and job advertising should not discriminate based on protected characteristics. Employers should use broad, job-related recruiting methods and apply the same selection standards consistently. This page is educational and is not legal advice.

The Phase Two path

Attraction is not one tactic. It is a connected system that moves from planning to relationships, outreach, referrals, and measurement.

1. Build the recruiting strategy

Start with a recruiting strategy that does not depend on job boards. Decide which roles matter, which talent markets to reach, and which channels deserve attention.

2. Find good people before the opening

The owner-focused guide, How to Find Good Employees Before You Need Them, explains how to stop beginning every important search from zero.

3. Maintain the candidate pipeline

Use the Candidate Pipeline to preserve context and relationships with promising people before the timing is right.

4. Reach people who are not applying

Recruit passive candidates with a credible reason to talk rather than pressure, vague compliments, or mass messages.

5. Use referrals without narrowing the market

Build an employee referral program that makes introductions useful while keeping the evaluation standard consistent.

6. Improve the first message

The Recruiting Outreach guide shows how to write messages that explain relevance, the business situation, and the next small step.

7. Learn which sources work

Use Recruiting Source Quality to compare qualified candidates, conversion, cost, speed, and post-hire results.

What this phase should change

A completed Attraction phase should leave the company with more than an open requisition and a job-board account. It should have a short list of priority roles, a current candidate market, relationships worth maintaining, messages that sound credible, and evidence showing which sources deserve more investment.

When those pieces exist, an opening may still be difficult, but it no longer begins with panic.

See how Attraction fits into the complete Scientific Hiring Method.