There are many obstacles to successfully taking your business to the next level. Financing, logistics, cash flow, advertising, and product development are all important, but they dance around the real elephant in the room: finding the right people to implement your vision.

At the end of the day, the people on your team will always be your greatest asset. No amount of careful planning and management can fully compensate for a hiring process that doesn’t identify and attract top talent for key positions.

So, how do you go about finding the best candidates who can grow your business? It can be a tough nut to crack, especially if the people you need are in high demand across multiple industries. In fact, in the constantly evolving landscape of talent acquisition, a dedicated recruiting partner can be your most important ally for breaking down this barrier to growth. Even when hiring pools are overflowing, filling key roles with game-changers who can boost revenues still comes down to one thing: having great connections on both sides of the hiring equation to find the perfect fit.

Traditional Hiring Strategies Are Inefficient (and Expensive)

Many companies structure their growth strategies around huge online recruiting sites. There’s nothing inherently wrong with these giants and many companies use them, but they deal primarily in volume. Unfortunately, the sheer number of people and businesses they service makes it impossible for them to establish the close relationships required to deliver an ideal pool of recruits.

Employers get an average of 118 applications for every position, and one way or another they have to reduce that to a handful of finalists. It represents an enormous investment of resources, and there is no guarantee that it will produce applicants who understand and value your core business goals. Many companies are turning to AI to save time, but these solutions don’t eliminate the fundamental barrier to growth the problem represents—they just speed up the process.

Talent Acquisition Is About Networking

Either way, the cost and a lack of precision in traditional strategies are leading companies to focus on internal or network-oriented processes to fill key roles. There are a range of figures on the subject, but it’s estimated that 60-80% of all jobs are filled without being advertised. The message is clear: if a business knows what qualities it needs in an employee to drive revenues, the best way to find a match is through intrapersonal connections.

This creates two major challenges for growth-oriented businesses:

1. Highly qualified applicants can expect to be courted rather than selected through traditional hiring processes.

2. Game-changing talent often disappears before you can connect and make an offer.

Companies that are focused on growth need to prioritize networking and personalized talent acquisition strategies that identify and attract the best candidates if they want to compete with industry peers. Otherwise, they will be constantly settling for second- and third-best options who aren’t perfect fits for their most important roles.

Matching Candidates with Company Culture

Every business has its own personality that serves it well. Yes, on-paper qualifications are the foundation of pursuing your growth strategy, but employees who don’t mesh with your culture will never be able to deliver the results you need—especially in critical leadership positions.

In general, there are a few strategies for analyzing candidates to determine who will mesh well with your company culture:

• Establish rules/procedures for applying to your company that reflect your values, and look for the people who stand out in that structure.
• Test a candidate’s skills, especially in areas they list on their resume that involve your core business goals.
• Rely on employee/business networks. Check references and invest in contacting people who can speak directly to their character and performance. And while social media is not always a great source of data, it can help you identify connections who can give you some insight.

Of course, gathering as much information as possible about how someone works, what their priorities are, and the precise nature of their previous roles from industry contacts is key for picking the perfect candidate. This makes maintaining relationships with other employers in a variety of overlapping spaces an indispensable piece of the hiring puzzle. After all, they’re the ones who know exactly how a prospective employee actually performs and whether they’ll be an asset or a barrier to growth.

Unfortunately, this is not always possible for busy business owners, and that’s why professional recruiting services are often the best tool for the job. These specialists have a wide and deep knowledge of the candidates who are out there, and they can help you find and incentivize the talent that will make a real impact on your business growth.

Partner With an Industry-Specific Recruiter

Recruiting agencies that specialize in your specific business and market are an indispensable asset for finding employees who will break down any barrier to growth for your company. Here at V20, the industries we service are passions of ours. Powersports, marine, outdoor power equipment, firearms, and RV sectors are our primary focus, and our recruiters are actively involved in these areas on both recreational and professional levels.

We know these fields like the back of our hand, and we maintain extensive networks of contacts on both sides of the hiring aisle so we can give you the inside edge on talent acquisition. We make personal connections a priority for all our clients so we can find you the perfect fit for your culture and business goals.

But we can’t start helping until you reach out! You can contact a recruiter directly, or call our corporate offices to find the perfect recruiting partner for your growth-oriented strategy.