Employee Recruiting Strategy - Your Secret Weapon

Employee recruiting can be a time-draining, money-sucking activity if you don't approach it strategically. You have all run an ad and been inundated with unqualified people who eat up your time and resources.

It doesn't have to be this way.

The key to effective employee recruiting is having a recruitment strategy that fits your time, budget and company. You certainly wouldn't run off and try to sell without having a plan. The same goes for recruiting new employees.

There are 4 key components to a good recruiting strategy:

• Budget
• Timing
• Resources
• Availability

Let's talk about each one in turn.

Budget

Much of your recruiting will be dictated by your budget. You can always throw many at your recruiting problem but, if you're like me, you certainly don't want to do that. Start by determining how much you can or will spend on recruiting. The more you are willing to spend, the more options you have.

You cannot use an outside recruiting firm (headhunter) if you don't have a budget. You can only advertise in certain places if you budget is small.

I am not suggesting you should spend a lot of money on recruiting. But, there is a cost associated with recruiting good employees and you have to plan for it as part of your recruiting strategy.

Timing

Did one of your top employees recently resign? Or are you out in front of an expansion or new project? Is your position a replacement or an addition? The answer will weigh heavily on your strategy.

A replacement immediately puts you in react mode and eliminates some of the recruiting options that take longer, think advertising in a trade journal. Your choices of candidate sources may be limited by how long it takes to get a response.

When you are adding someone new to your staff, you have the option to start recruiting much earlier in the process. The number and types of recruiting sources are not limited by time.

Resources

Who is going to do the recruiting? Too often recruiting gets shuffled to the back of the to-do list and then you wonder why it takes too long and costs too much. Recruiting takes resources. Candidates don't miraculously appear at your doorstep.

Do you have the time to spend on recruiting? Is there someone on your staff who can and will do the recruiting? Do you have outside sources (headhunters, consultants) who can do the work if you can't? These are some of the questions you need to ask when you are building your recruitment strategy.

Availability

How many people are there that can do your job? What is the current employment situation? Are there geographical concentrations of the people you are looking for? How much competition is there for the available people?

In addition to the answers to these questions, you need to factor in your compensation plan. How well you pay will affect your ability to recruit top performing employees.

And finally, what is your company's reputation? The better your reputation, the easier it is to recruit. Candidate's will beat a path to your door when you are viewed as a great place to work.

Start your employee recruiting by developing a recruitment strategy. Answer the questions raised in this article and your odds of attracting the best employees, in a reasonable time and without breaking the bank, go up tremendously.

Return to Employee Recruiting Article