.png)
Always behind the curve, playing catch-up and never knowing what’s next is not a good place to be; yet many recruiters are caught there. If you had consistent access to company goals and objectives, you would be able plan ahead, instead of struggling to maintain the status quo.
We have several ways to become proactive in your recruiting efforts. Let's start with introducing transparency into your talent management strategy.
Looking Forward
We like to invite organizations to be transparent around their big picture goals. Everyone should know the goals, the reasons behind them, the steps to get there, and the individual effects. A 2012 Banchard Leaderchat study revealed only 14% of organizations polled reported that their employees have a good understanding of their company’s strategy and direction.
You have to know what the future looks like to hire for it.
Looking Back
As important as recruiting for the future is, it’s vital to look historically at marketing and business cycles. What if your company sees a spike in sales every March-April? Is anyone tracking this information and sharing it with the recruiting team? If so, they need to share the information far enough in advance to increase the size of the sales team. It’s critical to know your business cycles and align them with your recruiting efforts.
Ignoring the Competition
It seems common sense, but knowing what’s next in your industry is vital to staying ahead in talent management. Competitive Intelligence can provide an edge on the opposition, and presents opportunities to reciprocate the competition’s actions. CI allows an organization to staff in the right areas in order to meet or out-perform competitors. To stay competitive, having the right talent in place is mandatory.
Paying Too Much Attention to the Competition
There's a fine line between keeping up with the Jones' and over-analyzing their every hire. Inc.'s “How to Keep Tabs on Your Competitors,” suggests keeping your analysis to no more than 5 companies at a time. More than that will overwhelm your resources, and become ineffective. President of Performance Growth Partners, Rick Galbreath said: "Spending too much time on competitive analysis is spending too little time on truly being competitive. How do you become a dominant factor in your marketplace if you're looking over your shoulder 24 hours a day?"
What are Your CTO’s Goals?
Where is the organization standing in innovation and development? Whether you believe in the shortage of tech talent or not, recruiting great tech talent is not simply a pick up the phone and hire type of task in recruiting.
The Manpower Group 2013 Talent Shortage Survey revealed that a lack of candidates with technical knowledge, such as professional qualifications and skilled trades experience, is the most common explanation for talent shortages in both EMEA and the Americas. Employers in the Americas currently report the most difficulty filling technician posts.
Have an open dialogue with your CTO to meet your tech talent needs. You should have ongoing communication with all departments involved in lengthy recruiting processes in the past.
We want to enable your recruiting department to be more proactive in their recruiting efforts. ClearCompany can make sure that your talent management goals are perfectly aligned with your company’s big picture goals. Our platforms offer the 360° view that increases our clients' competitve edge in recruiting. Interested? We'd love for you to see a demo. Or, leave us a comment below and let's continue the conversation!
