How to create a strong business recruitment strategy

Creating a strong business recruitment strategy

Having a strong recruitment strategy is vital if you want to hire the best talent and attract the type of employees who will drive your business forward. There are many aspects of a good recruitment strategy and depending on the size of your business, you might have an in-house recruitment team, or you might outsource recruitment to specialists.

Here are some of the key elements of building an effective recruitment strategy:

Align to your business goals

To start with, you need to have a clear business strategy including how much you intend to grow. If you intend on growing over the next five years, you will need to plan out the recruitment to reach the numbers you need, at the required times. This is known as the employee base strategy and it is recommended that it is modified on an annual basis.

Choose the right recruiter

Another important step in developing a strong recruitment strategy is to work with the best recruitment partner for your needs. You should look for a company that specialises in recruiting for your industry and that offers straightforward recruitment services. Building a long term relationship with a recruiter is better than just approaching recruiters when you need to recruit, as they can build a better understanding of your business and the types of candidates you need.

Use the most relevant channels

Most recruiters will use the marketing channels that they feel are most relevant to find the type of candidates that you are looking for. If you have niche roles then you may need to advertise in the types of places you will find the niche skills. One of the opportunities is to use talent acquisition networks in addition to recruitment CRM software to make the exclusive database of candidates. Social media is a good way to share job adverts but you should choose the right channels based on the type of job you are advertising.

Identify skills gaps

In order to have the right people in the right roles, you should be monitoring any areas of skill gaps. If you have roles that are particularly difficult at recruiting, it might be a good idea to identify talented employees who could be trained in the required skills, rather than trying to recruit externally. A good recruiter should be able to find ways of attracting recruits for roles that are in high demand.

Develop the right culture

Another aspect of your business that impacts your recruitment strategy is your culture, as this will determine who is the right fit for your company. Building a company culture that people will feel motivated to join can help you to attract a higher calibre of candidates. For example, if your company has a reputation for having innovative employees and encouraging employees to come up with new ideas, the people who are looking for this culture will want to work for you.

Work on your company brand/image

Similarly, you also need to work on your company brand, so that potential candidates see your company name and they have positive thoughts about it. It is quite common for job seekers to use sites that provide reviews from previous employees and they will be influenced by what they read in the reviews.

Monitor the candidate experience

Having all of the right recruitment steps in place is essential but you also have to look at the process as one experience for candidates. Some parts of the recruitment process might be providing a really good candidate and other parts might let the process down, for example, not updating candidates on progress or not giving enough notice for interviews. 

Try to monitor the full candidate experience from start to finish, to see the impression that they are getting about your company. If there is an element that does not feel professional, you could lose quality candidates or candidates might tell others about a bad experience.

Spend time on developing the selection process

Developing the right selection process is key in finding the right people for the roles. The selection process should vary depending on the type of role, so some might require online assessments and others might require a presentation. The selection process should be tailored to evidence the skills and knowledge that you want your ideal candidate to be able to bring to your business.

It is also important to keep up to date with emerging recruitment trends and technology that can help to improve your recruitment strategy. Again, working with a quality recruitment agency should help to ensure that you are using the best techniques and recruitment strategies.