Why is it that when the time comes to evaluate the organization's recruitment strategy, it turns into a last-ditch effort? Is it because recruiting is one of those things that many companies still have mixed feelings about or is it a lack of focus or strategy?
Companies who do not assess their recruiting strategies on a regular basis can find themselves scrambling when the time comes to evaluate ROI. Often they sift through whatever data they can get their hands on. This haphazard approach is not only inefficient, but can be an inaccurate representation of the true effectiveness of the actual recruitment program.
So why is this methodology more common than not? On the one hand, most companies would say, “We want to hire the best and the brightest.” While on the other hand, developing a recruitment strategy lands within an over-worked human resource team, often the generalist level, and more often without serious investment. The result, the recruitment department is left to fend for itself.
Two major issues with corporate recruiting
Over the years, I have seen companies try to figure out recruiting based on the economy, technology, their industry or their business conditions. And it’s no easy task. Nowadays when things change, they tend to change quickly and in unpredictable ways.
As if keeping up with recruiting technology wasn't difficult enough, now a strong focus on employment branding has been thrown into the mix. These, among various other factors, only add to the headaches of trying to figure out what an internal recruiting strategy should look like.
Scalability
What are you supposed to do when they tell you to hire 20 people, no, scale that back to 10, only hire five, and then, oh yeah, we will need those other 10 people after all? Or, when you have the budget to hire (along with everyone else) and you can’t find enough people? Or when there’s a complete hiring freeze, but it could get lifted at any time.
Workforce Planning
We did a workforce planning survey and guess what? Most companies don’t really do a good job of planning. Shocking, I know. If you are in recruiting, this is no surprise. If there’s no planning and no investment, there’s no return. So recruiting is all reactive.
4 Critical Elements of a Successful Recruitment Strategy
If you want to get serious about recruiting, then you need to have the right staffing solutions in place to get the whole job done. Consider these four critical elements to determine whether your recruitment strategy is set up for success.
1. Expertise
Do you have the internal expertise to recruit for the critical jobs you need? This can be technology, specific knowledge of the industry you are recruiting for, the right employment branding, or really any other areas where recruiting can be difficult.
2. Resources
Do you have enough resources to fill the number of jobs you have? It takes time and people. Do you have enough of either? If not, you might want to consider which staffing solutions are the right fit for your organization right now.
3. Technology
Are you properly leveraging technology? Everyone has access to job boards. Most have some sort of Applicant Tracking System (ATS). But are you really using them to their fullest potential and to your advantage? Are you using the right ones? Are you leveraging the data from your technology in your planning? This task alone is more than one person in HR can handle
4, The Experience
What kind of experience are job seekers having with your company? Are you effectively using your employment brand to market yourself to the right candidates? What about onboarding? Are there efficient processes in place that leave candidates with a good impression, or do you lose people in the process?
If you feel like your recruitment strategy is non-existent, take a look at what you have, what you are trying to accomplish and the critical elements above. Chances are, it’s not you, it’s just you haven’t been given the resources to evaluate and execute a successful recruitment strategy.
About the Author: This blog was written by Matt Rivera. Matt serves as Vice President,
