Recruiting Perspective

The hiring manager comes to you and says I need this and I need it yesterday.  That’s typical, but definitely not optimal.  If you need it right now, it’s late, and you’re at a disadvantage.  This leads to mediocre hires, maybe even bad hires.  Mediocre hires build mediocre businesses.  Bad hires…..well, you know the rest. If the long range plan is that you will need someone with xyz qualifications, but there is no plan in place to get to the point where the business really needs that person, it’s too early.  Still, not optimal. There is a window of time that is optimal for recruiting.  It’s way before the desperate immediate need and way after the long range plan.  You don’t have to be perfect, exactly on the dot, to have optimal timing.  You do have to be within that strategic window that allows you the time to find a great candidate and in which you will be able to act to bring them in. todd@toddkmiec.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddkmiec/

With the new tax law, corporate budgets will change.  This will impact recruiting on all fronts.  More money for recruiting budgets, to spend on ads and outside help, to hire more internal recruiters.  More money to push a company’s reach out further and to draw in the talent they need. More money to hire more key people.  When cash flow increases, the first thought is to figure out how we can best use the increase to grow the business.  Hire more salespeople, open a new plant, develop a new product line……  All growth strategy leads to more and better recruiting. Increased recruiting leads to increased business. todd@toddkmiec.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddkmiec/

The first reason that you recruit is to solve an immediate need.  The hiring manager recognizes a need, a strategic change, or some deficit that is preventing the business from achieving an objective.  He or she comes to HR or recruiting and says you need to find me this.  Whether you are patching, growing, or replacing there is an immediate need that you have to take care of. The second reason you recruit is to build a better business, a great business.  You have a vision for the business, what you want it to be, what it can accomplish.  It takes great people to run a business that accomplishes great things.  People who care, who take initiative, who work hard, and have great skills to put things in motion and make them work. Recruiting for the first reason is different than recruiting for the second.  The focus is different.  You can solve an immediate need without building a great team that will make a business great.  Or, you can constantly pursue great people filling imme

If your business model requires proven profitability for a  given hire, you may use some form of trial hire to make sure your new hire is profitable.  Some 100% commission sales positions are a fit for this.  Other roles typically involve a high percentage of hires that don’t stick for one reason or another.  If the job is difficult and not very high paid, employees may have a tendency to give up or there might be a good number of unreliable candidates in that field.  Other roles are technically specific and the ability to succeed is hard to define based on previous employment. Trial hires can take a number of different forms.  Temporary staffing is one solution.  Low cost hires with a trial period can work as well.  But there are drawbacks.  Strong candidates in just about every field tend to be unwilling to accept a trial situation.  Candidates willing to work through a temporary staffing firm are limited, so the talent pool that you get there is limited.  Trying candidates out,