If your company is struggling to hire the talent you need to grow your business, you are not alone. For many employers, recruiting remains a top challenge. That’s why more employers are making long-distance recruitment part of their talent acquisition strategy.
If you can’t find the right candidates in your backyard, it’s time to expand your search. Plus, there are several advantages to hiring employees from afar, beyond simply filling those open slots.
Here’s why it makes sense to cast a wider net—and how to do so effectively.
Perhaps the most obvious benefit of long-distance recruitment is the ability to tap into a much larger talent pool. Think about it: if you’re limiting your search to a small geographic area, you’re missing out on all the great candidates who live beyond those self-imposed borders.
According to a LinkedIn survey, 70% of the workforce is composed of passive job seekers—i.e., candidates who are open to opportunities, but not actively hunting for them.
Expanding your search perimeter increases your chances of connecting with this untapped talent. And that can be a gamechanger since the most in-demand candidates are off the market within 10 days of launching a job search.
The U.S. is a big, diverse country. Not surprisingly, some regions suffer from more acute skill shortages than others. By embracing long-distance recruitment, employers can bridge their skill gaps by sourcing talent from areas where that expertise is more abundant.
This is particularly the case in professions that require highly-specialized training, such as healthcare and technology. For example, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, there are 362 physicians for every 100,000 Massachusetts residents—but less than half of that in Mississippi. Therefore, a Mississippi hospital might greatly benefit from expanding its recruiting efforts beyond the immediate region.