The Federal Reserve upgraded its assessment of the U.S. economy to “strong,” and unemployment rates are at record lows in many places. This is great news overall. However, it can pose a challenge for companies looking to hire great people.

I’ve been fortunate to be able to speak with many leaders over the years about good hiring practices and thought it might be a good time to share some of my favorite strategies.

— Create an internal team of recruiters instead of treating recruitment as a separate function and treating these people as business partners. People inside your company know better than anyone else the skills and behavior needed.

— Let employees know you’re looking for someone. They can be a great source of referrals. When I worked with companies, I recommended they meet with new employees after 30 days and again 60 days after their hire date to re-recruit them. One of the questions I had them ask is if they knew anyone from their old job who would be a valuable addition to the team. By then, they can tell others what it’s like to work there.

— Don’t recruit just when you need someone. Build up a bench of potential talent. Interview likely candidates even if there is no job available yet. Then when you are ready to hire, it will be easy to make a great selection.

— Cross train when you can. This gives you more flexibility, as some positions may be easier to fill than others. Employees may be willing to move around to other jobs inside the company to help fill empty positions.

— Develop your bench. Look at the talent you have and what you think you might need later and train with that in mind. Employees promoted internally have a significantly lower failure rate than external hires. 

— Ask around (and keep recruitment on your daily calendar). Tell people you’re looking for a good employee and be specific about what you’re looking for. You’ll find people really want to help, and they’ll often put some thought into it. Make a point to talk to everyone: vendors, clients, friends, etc. Invest a few minutes every day so the issue doesn’t fall off the radar.

— Keep your eyes open for great workers. A friend of mine was shopping, and the salesperson was terrific (personable, service-oriented, etc.). She asked the salesperson if she had ever considered working in PR. She told her she would be great at it and would not have to work evenings and weekends. The salesperson jumped at the chance and quickly became an account manager at the agency.

— Partner with other business owners to exchange/refer talent. You can’t hire everyone who comes your way, but you can send them to other companies. They will appreciate it and they will return the favor.

What Not to Do:

— Don’t rush to hire people. Be careful not to hire people who aren’t really a good fit for your culture or don’t really have the right skill set. Make sure your selection process achieves what you are trying to create. If you use focus groups, mix them up so they don’t all look the same. People tend to hire people who are most like them. While you want a culture fit, you don’t want everyone to look the same.

— Don’t overpay to get someone. Be fair and competitive, but if you overpay, you will eventually become resentful, and they might leave to join the next highest bidder.

— Don’t forget about retention. Don’t focus so hard on attracting talent that you take your eye off retaining the talent you already have. Treat them well and keep them engaged. They may be getting pursued by other companies. Take good care of them!

The most important thing you can do to attract good people is to make sure your company is a great place to work. If there are glaring problems in your organization, make it a priority to fix them. When people are engaged, challenged, and given meaningful jobs to do, the best candidates will choose you out of all the possibilities in a tight job market (and your current employees will stick with you)!