Does your recruitment programme require an overhaul?

"Hire character. Train skill." - Peter Schutz

Strategic planning in hiring helps organizations understand the talent required to deliver their strategy - Without it, the costs are significant. A talented and aligned workforce is crucial for bringing strategy to life and ensuring an organization delivers on its objectives.

Direct people costs make up an average of 40 percent of organizational costs. Alongside this, almost half of the employees are in-complex, knowledge - intensive roles that are fundamental to the success and profitability of their organizations. The cost therefore of a miss-hire is significantly high.

Discussions with leaders from various companies show that they are experiencing profound changes in career expectations and career plans of candidates these days. These profound changes were greeted with enthusiasm by some, and with deep anxiety and distrust by others. But whatever the response, one thing was clear: these fundamental changes in careers were touching and impacting every member of the organization in some way or the other.

Hiring process sustainability is becoming a key focus for many companies, but this topic has only started to take hold in the last few months. In the progression from mission and vision strategy with eventual deployment in the form of individual work contributions, where most organizational leaders struggle or even stumble is in effectively operationalizing specific strategic initiatives. The translation of strategy to deliverable group, team and individual work plan is one challenge. The hardest part for most leadership teams, however, is effective deployment and implementation that will result in the desired outcomes. It helps navigate the complex convergence of people, process and structure to overcome these challenges.

Formulate a game plan..

Why are you hiring? Allow this key question to guide the entire recruitment process – and don’t lose sight of it. Continually refer back to the reasons you’re hiring, particularly when it comes to the development of the job description and selection criteria. If it’s a new role, consider how the need for the position was identified, what purpose the role will fulfil, and how it will fit in around existing roles.

Other initial considerations include where you might advertise the role, how the interview process will look, who’s responsible for making the final hiring decision (a ideal practice is to keep it to the line manager) and how onboarding will occur.

What does your ideal new staff member ‘look’ like? Establish exactly what you want from your new recruit in terms of experience, technical proficiency and cultural fit for your organisation and team. Ultimately, hiring for attitude and then training for skills – not the reverse – can yield better quality staff. It’s often easier to learn a new skill than learn a different attitude or culture. Design your recruitment process to reflect this.

What are the specific elements of the job? To best guide the evaluation of each candidate, there are three key areas to qualify: technical requirements, performance expectations and behavioural requirements.

Timing is everything – make a timeline and stick to it. It’s incredibly easy for recruitment processes to take longer than expected, with timing blow-outs possible at all stages. Making a timeline can help solve this problem. Work out when the new staff member is needed, and consider the cost and benefits of hiring now versus later on. What would happen if the role was vacant for a longer or shorter period? How would the team and organisation be impacted?

If you are an HR leader, a more thoughtful approach is required. Stop and think about your strategic plan for the next hire that your organization initiates.

“You can have the best strategy and the best building in the world, but if you don’t have the hearts and minds of the people who work with you, none of it comes to life.” –  Renee West,  Luxor and Excalibur Hotel