The practice of searching for talent is one that desperately cries out to be reinvented. The tried-and-true methods used in the past just do not work well anymore. What are those tried-and-true methods? What are some new, fresh approaches to sourcing talent? This article addresses these two simple questions.
Traditional Recruiting Approaches
If you have ever read a college textbook on human resources, you know the mainstream view of recruiting. Employers should use websites (so-called e-recruiting), newspaper advertising, radio and television advertising, signs (such as “help wanted”), search firms, government agencies that help to place the unemployed, on-campus recruiting in schools, job training programs, advertising in industry and trade publications, and employee referrals to source talent. Research on recruiting demonstrates that some approaches have better results than others, depending on the size of the employer and what goals for recruiting the employer seeks to achieve. The most discussed topic right now in recruiting circles is how to use mobile devices, such as cell phones, Ipads,and social media (like YouTube, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook, and so forth), to enhance traditional recruiting methods in a bid to reach younger employees who favor such approaches. The latter approach is called “mobile recruiting.”
A New Take on Recruiting
Traditional approaches to recruiting—including the more popular approaches such as e-recruiting and mobile recruiting—beg to be reinvented. The reason: if your organization does what every other organization does, then your organization is competing for talent directly with more famous companies. Workers are not stupid: they prefer to work for more famous companies because they know it will enhance their lifetime career prospects. So, if you are competing directly with Apple or Microsoft, you can expect to lose out every time. Famous companies probably have more staff and more money than your organization does to devote to recruiting top-flight talent.
So, what is the alternative? The answer: in your organization, you must think smarter rather than work harder.
Here are a few tips.
First, recruit all the time and not just when your firm has an opening. If you recruit only when openings exist, that means your firm has to establish a market presence every time you have an opening. That leads to delays in finding the talent. So, make recruiting a continuous activity. After all, candidate pools date rapidly. People who want jobs and are well-qualified find them fast. So, keep the fires burning for people to find your firm at all times.
Second, find out what attracts and keeps people at your firm. (Some people call this employment branding.) While many organizations do exit interview of departing employees, fewer firms do focus groups and interviews to find out what attracted people to the organization to begin with and why they stay. Do that by finding out what excites and energizes people about their work and what makes them proud of their organization. Take care to separately discover what attracted and keeps your high potential talent compared to your average workers. Then use that information to craft recruiting messages to attract like-minded people.
Third, take steps to establish a recruiting strategy. That’s right: you need a strategic plan to drive your recruiting efforts. Set priorities and assign resources to recruiting. Don’t make it an afterthought.
Conclusion
The War for Talent is heating up. Employers are recruiting for talent not just within the confines of their own domestic markets but globally. And the number of people in the traditional younger age groups, typical entry-level employees, is actually declining worldwide. Forward-thinking leaders and HR professionals will be thinking hard about creative ways to reinvent traditional recruiting methods.
Biosketch of the Author
William J. Rothwell, Ph.D., SPHR is President of his own consulting firm, Rothwell and Associates, Inc. (see www.rothwellandassociates.com). He is also a Professor at the #1 ranked academic program on training and development in the USA. His recent books include Talent management: An action-oriented step-by-step approach (HRD Press, 2012), The encyclopedia of human resource management, 3 vols (Pfeiffer, 2012), and Lean but agile: Rethink workforce planning to gain a true competitive advantage (AMACOM, 2012). He will be in Manila this August 8-10 for a Pennsylvania State University Certificate Program in Talent and Human Resource Development organized by ITD Consulting Group. Feel free to contact (632) 887-7428, (63) 915-4974559, or email itdmanila@itdworld.com for details.
