How to kickstart your 2016 recruitment strategy

The average cost of hiring a new employee is approximately £30,000. An expensive mistake if you get it wrong!

The idea of putting together a recruitment strategy may seem daunting at first. Put simply, it’s about defining what you want to do and what steps you will follow to achieve it. 

So, how do you plan a recruitment strategy and what should it include?

Who and why

Think about who you want and why. This should be linked to the company’s vision. For example, do you want to attract more clients? Or, increase the amount of business you get from your existing client base? Setting clear goals at the outset will determine who you need to hire. 

Are these goals long or short term? This will determine when the new member(s) of staff need to start, if they are will be employed full time or part time and if they will be employed on a permanent or contract basis. 

Where

Where are you going to find these people? Equally as important as the: who and why, but often not enough thought goes into it. Lack of research and planning can make this an expensive exercise. Get it right and you could find the next company superstar. 

There are numerous avenues you can use to find people: word of mouth, networking, advertising in local papers, trade press, job centres, job boards or using recruitment experts to find them for you. Online advertising can be very expensive, so if you plan to go down this route, thoroughly research which sites are best suited to the role. There are thousands of job boards out there, some generalist, some dedicated to certain areas. 

Go social! The term “social recruiting” is the buzz word of the moment. Simply, it is using social media sites and networks to attract people to work for you. Advertise the role(s) across the company’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ etc. pages. Encourage your followers to share it, retweet it etc. 

How

Write it right! Put in the time and effort to write an interesting, easy to read descriptive job description. If you put together a two line advert you then can’t be shocked if you get a poor response. A poorly written advert looks bad on you as a company and a brand. Clearly define what the role is, what the person will be doing, experience or skills needed and include a salary. The biggest turnoff for any job seeker is not knowing what they will be paid for doing the work.

Time is ticking! Be timely and efficient in responding to applicants. There is nothing more frustrating than applying for a role and not getting a reply for weeks or even not getting a response at all! Set a reasonable timescale for advertising the role, usually two to three weeks. After this, choose who you want to interview and contact them straight away. 

If you anticipate getting a large response, state in the advert that unsuccessful applicants will not be contacted. And if possible give a date for this. If they haven’t heard by this date, they know they haven’t been successful. 

Was it a winner? 

The final part of any strategy is measuring its success. Success can be measured in many ways: the number of respondents to an advert, the quality of the respondents, how many people you invite to interview etc. Longer term measures include; how well the person(s) fits into the company, how engaged they are with the brand and the other team members. If the company is sales driven, success can be measured in financial terms: productivity, hitting targets or the value of new business they bring in.

Emma Saldanha is marketing consultant at Maple Resourcing.

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