Splash dash
The art of recruitment, pt 6
“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”
Or, as Benjamin Franklin might have said - fail to plan, plan to fail.
Or that time my burly mate Richard challenged me to a 50-metre swimming race.
He knew I was the better swimmer but felt he could max power his way through a short distance. He led for the first 5 metres, I beat him by 20, and his part of the pool was significantly emptied as he red facedly puffed his way to nearly the end.
I don’t think he even knew he lost, til he waded his way through the shallow end.
But then that’s invariably the thing, no matter the endeavour.
If you appropriately plan at the outset, using process and technique you know work, with adequate training, inevitably you’ll get to your destination sooner than if you sprint on to the market without a clear direction.
These days my process in recruitment for an existing client is:
Vacancy consultation and audit. Establish long-term desired outcomes and time frames; work back from there to flesh out the vacancy
Check for blind spots and unknown unknowns - the missed context that can lead to success or failure in a key hire
Confirm the minimum viable realistic vacancy and build from there
Agree what good should realistically look like
Establish if needs and compensation are realistic
Agree what routes to market are needed, balancing time and rigour
That’s before actually doing the recruitment.
Typically this can turn around quickly, especially in a mature process with clear expectation.
And it works really well for a company that wants a strategic partner who can potentially support them across the board.
Of course, it isn’t the only way to recruit.
Back in the day (2008) I was one of the top 3 HR recruiters in the East of England. I had a fill rate of 60-70% for contingency vacancies and had mapped out the HR market pretty conclusively.
While this may come across as a boast, on a few occasions this was fed back to me from clients. Such as the billion dollar CRO with 1,500 staff in Europe, 500 of who were in their central services HQ near Cambridge - the HR Director I placed said they measured performance of all their suppliers, and I ranked highest for the ratio of candidates presented vs placements, and for placements vs vacancies worked.
In this contingency scenario, there were commonly vacancies where I’d be one of a few competing to fill it - tough to do when trying to deliver a quality-focused service.
But the reason I was able to be successful in a splash dash “send us your best CVs by Friday”, was the planning, process and techniques across the candidate market.
While it might seem I was paid to send CVs that became placements, it was the unbillable work beforehand that made it viable. As well as the seemingly unbillable work that supported each step of the process afterwards.
Much like, Sun Tzu would have said, “Every battle is won or lost before it is ever fought.”
It seems a good idea, as an employer, to have your affairs in order when you aren’t recruiting, so that you’re fighting fit when you need it.
What’s the plan that supports going to market when you need it?
Which strategy is appropriate for each type or programme of vacancies?
What approach will be most effective from a recruitment supplier?
How can you be confident their planning and preparedness supports your needs?
Or are you much like Rich, boldly splashing your way into the recruitment race, only to run out of steam and never get to your destination?
Stay tuned next week when I butcher another set of Sun Tzu quotes.
Regards,
Greg