As your business changes, there may be times where you will need to find a large volume of talent in a short amount of time. This can be due to a new department creation, opening of an operation center, or even an internal structural change.
When high-volume hiring projects occur, it can be tempting to take shortcuts, but hiring managers beware. When corners are cut finding talent, your team is exposed to unnecessary risk, lower candidate quality, and unnecessary false starts and frustration. In short, cutting corners sets you up to fail.
Fortunately, when it comes to high-volume and project-based staffing, a little preparation can make a big difference in how successful your talent search will be.
Here are Bridge’s best practices for high-volume hiring:
1. Set Up an Environment Built for Success
Regardless of your project, having a strong foundation is the key to success. Before you even begin to think about hiring, ensure you have established an environment where those working on recruiting can thrive.
An environment that is organized, supportive, and gives people focus is crucial to your project’s success. It doesn’t have to be anything grand; little things make a big difference. Simple things like a password log, quick reports, browser bookmarks, etc., make the day-to-day of recruiting easier. Even something as simple as ensuring your team knows you are invested in their success can go a long way in you seeing the best hiring results possible.
2. Download with Project Stakeholders
To truly understand the objectives of your project, your team must have a good grasp on your hiring objectives. Even if you are managing the project internally, it is important to ensure project objectives are clearly defined. More likely than not, multiple decision-makers will have a stake in the success of this project. Be sure to collect feedback to ensure all vested parties influence how project success is defined, measured, and achieved.
Some starter questions to ask your team could be:
- What is the scope of this project?
- What is the budget?
- Will a third-party staffing partner be used?
- How long should it take for all positions to be filled?
- What will a successful hiring campaign yield?
- What do ideal candidates look like?
- What materials are needed for success?
- What challenges do you anticipate leading up to and during the recruitment process?
Having this foundational information will allow you to hit the ground running when it’s time to start sourcing.
3. Determine Key Tasks That Need To Be Completed
Once you have listed out your core objectives, it’s time to create some SMART goals surrounding project execution. Review your list of objectives and break down your project into different phases based on tasks that need to be completed. Naturally, within the recruiting process, certain items will need to be completed before others, prioritize accordingly.
Let’s say your goal is to hire 20 candidates in a new city. Some things you may want to do include:
- Determine the dates for applicant start, and the start of your talent search.
- Conduct market research/build an ideal candidate profile.
- Determine your sourcing strategy/channels.
- Build and test various job descriptions.
- Gather and create documents for onboarding/training.
- Etc.
4. Create a Timeline and List of Goals
Now that you have broken down your hiring project into smaller benchmarks, you can now put these goals on a timeline. Write down what goals you need and what date that goal needs to be completed.
Although it can be helpful to reverse engineer your timeline from your target hire date, trying to cram too many objectives into a small window is the downfall of many projects. Give yourself a healthy amount of time to achieve your goals. If things are rushed, quality will suffer. This will have a direct impact on the caliber of talent your recruitment yields.
Checklists, calendar reminders, spreadsheets, and other technology may assist you, dependent on your organization style.
5. Track Your Progress
Throughout your project, it is important to be transparent about the project’s progress. Discuss with project leaders the best way to communicate and out what you will do to keep all parties involved updated on project progress. Using cloud-based or project management programs can be a great way to achieve this, but a simple spreadsheet can do the job as well. Ensure you are tracking the key KPIs established in step one and updating this spreadsheet as frequently as possible.
In addition to a shared document, setting up recurring touchpoints to discuss progress is a great way to keep your team updated. In these meetings, be sure to review what has been achieved since the team met last and if goals/benchmarks need to change. Additionally, discuss the tasks everyone will be accountable for completing by the start of the next meeting.
Putting it All Together
Whether you’re hiring a large number of candidates, creating new roles, or even onboarding, high-volume hiring projects are no small undertaking. With the proper preparation, healthy goal setting, and some help from a trusted staffing partner, you’re sure to find the type of talent that cultivates success in no time.