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The W.I.N. Philosophy of Recruiting
Why you don't need an avatar to be successful.
by Ryan Estis, Senior Vice President and Chief Talent Strategist
Successful recruiting today requires a philosophy, approach, and mindset to WIN talent.
Different from the notion of simply hiring, winning talent implies emerging victorious after what is often a rigorous and hard-fought battle for the best and brightest. To further differentiate: hiring people is something companies do; winning talent is something companies must earn. While many recruiters seemingly have the will to win, many companies still lack the will to prepare to win in the increasingly competitive arena for A-level talent.
An old sports adage cites the notion that "most games are won or lost before they are ever played," underscoring the notion that preparation is the key determining factor to success (that is why athletes competing at the highest levels spend about 90 percent of the time practicing and 10 percent of the time actually playing the game).
Certainly, you won't emerge victorious without execution, but having the right game plan simplifies execution at the professional level and provides a distinct competitive advantage.
Good workforce planning will identify the skills/talent necessary for an organization to compete, grow, and accomplish core business objectives into the future. Having a sourcing strategy (game plan) to WIN the requisite talent will also mandate some significant preparation.
The W.I.N. Philosophy of Recruiting dictates a focus on the following:
Seemingly simple, but often overlooked, is having the business discipline to align resources and investment allocation to provide the very best opportunity for success in a competitive environment. A myriad of variables distract attention from focusing on the fundamentals that provide the foundation for championship-caliber performance. The distractions relative to recruitment strategy are ever-increasing.
I'll offer five key elements to a sound corporate recruiting game plan for 2008. Here is What's Important Now:
1. Recruiter effectiveness. Build a great internal, outbound sourcing team with req loads reasonable enough that enable recruiters to recruit. As the critical first impression and key corporate liaison to talent, recruiters must embody the proactive, candidate-centric mindset necessary to compete to win. And those skills should be embraced and developed.
2. Employment branding. Proactively perpetuating the image of your organization as a great place to work in the minds of your target talent demographic is critical to ensure quality lead generation. Define your unique employment value proposition and build a brand strategy that engages and resonates with the talent you covet. Be authentic. And close the gap on what it takes to be a place where people want to come to work and apply their talent.
3. A recruitment-oriented corporate culture. Foster the notion that recruiting is a shared responsibility throughout the organization and that it's incumbent upon everyone to share in the challenge of winning new talent. Make certain the employment brand resonates internally first, promote the shared benefits of referring quality talent into the organization, and reward/recognize it when it happens.
4. The corporate career site. The hub of your talent acquisition initiative and very best opportunity to engage and encourage external candidates to learn more about working for your organization. That doesn't mean having an applicant tracking system. It does mean providing a compelling enough experience when candidates connect through you from whatever external source (job board; search engine; campus event; referral) that they will take action and complete a transaction (some estimates indicate that 90 percent of candidates drop off without doing anything).
5. The candidate experience. The first four recommendations funnel into the notion of making the recruitment process an awesome experience for your candidate! For the most part, looking for a job is a grueling experience and often includes minimal communication, little or no feedback/acknowledgement, and even less guidance, counsel, and support. It doesn't have to be that way. Build the case to invest and create an outstanding introduction into a fulfilling career experience and you are on your way to more talent wins than losses!
When you have achieved mastery with this foundation, it presents a great opportunity to expand and move further along the continuum of evolution in corporate recruitment strategy that exists today.
Although What's Important Now will vary based on your unique needs and situations, these core fundamentals shouldn't be overlooked. It's important to investigate, understand, and incorporate leading-edge ideas, technology, and solutions into your practice (and I offer some thoughts on approaching this in my previous article Doctrine of Discipline). Yet, it's even more critical to shore up weaknesses in the fundamentals first.
While you need a solid, well-developed game plan, you won't need an avatar to be successful recruiting in 2008.
Identify What's Important Now for your organization. Build a recruitment game plan. Master the fundamentals. And compete to win more talent!
Originally published via the Electronic Recruiting Exchange (www.erexchange.com) on November 6, 2007.
Ryan Estis is Senior Vice President and Chief Talent Strategist with NAS Recruitment Communications, LLC, in Minneapolis. E-mail: restis@nasrecruitment.com.
Consult with NAS today to obtain in-depth assistance with your own employment branding program.
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