Will you be ready to recruit when the recession ends? Part 1

No one will deny it is a tricky time for any profession right now, but being in Recruiting is especially challenging. Many people automatically assume recruiting has stopped. Though this may be true in many hard hit areas, in some companies recruiting is still going at full throttle. Despite all the doom and gloom,there are some recruiting bright spots -- health care and the public sector have experienced growth, as well as some graduate programmes.

There will always be attrition and key roles to fill in all companies. Despite the news, there is recruiting to be had. You just need to keep in mind that the current climate requires a different and more refined approach. Use this time to regroup and have a good think about what makes up good recruiting, and then act accordingly.

The most important action you can take now is to be ready for an economic upswing.

1. Take stock and evaluate your situation. It’s impossible to predict exactly what’s around the corner so try to know exactly where you stand. Be proactive and talk with those closest to the pulse of your company, such as business unit and sales directors, to understand their take on when things are likely to pick up again. Look to the leaders in your industry and monitor what they are doing and saying. Prepare your case for having the right resources in place ready for the upturn. Take into account the amount of time it requires to bring new employees up-to-speed. Hiring needs to take place before an upswing, so you are ready to fire on all cylinders.
    Also, do you really need a blanket hiring freeze? Will wiping out your entire recruitment team really save you? An in-house recruiter knows your company inside and out, and produces better candidates. Figure out when you think you might be hiring again, and compute how much it would cost to ramp up from scratch. The answer should help you make an informed decision.
2. Prioritise
   Once you have taken stock, prioritise and revise your targets. Focus on high-impact areas. Identify what works, and ruthlessly drop the rest. Conduct an internal assessment and eliminate inefficient processes. Do you need to continue doing something just because “that’s the way we’ve always done it?”
   Do you know which sources are working for you? Is it Monster? Referrals? That niche job board? An eRecruitment System can help you to pinpoint profitable sources in a mouse click. Now is NOT the time to experiment with unproven sourcing strategies.
3. Turn the recruitment department into the redeployment department
   Do you have employees in unprofitable areas that can make a better impact in a high profit area?  Can you redeploy them? This strategy is sometimes called “Talent Swapping” and relies on constantly re-evaluating top positions and replacing them with stronger performers if necessary. Focusing on internal moves can help you to get the most out of the resources you already have in place.
4. Use technology!
   Technology budgets are likely to be frozen or significantly reduced during a recession, forcing you to focus on “must haves”, such as an eRecruitment System. Use any budget you have now before it goes away. There have been great strides in recruitment technology in the past year, including the availability of high impact, low costs recruiting options. You owe it to yourself and your company to check them out.
5. Referrals are king
    In times like these, referrals should be a top focus. There are so many reasons referrals are a good option -- the quality of the candidate is higher, there is a lower cost associated with referrals (no high agency fees), and since referrals come from your community of friends, they tend to be a known entity, rather than a lucky guess.
6. Prepare to be inundated with applications
   Lots of redundancies mean lots of people looking for work. Be ready for an avalanche of applications. This may seem like a blessing, but can you properly process and handle a multitude of CVs? An eRecruitment System is the key to making sure nothing slips through the cracks and that you find the best candidate for the position.

Look for more tips next week...

-Susannah

Comments

[Neil]

Never turn down a great software engineer because they happen to have played with the wrong toys. I mean, they haven't used the exact tools that your job has specified.

Do not take someone over-qualified for the job either or they'll get bored and leave. By that, I mean do not look for the greatest guru in a language just to maintain an existing code base written in it. Many of us would rather work on greenfield projects in a different language even for a lot less money, and we'd do a better job in it because of our general software engineering expertise.

Look at what Joel has to say about it: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000006.html