Photo by Mark Fletcher-Brown on Unsplash
Having previously discussed the changing nature of recruitment, the difference between recruitment and talent acquisition, and what elements make up a talent acquisition strategy, Jo is here to answer the key questions that she gets around when, how, and why.
Can you tell us when a business usually starts to pay more attention to recruitment and why they typically reach out for help from an expert?
First of all, a business can be at a variety of stages before it starts to apply strategic direction to recruitment. SMEs find it difficult when their network stops offering up suitable people, meaning their recruitment spend goes up without the guarantee of them knowing what that person can do, meaning it’s deemed a bigger risk. Larger businesses tend to have vacancies coming out of their ears and get caught in firefighting mode meaning they have no one taking an overarching viewpoint or giving focus on the things that need focus. When your business expands into new product areas, new verticals or new regions and territories is also a key time to re-evaluate your approach.
The two examples alone (and there are more!) tend to result in you really needing to take a step back and come up with a plan.
When would you suggest a client sets up a talent acquisition plan?
Asap! It is something that needs to be considered on an annual basis and reviewed on a quarterly and monthly basis. The average recruitment campaign from launch to securing a candidate is six weeks. If you’ve pre-planned this there’s more chance of things going as you hope, but if all is unforeseen and you don’t have a strategy in place that’s when you are reliant more on a bit of luck and risk leaving vacancies open too long and it impacting on workload and your people. It’s worth also considering that a lot of rail companies’ recruitment is probably linked to contract wins – CP7 as the current example. With this in mind, having a clear talent acquisition strategy can be key here to getting the staff you want. We’ve talked with a number of businesses about this recently so they know what they need to do or to discuss how we can provide a full talent acquisition service quickly and efficiently.
So how do you get started?
There are a number of things that can be done, and I’ve given some tips below:
What are your business objectives?
A talent acquisition strategy will involve both strategic objectives (one-to-three-year plans) and tactical objectives (shorter-term actions required to carry out strategic objectives). Where possible we want recruitment decisions to be proactive rather than reactive. We’d previously talked about the importance of workforce planning, and this helps a business to get an understanding of requirements for current and future hiring needs. This will need to be closely linked to company goals. Are you looking to grow revenue? Expand into a new market? What staffing will this require?
Having this plan means you can pre-empt recruitment requirements and also get the ‘best value’ from your recruitment by having a range of choices for getting new staff.
Define employer brand
Your employer brand is your shop window and your most important attraction tool. It’s how you present yourself; your culture, what differentiates you, and your reputation. This is something we talk about a lot as it’s your ‘why’. Why would top talent choose to come and work for you? Why would top talent choose you over a competitor?
Companies often have an idea of what differentiates them and that’s great, but does this really reflect you? A good tip here is to carry out regular employer surveys. This can look at ‘employee happiness’ and help you review what staff like and what you should use as your USPs (unique selling points).
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