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Go for the Gold!!! Shifting from a Traditional, Reactive Corporate Recruitment Model to a Strategic, Proactive Framework

By Carol Bernstein, August 13, 2008

In the spirit of the Summer Olympic Games, let's go for a gold level of service in recruitment – striving to be winners by providing best-in-class service to your clients.

Recruiting has been in a state of change for several years. As Applicant Tracking Systems have found their place in the hiring process, leaders are shifting their focus to finding ways to improve service levels to both candidates and hiring leaders. While there is no one solution for this next level of problem solving, one area of focus getting attention is the notion of shifting from the traditional, reactive corporate recruitment model to a more strategic, proactive framework. Currently this approach has a few different paths that it is taking – for some, it is a complete organizational redesign of the recruitment team, creating internal sourcing and research groups, alignment by function or job type, and one point of contact for hiring leaders; for others, they are dabbling in the concepts, applying what makes sense for their organization. Either way, it presents change of varying degrees with the potential for exciting results.

Read more articles by this author.

Related Topics:

The Science of Recruiting, Newsletter, Recruiter Training, Recruiting

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The traditional recruitment model, which can be defined as a somewhat passive model, typically follows this pattern: one waits for a requisition to arrive, the job is posted for the world to see with little or no changes to what the hiring leader submits in the description, the recruiter checks and screens responses that may be a few or hundreds depending on the position, they are sent off to the hiring leader who is quick to find what is wrong with the candidates or too busy to look at the resumes for a period of time, eventually there is a slate of candidates to interview, and decisions are made on offers (that may or may not be accepted). This approach is a result of a changing marketplace as it relates to both the recruitment and business processes. Just as recruitment teams struggle with limited resources to get their job done, so do our business partners. Time is hard to find and priorities are constantly changing.

In a perfect world, would your hiring leaders be excited about getting only the top 3-5 candidates for their opening, then finding it hard to make the decision on who they should hire because they are all great candidates? Think about the potential of this situation for a minute. The hiring leader now knows you understand their needs, they can count on you to find the right person, they take your calls, they ask for your input, they are willing to give you funding to try new things, they ask for your help in better understanding the market, they let you know about openings before the requisition is processed, and the list goes on. So, how do you make it happen? Is it even possible?

From my past experience, I know it is all possible, but it takes a bit of risk and a clear plan on how to move the organization in a new direction. I have seen this approach work and get results beyond the expectations of many. It takes the right mix of planning, training, execution, and tracking results, as well as buy-in from your business partners. Some of the benefits of this approach are reflected in improved quality of hire, less candidate referrals to hiring managers, increased customer satisfaction, improved candidate experience, to name just a few.

What does this mean for you as a leader? As a recruiter?

As a leader, you are recognized for your strategic insight into building a talented, proactive recruitment team, leading efforts to define a recruitment process that gets results, training your team in skills that work and get results, and you can celebrate successes with your team and partners in finding top talent.

As a recruiter, you begin to build a pipeline for key positions (since there is typically more than one top candidate for your openings), you begin to build a network with candidates who reach out to you for insight into future openings, you find that you know where to go to get top talent, it takes less time to refer candidates for your openings, hiring managers ask for you by name to fill their openings, etc.

There are three key components in developing a strategic, proactive recruitment team: planning, execution, and results. These three areas capture the essence of change for a team to shift focus from working in a reactive, administrative environment to a best-in-class strategic, proactive partnership.

Let's explore each component in more detail:

Planning: At the leadership level, this is the foundation for establishing a new approach for the team. Planning takes on different forms based on the organization, but things to consider are analyzing workforce needs, using labor indicators to validate your assumptions, understanding the jobs in terms of what the person needs to do, setting expectations for the recruitment team and hiring managers, and finally managing volumes to maintain the new service levels.

Execution: The heart and soul of this framework is the ability to execute all critical components in the process including building relationships with hiring leaders and candidates, articulating the hiring process with clear roles and responsibilities, building a proactive sourcing model that incorporates both active and passive sourcing utilizing current up-to-date sourcing channels, introducing networking and pipelining options for key positions in the organizations, and finally creating a best-in-class experience for each and every candidate.

Results: When you have done your planning and executed the process, it is important to understand what is working and where the opportunities are for continuous process improvements. The right mix of measures will help to validate your success and share information with key business partners. It is results like this that build the credibility of your team and may open doors to new funding sources. Because recruitment is a continuously changing industry, it is important that process and practice are refreshed and updated on a regular basis.

How to get there? While it can seem like a daunting task to move an organization in a new direction such as this, Performance-based Hiring^sm methodology helps to create a framework for the process change and offers training for both your team and hiring managers. A critical factor for success is having everyone on the same page, whether your model involves research teams, recruiters, coordinators, hiring managers, or just the one-on-one relationship between the recruiter and hiring manager, it is vitally important that everyone is clear on the process and using similar tools. The investment in Performance-based Hiring offers a clearly defined process that is flexible based on your team design and priorities for change.

So whether you are a leader ready to “go for the gold” and create a strategic, proactive recruitment team, or a recruiter who wants to stand out above the rest, Performance-based Hiring can help you achieve success.