Recruiting is one of the more critical parts of running a successful business because without good employees, you have no business. Unfortunately, many treat recruiting as something you can do quickly without preparation and expect positive results. That haphazard approach to recruiting will not result in positive outcomes.
Adopting a different philosophy about recruiting and hiring employees can provide the edge necessary to get the best employees faster and for less money.
Start by understanding that recruiting is marketing and sales. Recruiting is an ongoing process to provide your company with a ready and available pool of qualified candidates. There are two key parts to this process.
First, the search for new employees needs to be an ongoing process. If you recruit only when a position is open, you will always be in a reactive mode. You must think of recruiting as selling supported by marketing. To get people to work for you, you must have a sales value proposition that causes them to want to work for your company. Successful recruiting doesn’t happen without planning and developing a good employment brand. Promoting that brand supports successful recruiting and motivates people to want to work for your company.
Second, you want to have a choice of qualified candidates. To have good qualified candidates, it is necessary to understand the business needs now and in the future and what skills and behaviors will be successful in your environment. Doing this will most likely require you to develop and execute a Workforce Planning strategy.
Both approaches are not done just because you need to do it today. They take effort. An effort that may require a significant change in your company in how it leads, develops, and compensates its workforce.
Knowing what to look for and never stop trying to find those people are the keys to successfully recruiting and hiring top employees.
Now that you understand what you must do, your next step is to develop a recruiting strategy. A comprehensive, step-by-step strategy dictates exactly how to develop your pool of qualified candidates. How much money to spend, where to look, who should do the recruiting, and the recruiting success metrics are just a few of the issues covered in a good strategy.
What is the best source for finding candidates? Only your imagination limits recruiting sources, and what works for one may not work for another. To successfully attract the right people involves using multiple sources. There isn’t one single source that works all the time. You must find those sources that work best for your company, industry, and the types of jobs you are recruiting for.
Your recruiting strategy should also have an employee referral component. An employee referral program is a common and productive source for quality candidates. Many studies have shown that candidates referred by your existing employees turn into consistently higher-performing employees. If your employees aren’t referring, it is vital to determine why.
Finding and attracting top employees is not free. There are costs in money, time, and resources. It is easy to throw money and time at recruiting without a return. The first step is to make sure to both plan for and track your recruiting expenses. Employee recruiting metrics include monitoring your spending and the results each activity delivers. Identifying those efforts that give you the greater return allows you the ability to more effectively plan your recruiting activities.
You can also use recruiting services to help with recruiting. These include headhunters, search firms, temporary staffing companies, consultants, and various online recruiting services.
You cannot leave your employee recruiting to chance. Plan your activities, measure the results, and have an ongoing strategy to keep the candidate pool full.