building a recruitment plan.

Today’s business landscape has undergone a transformative change with respect to sourcing and recruitment. Newer methods of attracting talent are neutralised by newer challenges that constrain recruitment effectiveness.

Key among the challenges are swift recruitment of people, paucity of right skilled and experienced people and the high cost of both recruiting and losing people. Add to this the emergence of the multi-generational workplace, multi-skill and niche skill requirements – the time is ripe to acknowledge that a well-founded and different recruitment strategy is required for today’s dynamic business scene. The essentials of such a recruitment strategy rest on four broad pillars:

Multi-dimensional research

In the VUCA world, meticulous preparation has to be the foundation of a successful and competitive recruitment strategy. Research should be multi-pronged in its approach and should be done to fulfill the following:

• Create candidate personas - a generic list of traits you want in your recruits
• Find the right channels to source the right candidates. This may be a combination of generic traits you need in your recruits, skills required to perform a job and seniority.
• Enhance the employer brand

Immaculate planning

With a strong foundation of research, it is imperative to create a recruitment calendar for a period of one year that includes the forecasted skill segments, effective channels of recruitment and candidate engagement to handle the forecasted demands.

This will require close collaboration with the business leaders and scrutiny of the changing workforce so that the right agile processes are put in place.

Measure for success

Consistent measurement of outcomes is a must to understand if the organisation is proceeding along the right lines. Metrics of success should include:

• Cost per hire and the savings effected
• Quality of hire
• Time to hire

Marketing – A critical component to building a successful employer brand

To attract the best candidates, differentiation from competition is a must. The Talent acquisition team needs marketing as a strategic partner. According to research, best-of-breed companies are 68 percent more likely to involve marketing in employer branding initiatives. Recruitment marketing can help:

• Present relevant content to active and passive prospects to sustain interest
• Use insights to improve communications and interactions
• Create talent communities

A good and comprehensive recruitment strategy will relentlessly focus on supporting and driving the organisation’s business strategies. It requires commitment of both, business leaders and HR managers to create an energetic workplace that attracts the best professionals. Continuous review of the recruitment strategies and policies is a must to develop the flexibility needed to adapt to changing conditions.