Despite Covid-19, the scarcity of staff surprisingly continues. Recruitment organizations cannot sit back and choose the best from an ample supply. No way! More than ever, they must actively market to entice candidates. But that is easier said than done. Competitive employers are also actively looking for talent. So your recruitment organization will have to be able to parry that competition.
Where does your organization stand in terms of recruitment? Can you attract better talent than your competition or do you have to settle for second-best? In this blog, I will answer the question “Can my recruitment organization recruit top talent?” I will also provide practical tools and insights to help you on your way to recruiting and selecting top talent.
Recruiting top talent
requires continuity
Before we take a look at the current state of affairs, we need to review the past. During the 2009-2014 recession, many recruitment activities were scaled down. And many cuts were made in recruitment. As a result, many relationship programs were stopped or neglected. After all, we were facing a recession, and then we usually scale down recruitment for a while.
A shame, because if you want to recruit top talent, you have to maintain relationships, for better or for worse. In fact, recruiting top talent is more than creating a job posting and bringing in the right candidate. Recruitment has become 100% marketing. It is a continuous relationship process. And let’s face it, in a recession, you don’t neglect your clients, do you? On the contrary, you give them extra attention.
Why is quality of hire essential?
So what makes quality of hire so essential, and why are time to hire and cost of hire secondary? There are countless reasons; I’ve selected three for you here:
- The rejuvenation battle. Many baby boomers are retiring in the coming years, and their positions will need to be filled by new colleagues. At the same time, all organizations are facing far-reaching digitalization. As a result, processes, user interfaces, and business models are changing. So there is not only a high demand for new colleagues, but also for new brilliant ideas and insights!
- Higher productivity. Take a moment to read this article from McKinsey. The percentage difference in productivity between “average performers” and “high performers” is at least 50%. And it increases dramatically as the work’s complexity increases.
- Encouraging creative and meaningful innovations. According to our psychometric metadata on young graduates, top talent has greater analytical potential, stronger conceptual reasoning skills, and better ability to generate original solutions (see blog article). With these young top talents, an organization can explore new frontiers more quickly, which is necessary to compete successfully.
” Is your recruitment organization good enough to hire better people than you currently employ? That should be your added value. This is how recruitment strengthens the company. “
How to characterize your recruitment organization
Recruitment ensures that the organization’s labor market position is competitively distinctive. After all, as a top organization, it is easier to attract top talent. That is the ideal situation, but where does your organization stand? Can you structurally attract top talent? Can you compete with employer competitors, even outside the industry? To find an initial answer, the attached table helps. In this table, recruitment activities are categorized in the following way:
- Recruitment activities are incorporated into marketing processes. Your organization can structurally attract top talent, especially in key positions (which, by the way, have nothing to do with level but with value creation). Well done! Keep up the good work. Focus on competitiveness, analytics, and technology.
- Recruitment activities are housed in professional HR processes. You can maintain the quality of the inflow, but no more than that. Sure, you can improve existing processes some more. But so does the competition. There is homework to be done for this category. Recruitment activities should migrate to marketing activities. Seek help, demand more commitment from top management, and establish your migration plan. If you start now, you can start reaping the first benefits by the end of Q3 2018.
- Old school recruitment: recruit when you have a job opening. If you have no growth ambition and you think you can survive this way, don’t do anything more. Go for the quantity of hire. If not, you may panic. Every year, your organization gets weaker. The quality of hire declines. Your organization suffers from a kind of anorexia. And eventually you die or get eaten.
| Type | DESCRIPTION (not exhaustive) | GAINS | PAINS |
| Recruitment as a marketing process |
Recruitment as a strategic activity Vision of labor market and competitive employer strength are triggers for talent acquisition Future scarcity and abundance as triggers of the talent acquisition process Understanding strengths and weaknesses versus competitors Personas are central to acquisition Content is tailored to the different stages of the candidate journey Psychometric tooling is integrally woven into all parts of the acquisition and hiring process |
Structurally able to attract top talent (>5% of all hires) Organization innovates faster, organizes more efficiently and makes up to 20% more profit. The organization is attracting better and better colleagues. |
How do we determine whether new techno-tools produce valid results? How do we compete with other relevant employers to get the best people on board? |
| Recruitment as an independent and professional HR process |
EVP (or value proposition) is developed and used in acquisition and branding Tbv frequent vacancies are mapped and described target groups Dashboard to monitor own process Workforce planning and vacancies as the trigger of the recruitment process Psychometric tooling tbf the hiring process Content is primarily geared toward name recognition, job postings and careers. |
Take on occasional top talent. Candidate experience is in order. Can fill almost all vacancies | When in short supply, hire as good (qualified) employees as they already employ: overall quality does not increase. |
| Old school recruitment |
Recruitment as a sub-process of HRM Vacancy as a trigger of the recruitment process Psychometric tooling is deployed ad hoc and retrospectively | With ample supply, be able to hire a good candidate quickly and inexpensively. |
With scarcity, dangerously many vacancies are unfillable. When shortages occur, take on fewer good (qualified) employees than they already employ: overall quality drops. |
How can you position your recruitment organization?
Using this table, you can ask yourself the following 2 questions:
- How is our recruitment organization typified?
- How do we characterize our competitors’ recruitment organizations?
Also, use the partial aspects of the 2nd column. In what aspects is the competitor weaker or stronger than your recruitment organization? Stick to the items in the table: don’t include terms of employment, for example. Of course, these are important to compete as an employer, but as a recruitment organization, the influence on employment conditions is limited, so you can’t use them in your plans for this year.
By finding (reasoned) answers to the top questions, you can position your recruitment organization against competitors. And if you don’t change anything about your recruitment organization this year, ask yourself: Does the current recruitment organization allow us to hire top talent better than the competition? If yes, what do you need to do to maintain that? If no, what should we start doing to catch up? Good luck!
