Leaf through a newspaper on any given day and the misery of the unemployed will leap off the page.

Hundreds hit by factory closures here or thousands of healthcare jobs slashed there, whether you’re affected by it or not, the figures hardly make attractive reading at the breakfast table.

But what of the business owners who, amidst this despair, are attempting to sort the wheat from the chaff in their efforts to get folk back into work and fill positions with the perfect employee?

Admittedly, it’s an altogether different struggle, but likely a familiar scenario for organisations the length and breadth of the country.

So how do you go about finding the ideal candidate? The proverbial diamond in the rough or needle in the haystack?

By reading and digesting our three foolproof methods below, of course…

Location of Your Ad Is Crucial

Although there’s nothing wrong with placing an old fashioned ad in a newspaper, job hunters nowadays tend to trawl the abundance of career sites available on the internet in the hope of landing their dream job at the click of a button.

Whether it’s digital marketing roles, taxation jobs or something more vocationally obscure, the world wide web has it all. Consequently, your business should be prepared to hunt out the sites where your vacancy has the most chance of attracting the eyeballs of the right kind of talent.

Spice Up Your Writing

Even if the role you’re looking to fill is tedious at best, it’s important to ensure the way you position the ad sells the benefits of the job AND your business to prospective employees. After all, why wouldn’t they want to work for you?

Although you may not be used to blowing your company’s trumpet in a job advertisement, it’s actually a great idea, with the ad being a useful tool to get jobseekers excited about the prospect of working for, on the face of it, such an exhilarating firm.

Conduct Comprehensive Interviews

Although a candidate may sparkle on paper, it’s not until you meet them face-to-face that their personality – and their suitability for the role – will shine through. As a result, it’s vital to combine questions about their skills with probing questions about their character.

This allows you to gauge their strengths and weaknesses, along with deciding whether they will fit in with other team members. The last thing you want is a disruptive presence in the workplace who will upset the apple cart before the ink is even dry on their contract.