One of the most challenging tasks for any manager or human resource professional is identifying the right candidate for a position that needs to be filled in an organization. The difficulty within the recruitment process concerns attracting potential employees, weeding through stacks of job applications and resumes, forming a short list of good candidates and then following through with interviews. While recruitment can be tough and tricky, there are ways to make it easier and less stressful.
Recruitment Challenges
Whether you’re a recruiting pro or a new manager, there are certain factors that you may not be able to control. The economy is one of them. It’s always changing and is subjected to countless variables that are far beyond our control. The political landscape and state and federal policies and programs can make recruitment easier or more difficult. Other recruitment challenges include:
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Competition from competitors
- Corporate decisions
- Budgets
- Existing policies and procedures
Looking for the “Best Fit”
The whole point of recruitment is to find the best candidate for the job, right? This doesn’t necessarily mean the “most qualified”. Instead, the real objective of recruiting is to find the best fit for the job, the workplace, and corporate culture. In today’s hyper-competitive, high-turnover job market, you need to take a serious look at what has worked in the past and learn about the latest best practices in recruitment.
Important Questions Concerning Recruitment
After reviewing what has worked in the past and researching newer methods of recruitment, ask yourself the following questions to gain greater clarity before your next recruiting effort kicks off.
- What is today’s current unemployment rate?
- Is it an employees’ market or do I have the upper hand?
- Do we really need to fill this job right now or can it wait?
- Do we have an existing employee who is a better fit than the one that left?
- Should I look for gig workers or temps?
- How much is the overall recruitment process costing us and can we look for areas where we can save money?
- What is our competition doing to recruit good job candidates?
- Do we have a good social media presence?
- Does our company website look inviting or appealing to people looking for work?
- Does our website work on mobile devices?
- Is our application process simple and easy?
Final Thoughts on Recruitment
The job market is influenced by so many factors, it makes me dizzy! A good recruitment program can be effective in any kind of economic or political climate. It can be a hybrid of past practices that worked and new methods of recruitment, like using social media, your web presence, short mobile-friendly applications and other technologies.
I believe the most important thing to remember about recruitment is this – you should always be recruiting new employees for the best fit, even when there is no job opening, because as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, an employee is going to leave and you will have a spot to fill.