How to Attract Your Ideal Hires

Finding the right talent for your farm or agribusiness is critical for its success and growth. That’s why employers must understand how to not only find but also attract the right talent to their organizations. Attracting your ideal hires is a continuous effort that requires constant evaluation and refinement, though, the dedication will pay off when your agribusiness is operating at its peak with productive, satisfied employees who align with your company’s goals.  

Optimize Your Job Descriptions 

Clearly Outline the Role 

To attract the right candidates to your open positions, ensure your job description clearly and accurately describes the details of the role. This helps attract candidates with the right type of experience and skills you are looking for, who are also looking for that type of job.   

If your role requires specific qualifications, such as minimum years of experience, specific education, licenses, or training, be sure to include these details in the job posting. Doing so will help limit unqualified candidates from applying.   

Include Your Culture 

Not only do you want to attract candidates with the right skill set and background, but also those who would align with your company culture. Include a sentence or two in your job description giving insight into your company culture, or what it’s like to work for your company. This helps candidates get an idea if your farm or ag business is a place where they can see themselves. 

Add a Salary Range  

Including a salary range in your job description, even if it’s broad, can help you attract the right candidates to your role. When salary information is provided, 70% of individuals express a higher likelihood of applying for the job, according to our recent job seeker survey.  

Not only will including a salary range in the job posting attract a wider pool of applicants, but also attract the right candidates with skills and experience that align with the role, and who are genuinely interested. It also allows candidates to weed themselves out if your salary range does not meet their expectations - saving you time from vetting candidates who ultimately would not be a fit. 

Prioritize Employer Branding 

Employer branding serves as the identity a company communicates to the public including the organization’s values, culture, mission, vision, and reputation.   

Employer branding includes your website, social media accounts, career page, and any other form of marketing or advertising. Beyond advertising, your branding also includes employees', candidates’, and customers' perceptions and experiences related to your company. Think about the overall look, feel, and reputation of your company.  

These components are important to potential candidates, so ensure your branding is consistent and accurately represents your company. Be sure to regularly evaluate and update your website, career page, and other brand touchpoints to ensure they effectively convey your company's mission, values, and culture - so candidates can get the most accurate view of your brand.  

Putting effort into your overall employer branding ensures your company is seen in a positive light and helps you stand out from competitors. Also, when your branding accurately represents your farm or agribusiness and what you stand for, you will attract (and retain) your ideal hires who align with those values and culture.   

Read more about Employer Branding and How It Can Attract Quality Candidates. 

Leverage Social Media 

Potential candidates often use social media to research companies prior to applying and/or interviewing for a position. Candidates search for a company on social media to discover more about their products, mission, culture, and the overall feel of the company. The younger workforce, especially, tends to use social media in place of a search engine - meaning it’s likely they visit your social media profiles before your website.  

As part of your employer branding, use social media to showcase what your company is all about. Post and share content that potential candidates can use to learn more about your company and get a glimpse into what it would be like to work there. 

You can also utilize social media to post about your farm’s open positions. Post photos that accurately portray the job and include some basic information on the role itself. Make sure to include how candidates can apply, such as including a link to the job description or your career page. Encourage your current employees to share these posts on their own profiles for additional reach.   

Learn more about Using Social Media to Recruit for your Agribusiness.  

Offer Competitive Pay and Benefits 

Competitive compensation and benefits play an important role in attracting and retaining top talent. A competitive starting salary is effective for hiring strong candidates, but to retain them, have a structured system in place that offers promotions, raises, or bonuses that allow employees to increase their earnings over time. Employees are more likely to transition to a new company if their pay remains stagnant for long periods with no opportunity for additional earnings.  

Consider offering additional benefits or perks that align with the preferences of your ideal hires, such as flexible hours, remote work options, or professional development opportunities. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. Farms can consider offering housing, a work vehicle, beef, etc.  

Every year or two, research industry standards to ensure your compensation and benefits package are competitive and make adjustments as needed.  

 To attract your ideal hires with your company’s offerings, be sure to list any compensation details, benefits, and other perks in your job postings. 

Try Passive Recruitment 

Passive recruitment is a strategy that involves finding and reaching out to candidates who are not actively seeking a new job. Waiting for candidates to come to you through an application leaves your candidate pool very limited. You can attract your ideal hires by reaching out to them directly and essentially “pitching” your company and open position.  

When passively recruiting, you don’t want to reach out to just anyone. Spend time reaching out to candidates with the type of background you seek for each specific position. Provide them not only details of the position but also why they should consider your company. Strong candidates typically get many messages from different recruiters, so make sure yours stands out from the rest.  

 AgHires recently conducted an agricultural job seeker survey, where 94% of respondents indicated that they would at least listen and consider a new job if contacted by a company or recruiter today. This proves that passive recruitment is an effective way for companies to seek out talent and widen their candidate pool. 

Partner with an Agriculture Recruitment Firm 

We understand that not every farm or agribusiness has the time and/or resources to do their own hiring, especially when it comes to critical high-level or leadership positions. Partnering with the industry recruitment experts allows you to focus on other tasks critical to your business, while we do what we do best.  

To attract your ideal hires, AgHires spends the time to deeply understand your organization, open positions, and hiring needs to function as an extension of your company or HR department. We work to identify your company’s unique value proposition to attract candidates to your agribusiness and utilize our vast network of industry professionals to strategically place you with only the top talent.  

AgHires’ recruiters come from a variety of agriculture backgrounds, so they can walk the walk and talk the talk with candidates. In addition to finding and attracting top talent to your company, our recruiters serve as strategic advisors throughout the entire hiring process.

Learn more about our recruiting and job posting services here, or contact us today.  

For more hiring tips, visit our Hiring Advice Blog for agriculture employers.