Finding, hiring, and onboarding the best talent is necessary to keep a thriving workforce and help your business succeed. See why a recruitment plan is a critical tool in modern business and what you can do to optimize yours before your next hiring spree.
What is a Recruitment Plan?
A recruitment plan is a proactive approach toward aligning your company values and goals with your human resources processes to get that perfect match as you search for new employees. If done correctly, you’ll see a smaller gap between the worker you need and the worker you get. It’s a strategic move that can evolve over time and requires many adjustments to keep it relevant to your current employee roles and the success metrics you hope to accomplish now—and in the years to come.
Why is a Recruitment Plan Important?
People make a business work, and without the right people, it’s safe to assume that your company won’t see maximum profits and productivity. Most businesses cannot afford to make mistakes with their recruitment plan. Perks from planning include spending less time and money on hiring, training, and development while getting a better overall “fit” between the workers you hire and your existing teams. Such perks are the reason it is worthwhile to make your plan a priority.
Creating a Successful Recruitment Plan
Your recruitment process steps should be done in order so that you get the most from your hiring strategy. Some steps will take longer or need to be revisited more than once. As time goes on, you may find that some steps become easier with each run-through, especially if the well-developed hiring team and professionals recruiters from NetworkESC were influential in designing them. Follow these steps for a recruitment strategy that levels up your hiring:
1. Revise Your Job Descriptions
Even if a specific role has been part of your company since day one, the job description should get a refresher as often as needed to accurately reflect the duties, challenges, and requirements to do it well.
2. Conduct a Skills Gap Analysis
Start by looking at the skill requirements you’ll have in six months, one year, and even five years down the road. Does your staff have what it takes to meet them? If not, it may be a training issue. More often than not, however, it will reveal a need for you to supplement the current staff with some fresh faces who already have the desired skills and are prepared to meet future demands. Prioritize the most pressing needs before staffing for areas that won’t be needed for a year or more.
3. Visualize Your Hiring Activity
In addition to the skills gap analysis, there’s another, more visual way to see where you’ll need to hire. Use your larger existing sales, productivity, or revenue goals and drill down to an employee level to see if growing goals are even attainable. If they are not, this should tell you that hiring more people is a must.
4. Use the Right Recruitment Tools
Recruitment tools can help streamline your recruitment process, from creating the job description to posting on job boards and LinkedIn, to on-boarding your new hire. Look for an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) that can automate manual workflows; increase collaboration between recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates; and be used from start to finish when hiring.
5. Consider Referrals and Be Creative about It!
To motivate employees to submit referrals, your recruiting department could also host a LinkedIn Party. The concept is simple: Invite employees to a gathering of some sort. It can be as simple or elaborate as your timing, resources, and budget allow. But at a minimum, consider offering drinks and snacks. During the gathering, each attendee signs onto LinkedIn and contacts friends, acquaintances, and former coworkers that may be relevant candidates for your open positions. Consider offering a prize to the employee that reaches out to the most people during the party.
6. Set up a Recruitment Budget
Your recruitment budget helps set parameters on everything from the job boards you use to the sourcing methods and interview approaches. Invest time in setting your budget with HR leaders and company leaders. For each open role, review your budget for the position with the hiring team. That way, there won’t be any surprises throughout the hiring process.
7. Revamp Your Hiring Process
Never miss an opportunity to truly assess how you hire. Use basic survey tools, feedback forms, and personal one-on-ones to gather information about how the recruiting plans have been going for you to date.
We Can Help with Your Recruitment Plan
There’s usually no reason to create any hiring tool from scratch. Many hiring professionals turn to NetworkESC to get them started, allowing them to customize and adapt as needed for their unique company and talent goals. Reach out to our team today to learn how we can help!