A wise man has said “Great oaks fell from small acorns! ”, which meant most of the great human or idealistic superheroes have small beginnings and eventually augment by their kindness and wisdom. That is the reason to rethink if someone believes or says that talent is something only available in metropolitan or giant cities. Then NO! My dear, you are on the wrong path, talent is widespread and omnipresent. To hunt a talent, one needs a goldsmith’s eye and a true zeal while searching. Small city people often complain that their voice is left unheard, they do not get an appropriate amount of mentoring and motivation to uplift their skills, or there is no proper platform to outcast their talent or even. This creates a major area of fret for the talent seekers, society, or even the nation as a whole to search solutions for it. Recruiting employees or skill-sets that a business needs can be taxing, however, if someone lives in a small town or probably a  rural location, attracting talent can be even more cumbersome.

Roles based in larger cities are liable to attract more candidates because of its larger population, high salaries, high living standards costs more workforce, and even because of more possible areas to explore, experiment, and earn. Take the examples of Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, etc. One might even realize that, apart from the city’s name, that place has built its own reputation by inclining towards a specific industry. For example, while imagining a ‘film city’ the person may land to Mumbai, or on spelling ‘tech-hub’ one might hear Hyderabad. Okay! Leaving these fine talks behind let’s think about the steps to take to improve the recruitment process in a less populated area –

1.   It’s a two-way profit → It is often mistakenly taken for granted that finding a job is the necessity of the job finder and they should feel serious and spend extra efforts on it. But this is not the truth, finding a job and giving a job is both the party’s necessities and no one should take this for granted. Instead, the company should provide its employees with as many positive utilities as possible to retain them, keep them motivated, and also give them perks to work.
2. Take advantage of regional networks and local job boards → It’s very important to make sure that you’re using the right mix of the online job portals and offline skill availability when advertising the vacancies. While sharing your role on social media, try to promote it within local groups on Facebook, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn or use Twitter and Instagram hashtags to make it more searchable. Even you may ask your key contacts of the specific local areas to retweet your vacancies to raise awareness.
3. Know the candidate’s professional aspirations → Mostly it is seen that the people from small cities lack professional expertise, hence it is important to edify them with those skills. Probe the unique skill set of a person and try to match them it with a vacant job role this way it helps in making employer and the employee have a mutually beneficial relationship.
4. Keep it in the family → “Charity begins from the home!”, that is why is it said to support the person, family and society as a whole. It is important for a candidate to have spine alike support from valued family members and having their commitment to social welfare.
5. Know where to look → If someone is knowing the geographical area and the employment market, then automatically the potential candidates would be known. It is very important for a city to have schools, colleges, or training centers or institutes in working condition, so that it may act as a candidate pool while recruiting.

Also, a mix of community or culture gives birth to numerous perspectives, ideas, and skillsets.

1. Develop your referrals scheme →  Referral programs act as a great idea for many businesses and are even vital for companies based in smaller towns who are struggling to attract talent with their recruitment advertising campaigns. In fact, out of research it was found that 48% of the employee referral programs were the top source of quality hire, according to LinkedIn’s Global Recruiting Trends 2017 report. An attractive referrals scheme will incentivize your employees to recommend contacts in their local network in exchange for a reward. Be generous and spendthrift with your reward, after all making a hire through referral eventually saves thousands of pounds.
2. Remote working → If someone from a small area with a good and wanted kind of skill set is struggling with a change in geography by food and water change, living standard, or any other health-related issue, then it’s worth considering remote working. There are plenty of outlying roles available in this era, particularly in the IT sector. Carefully reconsider your decision on providing distant jobs, as it even comes with some unforeseen exigents.
3. Focus on improving your brand →  Meliorating both the corporate brand and employer brand seriously, helps in coax talent from afar. For example, the pre-joining training of Infy is well known worldwide, the working culture of Tatas is very prestigious, etc develops a strong brand and a reputation as a good employer, and makes people think of their brands in their dream jobs.
4. Sell your area to people looking to relocate → Even after considering all the above tricks, someone still fails to attract candidates locally, it’s worth looking further afield and pitching the role as a relocation opportunity. There will always be people who want to escape the rat race and move somewhere a bit more remote and away from the brisk life of the city. Think about the lifestyle and opportunity that candidates could have and sell that. If someone is ready to bear the relocation costs, even this suggestion would sound better.

After going through all the above points and understanding them to the depth I don’t think now this small area acquisition would create a lot of sigh to our recruiters.