How to create a recruitment strategy

Have you finalised creating your recruitment strategy for 2023?  Investing in staff is the top priority for SMEs, one study has revealed.

Business owners have admitted that recruitment is their biggest business decision, with more than one in five (23%) employers stating that after launching their business, hiring new staff has been their biggest business decision.

By comparison, staff hiring ranked above choosing suppliers (20%) and investing in technology (19%).

In fact, the research shows SMEs hold staff investment to have such importance, that more than one in five (22%) say that if their revenue were to double, their first investment would be to increase their staff numbers.

However, the study found SMEs believe skills shortages and a lack of recruitment funding are significant challenges to recruiting the talent they need. Here are four ways to supercharge your recruitment strategy.

What is a recruitment strategy?

A recruitment strategy is a plan that explains in a uniformed manner what roles you’ll recruit for and the skills that are needed for this role, when you will recruit, why you are recruiting and how you will find the candidates. You should add this to your overall company objectives.

The strategy you implement must be easy to deploy and carry a clear message to communicate. The tactics can be tweaked by the strategy must be transparent and easy to follow.

What to include in a recruitment strategy

A recruitment strategy is a plan for how an organisation will identify and attract potential candidates for open positions. In order to create an effective recruitment strategy, there are a number of factors to consider. It is important to have a clear understanding of the organisation’s needs.

• What skills and experience are required for the open position?
• What type of personality would be a good fit for the company culture?

Once these needs have been identified, it is important to determine where to look for candidates who meet these criteria. This may include job fairs, online job boards, or professional networking events. Potential candidates have been identified, the next step is to reach out and market the organisation as an attractive place to work.

• Goals: Every company has different goals, but some common ones to consider are how many people you want to hire, if you want to hire more diversely and if you want to change your hiring process.

• Positions: Decide how many employees you want to hire. Consider if any employees are leaving soon or if there is a department or team that could benefit from the skills a new employee could provide.

• Timeline: Think about which positions you want to fill as soon as possible and which positions you can fill throughout the year. Your timeline could have a big impact on the other parts of your recruitment strategy.

• Budget: Recruiting costs can include marketing, travel and technology. Take into consideration your budget for expenses at later stages of the recruitment process, like background checks.

• Target audience: Consider the skills or experience you most want in a candidate. If your position requires knowledge of a certain area, you might advertise in that area so you target locals.

• Marketing plan: Once you have a target audience, it’s time to decide how you’re going to market toward them. Think about the kinds of advertising open to you and what best fits your needs.

• Selection process: You can develop a plan for every step of your hiring process. Building your recruitment strategy is a great time to look at that process and decide if you want to change it.

This can be done through social media, company websites, and word-of-mouth advertising. By taking the time to develop a comprehensive recruitment strategy, organizations can ensure that they attract the best possible candidates for each open position.

What are the benefits of a recruitment plan?

A recruitment plan is a written document that outlines a company’s strategy for attracting and hiring new employees. The recruitment plan should be tailored to the specific needs of the company and should take into account the company’s budget, business objectives, and staffing requirements. The recruitment plan should identify the target pool of candidates, the recruitment methods that will be used, and the criteria that will be used to assess candidates.

A well thought through recruitment plan will:

• Save you time
• Ensure you make the best use of your recruitment budget
• Help you make better hiring decisions
• Make sure your recruitment objectives are aligned to broader company objectives
• Ensure your recruiters and hiring teams are working to the same common goals
• Focus your efforts on building the right talent pipeline
• Help you secure the budget you need to hit your goals

A well-crafted recruitment plan can help a company to save time and money by ensuring that only the most qualified candidates are considered for employment. In addition, a recruitment plan can help to improve the quality of hires by ensuring that all candidates are assessed against the same set of standards.

Core aspects of a great recruitment strategy

There are a number of core aspects that should be included within your recruitment strategy. We take a look at a number of factors that can assist with helping recruiters implicate the businesses recruitment strategy.

Growth Plans

• To be able to scale up your workforce, there is a need to hire new team members – this takes time and resources.
• Measure the areas of your business will benefit most from increased headcount.
• Include  return on investment or the opportunities lost.

The Business Brand

• Having a strong business brand will send out a clear message that are attractive to your target audience, this can be done over social media. Well known brands are a good selling point to talented job hunters.
• The company’s working culture should be open and transparent to ensure you attract candidates that will match your business.

Re-Evaluate Your Hiring Budget

While the amount set aside to fund hiring new staff may be more or less fixed, as a business grows you can benefit from re-evaluating the hiring budget more frequently. This will help keep pace with planned expansion and make sure your expenditures are in the right proportion to support continued growth.

Skills Audit

• By using the company objectives it will lead to identifying areas of development for the business, the audit will give a clear are of the skills that the business will need to succeed.
• The recruitment strategy should always include ways to find and bring new skills into the company.
• Advanced digital and technical skills are often focused on by employers, you should also consider bringing in candidates with different experiences.

Flexibility

• If there is a directional change within the company, and adaptation is implemented quickly to an unpredictable market than the hiring of permanent staff may not be the right option.
• Your recruitment strategy should include a provision for temporary staff and contractors to assist with projects that are likely to change at short notice.

When to review your recruitment strategy

When you carry out a review of your company, try to think how you differ from your competitors, this may give you a competitive edge and make your business a more attractive prospect for potential candidates.

By paying close attention to all aspects of the recruitment process, this will allow you to make tweaks throughout the year when necessary. But at all times sticking to the overall objectives of the recruitment strategy.

A review of your companies overall recruitment strategy should take place annually to make sure it ties in with your wider business objectives. Everyone within the business should understand the goals. Explain the journey in a clear and concise way about what you expect to achieve and how you will get there.

Read more: Will the recruitment sector grow in 2023