As you can imagine I have been very busy with the issues of employee turnover, chronically open positions and skills gap over the last few months. Everyone wants to talk about it, assess their issues and work on fixing it. During this time, it has been proven again the very first root cause which needs a solution is recruiting sources. Many of my clients, when I start working with them, have two maybe three sources of candidates. The sources vary greatly in providing quality candidates which are in line with the goals of the organization.
As with sales, deep and wide exposure is the key to success in recruiting
I recommend for each position you should have 10-12 sources. Recently I took two clients from having two sources to eighteen sources at no cost. I know that sounds too high. You need that many for several reasons. Recruiting sources inherently move around and you need to stay ahead of the curve. The sources should by design, be diverse in medium; whether they are on the internet, physical job boards or personal relationships. They should be objectively monitored for quantity and quality of applicant. You should have objective criteria set up with thresholds which are measured and reviewed.
Fundamentally, you should keep track of turnover and job success for each candidate by source. You should know the overall cost of each source and each line item of cost. Each source will have a different cost make up. I know it sounds like a lot of work. Once the system is set up it takes very little time and effort to maintain. Your payroll system will keep track of the source and all other relevant data.
Your recruiting system will supply better candidates for dramatically less money than recruiters
I do not include recruiters and temporary agencies in those 10-12. Regular use of recruiters and temporary agencies are a red flag flying over an unsuccessful internal recruiting operation. The cost of these organizations will be 300% to 500% higher than a well-run internal recruiting department. Accepting resumes from recruiters/temp agencies is not a bad thing. Depending on them to find your greatest asset is a road to failure.
I was involved in an organization which recruited 50-60 Supervisors, Manager, Directors and VPs over a three year period. All but two were hired through the internal recruiting system. The other two were hired through a recruiter because we thought they were the best candidates.
How effective and expensive is your current internal recruiting system?
