Finding, hiring, and onboarding the best talent isn’t only necessary to keep a thriving workforce and help your business succeed, because it’s essential to reduce expense and labor waste, too. 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.
Once you’ve built your plan, the next question is: How much internal staffing do you need to hit your hiring goals this year? Use IQTalent Partner’s Recruiting Resource Calculator to figure it out.
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. Some of the benefits of a successful recruitment and selection plan include:
- less time and money spent on hiring, training, and development
- a better overall “fit” between the workers you hire and your existing teams
- less frustration for your hiring managers and teams
- lower employee turnover and higher company morale
Most businesses cannot afford to make mistakes with their recruitment plan. Any of the above perks are worthwhile reasons to make your plan a priority.
Creating a Successful Recruitment Plan
Your recruitment plan can be as unique as you want it to be, but most follow a general set of widely accepted steps that include four major ones. What does a recruitment plan look like? In this section, you can view the most common phases to see how yours compares, and also see what changes you may need to make in your existing processes before you start the hiring process.
Your recruitment process steps should be done in order so that you get the most from your hiring strategy. Most qualified human resources professionals and recruiters use a version of these. 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 a well-developed hiring team or professionals recruiters 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. Get input from the people doing the job, as well as their direct supervisors, so you know what the job would look like on paper.
If you don’t have written job descriptions for all the roles in your business, now is a perfect time to create them—especially before you need to hire a new employee. You can use our tips on how to write a job description to get you started.
2. Conduct a Skills Gap Analysis
A skills gap analysis is crucial in ensuring your current staff meets the requirements of your current business demands. What is a skills gap analysis? It is a somewhat technical way of asking, “can our people perform their jobs?” with some guidance on how to identify opportunities for improvement.
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.
Productivity metrics, for example, can tell you how many more employees are needed to get to your benchmarks in a timely manner. Don’t skip the opportunity to ask your human resources department, hiring teams, and recruiters for their input as well. They may be able to help you create a matrix or spreadsheet to document your hiring goals in an easy-to-read format that’s accessible to both managers and hiring teams.
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. Here’s more on what to look for in an ATS.
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.
This party helps spur a concentrated effort of sourcing — and it provides a fun environment for employees to spend time together.
Pro tip: 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.
Be sure to include input from candidates as well, because they can clue you in to major missteps before they become problematic for your company. These reviews can tell you if you’re communicating well internally, following legal guidelines, and setting the right tone with job seekers. If you see something that needs to be addressed, don’t hesitate to rectify it before the next version of your recruitment process is approved.
Your Own Recruitment Plan
There’s usually no reason to create any hiring tool from scratch. Many hiring professionals turn to Comeet to get them started, allowing them to customize and adapt as needed for their unique company and talent goals. Even for seasoned pros, it can ensure that you don’t skip any essential steps or create additional work where it isn’t needed. Learn how you can get started with our intuitive tools today.
