Recruitment in 2018, New Year, New Focus

According to Recruitment Buzz, "Employers will need to continue to be resilient in 2018 as candidates are getting scarcer." So this year, along with personal resolutions, businesses need to make a professional resolution to focus on recruitment.

We spoke to Nicky Knight, HR & PR Manager of well-established local company, and our client, A E Oscroft & Sons. She has seen a change in recruitment over the last 12 months and remarked...

It has become increasingly more difficult to find skilled staff in our industry. Recruiting and retaining good staff with the right skills is a maximum priority for us. Successful recruitment has a significant influence on the company’s success.

In light of candidates being harder to source, it is important that businesses have an element of ongoing recruitment. There may not always be a live role available, but having an open line for people to register their interest in your company could lead to more efficient and effective recruitment when a position arises.

There are a number of ways to keep recruitment going. If you are a small business, like us, don't feel pressured to do everything all at once, if you have limited resource, this could simply dilute your efforts. Take a look at all the tips below and identify the measures you already have in place and what is missing or could be improved. This list then becomes a plan of action for you to tackle one by one.

Start with the basics
There are two simple ways to promote ongoing recruitment internally and externally.
Do you have a careers page on your website?
Setting up a simple landing page labelled 'careers' means that you can promote live roles but also offer an email address for people to send their CVs to at any time.
Are you using internal channels?
Internal channels are a simple and cost effective addition to your recruitment drive, utilise common spaces and intranets to promote live fancies and promote the fact that you are always on the look out for great people! This could encourage people putting themselves forward for different roles within the company and introductions to new candidates from your existing team.

Brand
Your brand is one of your biggest recruitment tools, it's what sets you apart from the competition and ensures you attract right fit candidates.
Are you utilising Social Media
One of the best ways to communicate your brand message is via Social Media. Not all channels apply to every business so start by exploring LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. See what your competitors are doing and search for industry topics and accounts to discover which channel is right for your business. You can then use Social Media to promote company updates, industry news, company culture and live vacancies!

Your Network
Within your company and beyond, look at your recruitment network and ensure you have the right resource in the right places.
Do you have a HR / Personnel team in place?
Communicate with your HR / Personnel team to ensure they have the right people and tools in place to focus on recruitment. It is important to have at least one person dedicated to recruitment, if you are a small business and do not have the resource internally a great way to extend to recruitment team is to use an agency.
Do you need the support of a recruitment partner?
Many businesses choose to work with recruitment agencies to support their recruitment efforts. Agencies are dedicated solely to recruitment and therefore have the resource, time and tools to source and screen candidates for you. But more than that, working In partnership with an agency that truly understands your business can streamline the process into an extremely efficient and effective process with high levels of retention.
A E Oscrofts know the importance and value of working with recruitment agencies, Nicky explains...

It is very important to me and to the business to have recruitment partners in place. Working in partnership with recruitment agencies allows me to spend more time in other areas of the business, relying on them to take care of the time consuming sourcing and screening process. I also know from experience that agencies reduce the risk of finding unqualified candidates.

The Process
The recruitment process varies from one company to another but one thing remains true throughout every process in every business, communication is paramount.
Are you communicating?
Whether it is communication after a CV submission or an interview, it is important that you set candidate expectations and, most importantly, meet those expectations. Consider the resource you have in place and set a standard that is achievable and to which your business will be accountable. Depending on the size of your business, this could be a response within 2hrs, 24hrs or 48hrs. Remember, communication is not only important to the candidates that you go on to hire, it also leaves a lasting impression with those that were not successful but could still influence your recruitment through word of mouth.

Nicky understand the importance of communication throughout the recruitment process and beyond...

From a recruitment point of view, one thing I would like our business to improve upon is ensuring we give timely feedback to our applicants, but also beyond that communication is absolutely paramount. My advice to any HR or Recruiting Manager is to constantly communicate and actively listen to employees.

If you would like any help or advice focusing on your recruitment for 2018, email [email protected] or call us on 01527 758 320 to talk to one of the Smart 1 Recruitment team.