Best Practices For Recruitment And Retention

Best Practices For Recruitment And Retention

1. Core Organisational Values
2. Line Manager Involvement
3. Marketing and Promotion
4. Recruitment Coordination
5. Efficiency or the Hiring Process
6. Information Tracking/Measurement
7. Career Development
8. Orientation
9. Continuous Learning
10. Exit Interviews

1. Core Organisational Values

The recruitment practices must compliment the core values of the organisation. The organisation must seek to recruit individuals who possess the capability and willingness to jell into the existing organisational culture with ease, unless the organisation is seeking to inject new blood for purpose of effecting change or for bring in new perspectives.

2. Line Manager Involvement

Successful recruiting programs encourage support and participation from the hiring managers. The senior staff of the departments should be made responsible for recruiting, screening, interviewing, and offering positions to new hires. The high degree of line manager involvement and partnership with the human resources function illustrates the growing importance of recruitment programs and provides a framework for successful hiring programs. The line managers must be involved and made responsible for making key staffing decisions.

3. Marketing and Promotion

Marketing and promoting a recruitment program requires a two-pronged approach: (1) communicating to hiring managers; and, (2) communicating to candidates. Hiring managers must be aware of all the recruiting tools available to them, and they must understand their role in making the recruitment process successful. Marketing and promotion is also critical for attracting top talent since qualified candidates have many other opportunities available to them. Recruitment Guide. The Human Resources Department should prepare a comprehensive Recruitment Guide for internal distribution to the hiring managers in various departments. This Recruitment Guide should be designed to promote awareness of the recruiting initiatives and to provide a “step-by-step” description of the organisation’s recruitment process. This document should begin by asking each hiring manager to identify the recruitment needs, and should continue to guide the hiring manager through the various recruitment stages e.g. candidate screening, interview process, and the job offer. This comprehensive Recruitment Guide should be used as a reference tool to assist hiring managers through the organisation’s recruitment process. Career Information Booklets. The Human Resources Department should develop Information Booklets for their annual recruitment campaigns for professional employment classifications (CA, CPA etc.) that are highly specialised and critical to the core competencies needed by the departments. These Booklets should clearly outline useful information for prospective employees, including descriptions of work assignments, development opportunities, and organisational culture. These booklets should also be distributed during on-campus or external recruitment campaigns and on the organisation’s website.

4. Recruitment Coordination

Successful recruitment programs require the coordinated effort of both Human Resource professionals and line managers. The Human Resources Department in co-ordination with it’s client departments should implement practices that ensure recruitment is co-ordinated across the department (1) by involving representatives of each branch/section in the recruiting efforts, (2) by documenting a human resources strategy, or (3) by sharing resumes of candidates with other branches/sections within the department.

5. Efficiency or the Hiring Process

Because of the competitive environment for highly qualified candidates, it is important to be able to make an employment offer in a timely manner. The Human Resources Department in co-ordination with the client departments should accomplish this goal by identifying key candidates early in the process, by utilizing specific fast-track screening programs, or by generally expediting the hiring process through a one-day job fair to ensure that key recruits (i.e. who might soon be hired by other organisations) are identified and expeditiously hired.

6. Information Tracking/Measurement

With the increasing levels of resources involved in implementing a successful recruitment program, evaluating the success of the program is gaining importance. The information provided through the evaluation enables managers to refine their recruiting approaches. Recruitment programs can be evaluated throughout every stage of the process, from identifying sources of candidates to why job offers are rejected. This can be achieved by recording and tracking the recruitment process and through interviews of candidates/individuals who reject an offer of employment.

7. Career Development

Career development initiatives have become a key retention strategy within most organisations.These programs range in length from one to five years and are designed with two objectives in mind: (1) to provide individuals with development opportunities within the department; and, (2) to ensure that the department is cultivating the skills it needs to meet its mandate in the coming years. A number of studies have suggested that interesting work opportunities are more important to employees than compensation. Career development programs are responding to this trend and are ensuring interested individuals have access to diverse experiences and opportunities.

8. Orientation

Orientation programs are used extensively in the private sector to welcome new staff to the organisation and as a tool to introduce individuals to the organisational culture. This is an effective tool to ensure the settling-in process and integration of the new employee into the existing team.

9. Continuous Learning

Training and development activities are generally prevalent in most organisations. However, the emphasis placed on continuous learning has grown in recent years as knowledge and information have become increasingly important. Individuals are realising the need to constantly upgrade skills and stay up-to-date with emerging information and communication technologies. Most organisations have mandated training budgets for each employee to ensure staff are remaining current and engaged within their area of expertise.

10. Exit Interviews

Exit interviews can be valuable tools to assess the satisfaction of employees, to discuss leadership capabilities, and to evaluate the success of organisational policies and procedures. Of the many tools available to managers to assess organisational issues, exit interviews are perhaps the most difficult to administer due to the individual circumstances surrounding the departure. Recognising this difficulty, human resources professionals are becoming involved in the administration of the interview process to provide an arms length perspective on the issue at hand and to allow for the sharing of lessons learned across the organisation where appropriate.