1. Do a survey of all hires and
ask them why they accepted the job (and what were their concerns).
2. Do a survey of all rejected offers and find out
what were the deciding factors in their decision.
3. Consider your customers as a recruiting source.
Who else respects our firm and might be inclined to want to work for us. You might also
involve large corporate customers in the selection process so that you improve the
likelihood that new hires will be able to meet your customers needs. It might also build
customer loyalty, as they feel some "ownership" of those selected.
4. Join Google Groups or Yahoo Groups
specific to HR and recruiting. Ask questions and exchange ideas.
5. Develop an E-Letter (a periodic e-mail
newsletter) to keep potential candidates interested in your company.
6. Begin tracking recruiters / recruitment tools /
and sources used in the hiring process. See which produces high performers, long tenure
employees, and bad hires.
7. Identify key jobs and key managers. Stop treating
all jobs as having equal importance.
8. Stop looking at the cost of hire and filling
"reqs" and begin focusing on the Quality of the hire and/ or any potential
business gains from a hire.
9. Prove that everything you do results in a higher
quality hire. Stop assuming old practices still work and "good people trying
hard" always produce a quality hire. Drop all employment practices that don't make a
significant difference.
10. Consider "weekend" hires, consultant
to hire, simulations and temp to hire strategies to improve the accuracy of the selection
process.
11. Increase referral bonus levels and begin giving
a larger bonus for high performing hires.
12. Develop "prequalifying" systems for
internal candidates to increase the number of internal transfers and also to increase
retention rates.
13. Realize that hiring must be owned and done by
MANAGERS. Employment consults and teaches but does not DO hiring.
14. Develop JIT hiring systems like "corporate
resources" (hiring a superstar even when there is no current opening) to capture
superstars who are likely to be on the market for only one week or less.
15. Develop "Personal Courting" and
relationship building programs with potential recruits so that hiring processes are not
just one time "flash" occurrences.
16. Realize one of the primary functions of
recruitment and hiring is to build and reinforce the corporate image and culture as well
as to increase corporate capabilities and productivity. Remember recruiting is marketing
and all potential recruits are also potential customers.
17. Start forecasting the future (unemployment
rates, the pool of qualified candidates, business cycles, the changing needs of your
customers etc.) and stop just "reacting to reqs" when they hit your desk.
18. Do internal customer satisfaction surveys to see
what managers and applicants want "more of and less of".
19. Identify how your employment practices differ
from your direct competitors. You can't beat the competitor if you all do the same things
the same way.
20. Drop forever the idea that recruitment and
hiring must be face to face. Develop remote recruitment and hiring practices that are
superior to face to face ones. Video tape interviews and use remote video to
screen candidates.
21. Begin the process of becoming an Employer of
Choice in your industry. Gather information on what is needed and sell it to top
management.
22. Develop metrics (in conjunction with the CFO) to
identify and prove the Business Impacts of a great hire and the costs of a bad hire. Make
hiring great employees THE corporate competitive advantage over your
competition.
23. Develop forecasting tools which "forecast
corporate FAT" (excess employees) before an RIF is necessary and identify future
retention issues so that you will have to do less recruiting.
24. Develop a rotation program where employment
specialists spend time each year working in the field and "learning the
business".
25. Get line managers to "sponsor" and
"own" changes and revisions in employment systems.
26. Consider creating "feeder channels"
for future University hires. For example sponsor "Learn to be a ___________ training
classes, student clubs, internships, "Professor summer internships" and short
term
professor / manager swap programs).
27. Develop and sponsor internet business chat rooms
and listservers to develop relationships with potential applicants.
28. Capture reference names given by high performers
and consider them as potential hires.
29. After 6 months, track down high-performers that
were "voluntary terminations" and give them post-exit interview questionnaires..
Ask them why they left and what it would take to get them back. If feasible,
attempt to get them to return.
30. Track voluntary terminations to see how many go
to our direct competitors. These "terms" potentially cost us more because they
are giving our secrets to our competitors and they may also indicate our competitors have
more to offer "new" hires than we do.
31. Track offer "turndowns" and contact
them again at periodic intervals.
32. Drop or weaken employment "rules" and
approvals to decrease your time to hire. Identify things that slow down the hiring process
and that you can't prove make a difference (No you don't need a job description in
order to hire someone etc.).
33. Calculate the average performance rating, bonus
pay, awards, promotions and productivity of those hired this year and compare it to last
years hires. Smile if you see an improvement!
34. Have the CEO call the candidate and ask them to
join our team.
35. Use speed of hire as a competitive advantage to
get the very best candidates.
36. Look for non-active job seekers (employed
people) as your primary source of talent.
37. Use Futureviews and other tools to gather
information beyond what you are currently getting.