You have a looming deadline when a key player on your team decides to quit. Everybody on the team panics. You revisit that outdated job description, make a few changes and post it to every job board that you know. Then you sit and wait for that amazing candidate to apply.

Sound familiar? This is typically how organizations hire – in a reactive manner, recruiting for a position when the need arises. While this approach seems logical (and probably worked for many years), today’s competitive candidate market demands a more proactive approach to recruitment. The post-and-pray method doesn’t seem to cut it anymore.

Related: 5 Talent Recruitment Trends You Need to Implement in 2018

The need for recruiting solutions to be proactive is higher today than ever. Unfortunately, the ‘time-to-hire’ metric, which is a key factor for many businesses, focuses on speed rather than quality. This makes companies consider candidates who might be willing to start early or those who are actively looking for a change.

However, they might not be the best candidates for the job. The best candidates, more often than not, might not even be actively searching on a job board.

While outsourcing to RPOs, building competency models and networking through conferences and job fairs are tried and true methods, here are a few other creative techniques you can employ to be more proactive in your recruitment solutions.

Dedicate time

Let your recruiters set aside time every week or two, to specifically focus on building the passive candidate base. They could reach out to candidates that they have not contacted in years, make a list of potential candidates from target companies, mine your internal candidate database, or get creative and try something else altogether to start building a candidate database.

Craft creative job descriptions

Think out-of-the-box and come up with verbiage that excites your potential candidates. Include sections like ‘best part of the job’, ‘what you’ll learn’, or even ‘worst part of the job’. Use a conversational tone. The more quirky and amusing the description is, the better the chances of candidates sitting up and taking notice.

Be more ‘open’

There is no better way to show candidates what it is like to work for you, than by inviting them over to your premises. You could organize open-house events, conferences, or even informal meet-and-greets where potential candidates would get to interact with some of your existing employees.

Establish an interactive employer brand

Sum up what aspects define you as a company and market it to candidates. Use social media to showcase your employee field trips during which families get to know one another. Post videos of what a typical workday looks like for employees, on your webpage. Design email campaigns that keep your talent community updated about your product launches, conferences, community service projects or any other events that you think might be of interest to your candidates.

Use big data

Utilize data analytics to predict your hiring needs and plan accordingly. Big data can help identify specific areas that require talent in the near future and can also help determine the best sources to find candidates with specific skill sets.

Hold your team accountable

It is important to keep your entire team accountable for their activities. Conduct daily or weekly team meetings to share ideas, understand priorities, design action plans and update one another on progress. This empowers team members and makes leaders be more in control.

Whatever techniques you employ, it is important to keep building that talent pipeline. Having a steady supply of candidates not only reduces your time-to-hire, lost productivity and workflow disruption, but also helps you stay ahead of the competition in the race for top talent.