It is so important as a recruiter to have avenues that your competition doesn't have. It can make the difference on getting to the candidates before your competition does. So how do you do it?

You have to find them well before they leave their job or put their resume on a job board because they are already taken if they are talented enough. In fact you need to shoot for being there on day one of their interest. That is something your competition will never be able to compete with.

It is probably common that if you are struggling with recruiting then you are finding candidates that have been talked to by your competition numerous times before you even get on the phone with them. This can be difficult for any recruiter to gain trust when they are number 15 in line of numerous recruiters that all sound the same.

When a candidate finds a job they are excited for the first six to twelve months and then after that they have a chance to feel growing discomfort. They are willing to at least see what is going on in other offices.

Initially this type of person is open to exploring other job opportunities out there and peek into different doors to see what life would be like in other offices. You need to give them this as soon as possible by providing an outlet for them to look into these environments. EnticeLabs has an applicable tool called TalentSeekr that automates this process of helping ideal candidates get a look into your company culture.

After these first few days they become willing to test the waters and talk proactively with trusted advocates. They will go to peers in other companies they have worked with or even trusted recruiters. They stay employed, but they are more proactive in their searching and willing to listen even longer.

Then if that doesn't work then they will search through search engines on their own or go to trusted niche sites, user forums, and blogs to find opportunities. This will be the first couple weeks and this is really the last stage you should be entering into the game.

Look to optimize for keywords that your ideal candidates would be searching for and make sure they come to your microsites or niche sites first. Chances are they are searching for "position, city, job" when it comes to these sites. Get to them before they move toward job boards because if they are any good they will probably get snatched up earlier.