As companies experience business growth, it creates the need for adequate and competent hires. With new vacancies emerging constantly, Human Resources, Talent Acquisition and Hiring Managers face the challenge of attracting, hiring, and retaining the best candidates for each position.
This goal can quickly become challenging when the organization is unable to implement a viable recruitment strategy. Every organization, irrespective of size, must come up with an effective recruitment strategy to help target the skills and competencies it requires for corporate success.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A SUCCESSFUL RECRUITMENT STRATEGY
Having a proper recruitment strategy is vital for a growing business. The success of a business is a direct reflection of the capabilities and retention of its staff and the quality of services they deliver. Companies must also hire the right candidates who fit their culture and represent their core values.
The process of executing a successful recruiting process can be daunting without an effective structure in place. It can make the recruitment process expensive and time-consuming. Moreover, after investing considerable resources, going through the selection process, and scrambling to meet targets, the quality of hires is often not as expected.
The following are some essential elements for completing a successful recruiting process:
1. DEFINE YOUR RECRUITMENT OBJECTIVES
The first and most essential component of an effective recruitment strategy is to define recruitment goals. Companies may choose to engage more staff for a variety of reasons relating to different objectives.
The company may be experiencing market expansion, learning how to adapt to emerging workforce trends from its competition, or wanting to strengthen its existing operations by onboarding more workers. Whatever the objective is, recruitment objectives must be clearly defined.
2. PRIORITIZE ORGANIZATIONAL NEEDS
It may be challenging to fill up all positions available at a company with the best quality hires at the same time, as every candidate must be assessed adequately. Prioritizing various sections or departments at a time allows for a more effective exercise.
For this reason, companies may choose to carry out recruitment exercises in a sequential manner several times a year across various departments, business units, and experience levels.
3. EMPLOYEE BRANDING
An essential strategy for promoting your organization in a positive light is to invest in employee branding. Corporate branding can be a powerful tool for attracting top talent during the recruitment process.
When current employees are well catered to, it encourages them to become natural brand ambassadors. Organizations can use employee branding effectively by conducting brand training to promote its core values, improving employee communications, and offering incentives, such as employee perks and benefits.
4. TARGETING CANDIDATE CATEGORIES
Defining the categories of candidates to target during the recruitment process is a vital part of the overall onboarding strategy. Suitable candidates for relevant job positions fall into either of two categories – active and passive candidates.
Active candidates are unemployed individuals actively looking for jobs or currently employed individuals seeking better opportunities.
Passive candidates are currently employed individuals who are not actively seeking new opportunities. An organization may be looking to attract this category of potential employees, especially for their experience and expertise. Although it is generally harder to attract passive candidates, they might consider a move with effective employee branding, ample opportunities for career growth, and better remuneration packages.
Depending on the industry sector and skill set required, candidates may be more scarce and in demand which will influence the recruitment strategy and impact on the lead times required. The more competitive the area the more creative the recruitment strategy may need to be.
5. COMPREHENSIVE TALENT ASSESSMENT
A crucial part of any viable recruitment strategy is identifying and defining the skills and competencies desired in each hire. Completing this step will allow for effective time management and mitigation of risks, ultimately improving the recruitment process and success rate.
Talent assessment exercises can help organizations to quickly navigate through a large candidate pool and filter the best against their needs. Some steps involved in the screening process could include:
6. DEFINE CANDIDATE SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES
It is essential to clearly define the level of skills and experience of suitable candidates relative to a position to narrow down the talent pool. Doing this ensures that candidates are applying to the right jobs – those suited to their skills and competencies.
For an effective strategy, organizations should clearly state what experience level (entry-level, mid-level, experienced, etc.) of candidates they are searching for in their job advertisements. Required skills for each position should be specified as well.
7. UTILIZE RECRUITMENT TOOLS
For any recruitment process, it is essential for recruiters to use the proper tools for ease of execution. Every organization must map out a plan for sourcing new talent effectively.
Some effective channels to utilize include:
- Job fairs, networking events, and conferences to identify suitable talents
- Posting job ads in the media like the newspaper, radio, or television
- Headhunting via high-visibility social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook
- Using employee referrals
- Engaging the services of a recruitment process outsourcing agency/headhunting service
8. EMPLOYEE RETENTION
Having an employee retention plan is a significant part of any recruitment strategy, especially since the goal is to find, hire, and retain top talent.
Some ways to promote employee retention in organizations include:
- Ensuring consistency in communication
- Regular meetings e.g. quarterly to provide company wide updates and create an environment which is collaborative with a clear vision
- Providing seminars and learning opportunities for staff
- Encouraging and rewarding creativity and self-awareness in the workplace
- Creating a corporate culture with ample opportunities for personal, professional, and academic growth
- Actively seeking regular feedback via different channels such as anonymous surveys, and open communication from management to individual workers
- Holding exit interviews to better understand leaver rationale along with behavior and mindset to improve best practices
9. ENGAGING PROFESSIONAL RECRUITMENT SERVICES WITH RPO
One of the best ways to ensure an effective recruitment strategy is to use recruitment process outsourcing (RPO). This is where an organization outsources part of all of its recruitment and talent acquisition needs to an external provider. The benefits include cost control, governance, and consistent brand messaging; all whilst ensuring access to top talent. RPO providers offer extensive experience in the talent acquisition process and can take up entire recruitment processes within organizations.
