No matter how successful your business is, you’re going to have staff turnover. So you’re going to need a winning recruitment strategy. 

 You can’t control the fact that employees will leave, but you can control your recruitment strategy. There are bound to be candidates out there who simply don’t fit the bill but look good on paper. A winning recruitment strategy means hiring people who are the perfect fit for your organisation and are less likely to leave. 

When is it time to adjust your recruitment strategy? 

It is always a great time to improve your recruitment strategy. Constant attention to your recruitment strategy will only mean better quality hires, less turn over and less time wasted. However, there are some red flags, that mean it is critically important that you address your recruitment strategy immediately. 

Recruitment strategy red flags 

• Consistently high turnover of employees
• Dried up (or near dried up) pipeline of potential candidates
• Rise in declined job offers

Any one of the red flags is a good indicator that your recruitment strategy is weak. However, a combination of two is more means your current strategy will result in less than desirable hires and is wasting time and effort. 

 High turnover 

Consistently high turnover can mean that you are hiring the incorrect candidates. Pay more attention to detail when hiring. If your employees are leaving due to incorrect culture fit, then you may benefit from a recruitment partner that uses detailed predictive analytics to determine culture fit amongst other things. It is also important to consider whether your workplace wellness is up to scratch. 

 A lack of applicants 

Few applicants may indicate that you are not tapping into the correct talent pool. Have you considered global recruitment as part of your recruitment strategy? A recruitment partner with experience in global recruitment can help you implement a broader search network. 

 Are you only posting on job boards? Consider expanding your search parameters. If you are already using broad search parameters, it may be time to enroll the help of a recruitment partner. They generally have a vast database of pre-screened applicants. 

 A high rate of turndowns 

An increased rate of turndowns begs two questions; ‘are you moving fast enough?’ and ‘are you being clear about the role you are hiring for?’ 

 If you are slow to respond, to present an official offer letter or contract, potential hires may consider you a risky or uninterested employer. They will likely move on to the next opportunity. This is most often the case for highly desirable, experienced, or qualified candidates – the candidates you really want to hire! Being slow to react may cost you the perfect hire. Include a predefined process in your recruitment strategy to speed things up. If you simply don’t have the capacity, use an expert recruitment partner who does. 

 Are turndowns happening after you present the official offer letter or contract? This can be an indicator of a lack of communication regarding the job description, company culture or remuneration. Make a point of communicating these factors well at the interview stage. 

 Let’s take a closer look at some factors that will help you develop a winning recruitment strategy to make sure you hire the right candidate and avoid those red flags. 

Mind the gap in your recruitment strategy 

The effort you put into your recruitment strategy is going to determine the quality of candidates you receive. Prior to implementing your recruitment strategy, you need to understand the gap between your business strategy and the skills needed for the role. Knowing how the role you are hiring for will impact your business strategy, will increase the chances of you (and the employee) being satisfied with the pairing. 

The details matter when hiring 

You probably know that the details of your recruitment strategy matter. But how do you put that knowledge into action? Let’s look at our hiring process to explain. 

We always set up calls with the client to understand the role. This is because we try not to just work off a job specification sent via email. On top of that, we request that the line manager of the potential candidate is part of that call. We sometimes find that there is a disconnect, even in the organisation itself, so getting information solely from HR is not actually ideal. Although this is how it is commonly done.  It is imperative that we understand, from the perspective of the line manager, what is expected on a day-to-day basis from the potential candidate. 

 Let’s look at a practical example: HR might think that only degreed candidates are suitable for the job, because that is what the job specification says. The line manager, on the other hand, will know from experience that years of working experience are also valid. A candidate with a degree and no work experience might be seen in the same light as a candidate with no degree and 5 years work experience. While HR may follow a tick box process in order to do the job as accurately as possible, the input of the line manager is a critical element for us to consider, in conjunction with HR’s requirements. If we were to rely solely on HR’s request for a candidate with a degree, we may miss an ideal candidate. 

Have clear definitions for all open jobs 

After understanding the details from both the HR manager and line manager’s perspective,  the next step in your recruitment strategy should be to provide clear and detailed job descriptions. Providing ambiguous job descriptions is not fair to the candidate and is unproductive for your organisation. Correctly specifying the details of the job description will attract candidates that are more likely to have the relevant experience and skillset for the position. This will save frustration on the candidate’s part and save you time weeding through unqualified applications. 

Screening as part of your recruitment strategy 

Implementing screening as early as possible in your recruitment strategy is already a win. Let’s look at how we do this. 

As a rule of thumb, we tailor our job posts to your requirements to attract the best candidates in the market, as a form of early screening. This speaks to the above-mentioned point of detailed job descriptions. From there, the candidate would do our skills assessment and then go through our formal screening process where we check to see if they meet the company’s requirements. If we understand the role requirements well (from our initial session), the posts will be more accurate, attracting the correct talent from the start – so you are starting your screening process very early on – you don’t want to waste the candidate’s time either. 

Communicate proactively with potential hires 

The best of the best in the talent pool are actively headhunted and recruited. They have options and are innately going to scan for the best offer. To keep them interested you will need to stay in constant communication with them. Don’t leave them hanging on a wire. 

You will also need to allow them to be heard. Allow plenty of time for them to voice their questions and concerns. Address these concerns as quickly and effectively as possible. The only way to hire and retain top talent is to have a winning recruitment strategy already in place. 

Compete to win the best employees 

As mentioned, the best of the best probably already have an interview, or two, lined up. To really entice them, you will need to be an attractive offer. The best way to do this is to understand industry standards first. 

As a recruitment partner, we have extensive industry experience and can advise on best practice and industry standards. For example, when it comes to shift work, what is legal, and what are candidates looking for in terms of time on/time off balance?

This way you become a more competitive talent seeker in the market. If you don’t offer what other employers do, or better, top talent wouldn’t consider you a desirable employer. And often can leave a negative impression lingering in their mind about you. 

Recruitment strategy for the win 

By paying attention to your recruitment strategy, considering your business strategy, communicating clearly, screening early and becoming a more competitive employer, you may be able to reduce turnover, fill your pipeline and get more offers accepted.