Dear
Under Pressure:
Hiring 25 new IT workers is a very daunting task that is made even harder by an
ever-tightening job market. Accomplishing this goal will require you to develop a
sound recruiting plan. Here are some recommended steps:
Create accurate job profiles. Have your recruiting team meet individually
with each of the hiring managers to develop a solid profile of the expected duties
for each position. I liken this to building a house. Without a solid foundation to
start, the house will collapse. Without solid job profiles, your recruiting team
won’t be able to build a recruiting strategy, and may wind up chasing candidates that
won’t fit the positions.
Determine the proper size of your recruiting team. You didn’t mention the
number of recruiters you currently have, nor the level of the positions for which you
are recruiting. If the positions are difficult to fill, I suspect that each recruiter
could do three "fills" a month. If you need to supplement the size of your team,
consider hiring contract recruiters or outsourcing this task.
Devise a sourcing plan. Decide on an Internet positing and sourcing plan
using several national job boards. You also should consider using various search
engines to find names to cold-call. Develop a list of target companies and instruct
your recruiters to network with these firms. If you don’t already have one, an
employee referral program is a great source of quality candidates.
Hammer out an interview plan. Do you have senior management’s buy-in that
the hiring managers will commit the time necessary to interview? Managers generally
do not like to conduct interviews. An interview-to-hire ratio of 3-to-1 is very good,
meaning you will need to schedule at least 75 on-site interviews a month to meet your
goal of 25 hires per month. Companies quickly run into "interview fatigue" when they
work a schedule like that. This will be a major problem for your recruiting team if
they have sourced the candidates but can’t schedule interviews.
Develop a bonus plan for your recruiters. I am not sure how your recruiters
are compensated, but my recommendation would be to develop a bonus plan to drive your
team to reach the hiring metrics needed to hit your target.
SOURCE: Mike Sweeny,
T. Williams
Consulting, Collegeville, Pennsylvania, April 26, 2001
LEARN MORE: How to
reduce turnover
in the IT department.
The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful
information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a
legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.
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