Planning and process is the key to successful recruitment

Your people drive the success or failure of your company, so it is essential to analyse and plan this core aspect of your business.

What is recruitment planning?

Recruitment planning is similar to developing a business plan, but far simpler. It is a way for your business to analyse its people and skills requirements, both in the short term and for the future. The plan will help you identify skills gaps, flag up existing employees who may potentially leave and need to be replaced, as well as detail future leadership pathways.

Recruitment planning will help ensure you find the right person for your job openings, and protect your organisation from the cost of bad recruitment decisions, which can be very high, in terms of both time and money.

In this blog we share a few pointers to help make sure your business can put an effective recruitment plan in place.

Define your recruitment goals

A recruitment plan should be based on your business goals.  For example, are you planning to expand or change your business, now or in the near future?  What skills will be required for your organisation to reach key business goals and objectives?

Once you have clarity on this, you should then establish specific recruitment goals which are aligned to the company’s strategic objective.

Some examples of recruitment goals:

• Attracting higher calibre candidates
• Attracting candidates with specific skills, that currently you do not have in your organisation
• Raise the profile of your company as a great place to work
• Find candidates that are a better fit with your organisations culture and values

Employing people who are less than dedicated to your business can compromise customer experiences, your recruitment plan should give you a clear idea of what is important to your business and exactly how your people can help you achieve that.

Review job design and job descriptions

Employees are required to perform an increasingly diverse range of tasks in their day-to-day work, so it is essential that job design will enable your employees to respond to organisational needs quickly and effectively, without unnecessary restrictions.

Take time to review the job descriptions for roles within your organisation. They may need to be altered or updated since the last person in that role was hired. You may need to create an entirely new job description as the organisation has developed and evolved. Ask the previous person who worked in the position for insight on how the job description could be improved.

Consider external perceptions of your workplace

The way you recruit and select affects your business’ image as an employer. A well-planned process ensures your business can always be portrayed as an ‘employer of choice’, attracting better candidates, who are talented, motivated and the right fit for your organisation.

Planning ahead will increase the quality of your recruitment process, minimising costly hiring mistakes and ensuring your business is well-equipped for future growth.