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A plan to attract top talent.

25/9/2014

Recruitment has long been a reactionary sport. An employee resigns and many Managers are caught off guard. Business is busy; they can’t afford to be without the employee so many hit go on a frantic recruitment process to ‘replace’ the exiting employee with the best candidate available at the time. It’s stressful, time consuming and process suffers… which means the potential to find, attract and engage the best candidates is weakened.

By spending some time upfront to assess and evaluate their current position and future plans, our clients are finding that a surprise resignation or change in structure doesn’t need to send their team into meltdown. Structure and process is crucial and investing time upfront will not only reduce the stress and impact of losing an employee, it will also ensure you are in a position to recruit the best possible candidates into the business.

These organisations are committed to ensuring they have a plan in place which identifies potential hiring needs over the coming 12 - 18 month period and build this into their business plan. They know their current team – the top performers, those who potential to disengage and those that are failing to meet expectations. Importantly they also understand what success looks like in each role within the business and how to identify high performers. They have a strong grasp of any gaps within the business and a plan in place to ensure these gaps are filled as and when required.

This does not have to be an extensive process, taking valuable resources away from immediate business requirements but by investing in this process now the potential for a smooth and seamless process when a hiring need occurs is increased substantially which will ultimately result in considerable savings both in time and money and a certainty that any ensuing recruitment will clearly target high performing candidates that meet the requirements of the business.

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The three key drivers to attracting top talent

8/9/2014

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A new client sheepishly admitted to me recently that they had lost 3 out of 5 recent hires within the first six months. When I questioned why shoulders were shrugged however further probing uncovered some fundamental issues that have undoubtedly impacted on these results. None of them common, but all critical we formulated a plan to ensure my clients talent management strategy now attracts and retains the right people.

1.    Understand your business need

Before engaging a recruiter, posting an advertisement or commencing any networking campaign we need to ask “what is it that we actually need this person to do? What will they need to accomplish for them to be considered a success within our organisation. Whether a re-hire or a newly created role, by clearly articulating the key performance drivers for the position you will have a profile of what success looks like to recruit against and a robust profile against which to measure candidates.

2.    Create a structured recruitment process

A consistent and thorough recruitment process will ensure the best possible chance of success in selecting new hires. The process should and will differ dependent on the level and type of role being recruited however there are key fundamentals that must be in place every time to ensure the selection and interview processes uncovers and attracts the best possible candidate. Communication of the process and training to all involved is crucial to its success and ongoing up skilling around interviewing techniques in particular has been proven to be a key determining factor in increased hiring success rates.

3.    Engage the right candidates

The market for top talent has never been tighter and great candidates are often juggling multiple job offers which means that you need to stand out from the crowd. This starts with a clearly defined employer brand which attracts the right candidates and is evident in every communication and interaction they have with your business. The detail matters... how are they greeted at reception? How long do you take to respond to their application? Every touch point must be used as an opportunity to engage the candidate and create a positive impression of your business.

In the coming weeks we will delve deeper into each of these areas to discuss the best tools and approaches to optimise talent attraction within your business. We encourage you to share your insights, experiences and opinions on what works, what doesn’t and what you would like to learn more about!

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A plan to attract top talent.

The three key drivers to attracting top talent

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