Strategic Hiring: Do You Know What Your True Recruiting Needs Are?

Turnover in the average American company is approximately 25 percent. This means that on average employers are renewing their entire workforce every four years. Is it any wonder that as a nation we’ve lagged behind in the war for global business dominance?

To stay ahead of the hiring game and build your competitive status, you need to do better. This means changing the way you think, plan and operate when it comes to your recruitment process. The key to long-term success is thinking as strategically about your hiring needs as you do about any other crucial business function.

Strategic Hiring Defined

Strategic recruitment means hiring people not just to fill today’s job openings, but to effectively populate your organization for long-term success. It’s a corporate mindset that will guide you through the hiring process and deliver optimal results. In a nutshell, it involves looking at your current and future workforce through a broader lens, continually asking, “How will they help achieve the company’s business goals?”

When effectively planned and implemented, strategic hiring will transform your talent management perspective and reinforce your bench strength.

Strategic Hiring Practices: How to Create a Plan

If you want to win the hiring game, it may be necessary to redefine the rules. For superior results, here is how to focus your efforts:

• Define your process. Illustrate your brand message and spell out your closing strategy. Be sure your process is adaptable in the event that the economy or demand for candidates change.
• Take a pipeline approach. Build and maintain a steady stream of candidates via a “pre-need” mindset that encompasses workforce planning, branding, and continuous sourcing and onboarding.
• Monitor the competition. Conduct side-by-side assessments to see where your talent picture stands in comparison to that of your competition.
• Brand your organization as an excellent place to work. Make it simple for potential candidates to recognize the factors that make working for your company their top priority.
• Target passive candidates. These are performers in the top five to 10 percent of their professions. They don’t circulate resumes or read want ads. They conduct confidential, network-based job searches.  Have the resources to attract them and successfully seal the deal.
• Build your sourcing strength. If you don’t take advantage of sources that attract a high percentage of A-level talent, it’s unlikely you’ll make a quality hire. The most effective source is employee referral, followed by recruitment via networking and at professional events. Cultivate these opportunities.
• Make data-based decisions. Base your plans regarding sources, screening tools and candidate selection on facts and data versus emotion or common practices. This eliminates bias and leads to more reliable results.
• Create a recruiting culture. Make every employee a 24/7 recruiter. By virtue of their continuous contact and interaction with outside talent, they play a vital role as brand ambassadors.
• Take a candidate-centric approach. Focus recruitment on candidates’ needs and criteria. Follow a customer relationship management (CRM) model. After all, what is a candidate but a current or future customer who could impact your reputation or revenue? A leading reason prospects reject job offers is the way they are treated during the hiring process.
• Set your priorities. Focus efforts on positions with the greatest business impact; that is, revenue-producing functions and jobs in high-margin and rapid-growth areas. Target employees who are top performers, innovators and game changers.
• Practice diversity and inclusiveness. It’s the right thing to do. These are not just business and legal terms, but also critical components in ramping up global results.

The recruitment experts at BrainWorks can partner with you to develop your best hiring plans and strategies this year and beyond. Read our related posts or contact us today.