Recruiting Outside the Box

Organizations like Apple and Google are eliminating four-year degree requirements, as they and others recognize that skills aren’t always measured by formal education, and that non-degreed candidates can offer real value. But what steps are these organizations taking to replace this common requisite and put skills in the forefront?

“The structure that we have created for our standard HR practices completely pushes out many deserving candidates from being part of our workforce,” says Manjari Raman, a researcher at Harvard Business School and co-author of the report “Dismissed by Degrees.”

Here are three unconventional approaches to recruiting that you can apply at your organization.

Don’t Dismiss the Unexpected

Try recruiting from among “hidden” workers. Don’t dismiss someone just because they’ve been out of work for a while! “Veterans, caregivers, immigrants and recovering addicts can all make amazing workers,” Raman says. “But we’re culturally biased against them because they’ve got a record, or they’ve been out of work for a long time. Few companies give them a chance.”

Try recruiting for soft skills and innate qualities. Remember, hard skills can be trained. A great example of unconventional hiring is Hot Chicken Takeover. “From entry-level jobs right up to managerial positions, everybody has a prison record or drug addiction issue,” Raman says. “It may sound like corporate suicide, but it's working brilliantly.”

Take an Unconventional Approach

Try appealing directly to the public by recruiting through social media. “Think about going out there and building a professional profile on Instagram and talking to people, or utilizing Twitter in a way that's different from what you've been seeing to recruit,” says Veronica Jenkins, head of global talent and co-founder of Hive.

Leverage social media to stay in touch with the workforce across generations, since different types of candidates tend to use different platforms. Twitter and Facebook are more appealing to baby boomers, Generation X and millennials, while Instagram and Snapchat are geared more toward the newest members of the workforce from Generation Z. Also, match the position to the platform. You might use Instagram to recruit for artists or other visually driven roles.

Social media is crucial for staying on top of industry trends. “If you’re in IT, for example, and you know that there's a lot of IT summits coming up, get in on those hashtags and figure out what type of candidates are sharing that information and make a connection with them,” Jenkins says. “You never know who you'll find.”

Don’t Eliminate the Human Touch

Even as we rely more on AI and technology in recruiting, it’s important to keep people at the forefront. As a human recruiter, try to be present throughout the process. “Recruiters are in the industry of people, so you still need to develop relationships,” Jenkins says. “The system isn’t infallible. You should still go through and look at those resumes.”

Even take a look at low-matched resumes. Your AI may still be weighing four-year degrees higher than skills. The right candidate for you may not have a degree, and you don’t want to miss out on that person’s contribution. “Even though the system has told you that this person is only a 15-20% match, still go in there and look at that resume anyway,” Jenkins says. “Something can fall through the cracks at any time.”