Insight: Improving Recruiting Effectiveness
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In the end, your most dominant sustainable resource is the quality of people you have.
-Howard Stevenson, professor of Entrepreneurial Management, Harvard Business School

Recruiting the right people in a timely manner is a critical element of success for companies. Growth, revenues and reputation may be at risk. Have you recently looked at how effectively you are staffing your operations? Do you know where you are having problems in finding people? In hiring them? In retaining them after you hire? How much all this is costing you? What sources of help you can use effectively?

Improving recruiting is not an exploration of the unknown. The basics are well understood. However, many operations fail to take the time to do the basics well. You can hire effectively if you are really willing to make the commitment to do so. The basics include:
  • defining what each position's critical elements are and what it takes to succeed in the position
  • learning how to interview so that you know whether the person has the needed skills and abilities to succeed
  • expanding your sources and management of qualified candidates
  • getting the right help at the right time and price to help you hire the right people quickly
  • understanding that both you and the candidate have to make a good choice
  • checking applicant references and background thoroughly.

Need help in assessing or improving your recruiting efforts? There are many options.

Have you assessed your current means of attracting candidates to ensure you are using a wide range of the most effective sources? Do you 'mine' incoming and previously received resumes and applicants' references for other candidates' names? Do you have effective applicant tracking and candidate management systems?

If you have a lot of positions open, you can do more than just call the agencies/temp companies. You can run an open house for candidates or participate in job fairs. You may want to hire a contract recruiter for a short to medium term to run or add support to the recruiting process. This will improve candidate flow and help managers get through the process so they can get to the hiring. Are your managers trained to hire effectively?

Outplacement firms and community-based organizations match your needs to their clients' abilities and provide free referrals. So do state employment services. Many professional and university groups offer referral services at relatively low cost.

Employees who are happy with their employers are a good source of referrals. An employee referral bonus plan with a lot of fun even with limited costs can encourage this.

A senior level position, especially one that is highly confidential, may be more appropriately handled through an executive search firm. A newly created position or one in a new business area might be a good place for an interim executive.