1. Introduction
According to the Corporate Advisory Board of Washington DC, the cost of replacing staff can be anything between 50% and 175% of that persons annual salary and, as we are all aware, employees in the new millennium do not stay with a company for life as perhaps their grandparents did.
So what can we deduce from this? Well, you, as the HR professional, will be involved in the recruitment process for your company at some point, which leads me nicely to the whole point of this article. The recruitment process is a vital part of your company's business strategy. Recruit the wrong person and you may be doing far more harm than not recruiting someone at all. You must be aware not only of your own employers' strategies and policies regarding recruitment, but also of the local and in some cases national recruitment picture.
The biggest enemy to the recruitment process however is time - if you are holding the CV of a candidate who seems to be ideal for your current vacancy, then act quickly. Do not fool yourself - you will not be the only recruiter looking at this candidates CV and a contract of employment is a far stronger inducement than the vague promise of an interview. I have lost count over the years, of the number of employers who have contacted me three to four weeks after I have submitted a candidate, in order to arrange an interview and who seem genuinely surprised that the candidate is no longer on the market despite my having contacted them repeatedly with warnings that this will happen!
2. Successful Recruiting
So how can you try and ensure that recruitment within your company is as successful as possible? The following ideas may be worth considering;
Ensure that when you contact your recruitment supplier you have as full a job specification as possible.
Have provisional interview dates already pencilled in your diary - if a candidate can be contacted not only with all the details of your company and the opportunity which exists within it, but also with potential interview dates, it helps to focus this candidates mind on your opportunity.
Do not recruit until you are ready - asking for CV's of potential candidates two to three months before you are ready to recruit is a wasted exercise - these candidates will have gained alternative employment long before you are ready to see them.
Move from the first interview stage to the second interview stage within two weeks (within a week is preferable) as this gives candidates an impression of a company that is organised, professional and most importantly of all, interested in them.
3. Communication
Give as much feedback as possible on candidates post interview, even if they have been rejected. You would be surprised at how positively candidates receive this and it will promote a professional and positive image of your company. I know of at least one blue chip company, which has suffered in the past from not giving feedback on candidates, which has lead to these candidates promoting a negative image of this company to their colleagues. This in turn reduces an already limited candidate pool for this particular company to recruit from.
When a vacancy occurs, look at the attrition rates for that particular role - it may be that you need to ask your training department to set up management training courses - ask any experienced business analyst and they will tell you that quite simply 'employees leave managers not companies'.
Build a business relationship with your recruitment supplier - the more they know about your company the more effectively they can 'sell' your vacancies to their candidates.
4. The Facts
As you will have gathered from reading the above, recruitment is essential to your company. Undertaken correctly it will result in you recruiting high calibre, long term assets to the company and will actually reduce your recruitment requirements.
Poor recruitment procedures and processes can only damage the company's bottom line and will effectively increase your recruitment needs.
