Recruitment Solutions

Professionals in talent acquisition are typically tasked with much more than just procuring candidates and securing adequate resourcing for the organization. Recruiting must also be systematized, cost-efficient, and comply with all company policies and employment laws. Corporate recruiting departments are often tasked with outsourcing certain processes, such as contingent labor management and staffing in order to bring down recruitment costs.

The four major types of recruitment solutions include: outsourced recruitment function, staffing and search providers, recruitment and staffing technology, and the development of internal programs. Each must be evaluated not only by cost of initial implementation, but rather by metrics based on quality and total return on investment. The metrics to evaluate the efficacy of these solutions are typically the total quality and performance of sourced employees, employee churn and turnover, and the reach and quantity of developed talent databases or other external candidate communications.

There are many different recruitment solutions that may be applicable for a human resource department in any organization. Organizations require positions to be filled for many different reasons and in some cases, very different recruiting strategies are needed. Human Resources personnel are able to apply different methods for recruiting and retaining qualified job candidates, based on the characteristics of each recruitment scenario. New hires can be recruited by advertising job positions on public job boards and websites or through specialized agencies, such as PEO or RPO vendors.

Recruitment solutions may also be entirely in-house. If internal job applicants are desired to fill available job positions, an internal company-wide search would be appropriate and job referral programs might be put into place. In such situations, the company's Intranet or other internal communications methods such as emails or general organizational notices can be used to create awareness about internal job vacancies. This is the best approach when internal talent would be the optimal choice for the advertised position. In some situations, there may be a preference for an internal job applicant while still allowing room for external job applicants to compete for the same position. In these cases, if a more qualified external candidate is presented, the organization has an option of filling the position based on qualifications rather than on experience with the organization.

Recruitment solutions vary in type, requirement, implementation technique, cost, feasibility, appropriateness and success potential. Recruitment is a function that occurs daily in many industries. Economic downturns may slow down the rate at which hiring occurs but usually, continual, proactive recruitment and sourcing can occur throughout the year, from season to season. Particular time periods may see a spike in recruitment activities, such as during summer months. There are also times when hiring companies put a freeze on recruitment activities to accommodate a reduction in the needs of business operations or to move towards a different organizational business model. Whatever the status of recruiting activities in organizations, each organization needs to consider which combination of solutions work best and how to gauge and quantify their success.