How can you improve your recruitment strategy?

A sound recruitment strategy is essential if your organization is to benefit in the long term from the talent it needs. At a time of increasing competition in all sectors of the employment market, it is imperative for every company to adapt its recruitment behavior in order to remain attractive. It's important to recognize the signs of an unsuitable recruitment strategy that needs to be improved. What are the signals that should alert you and to which you should react? How can you sustainably improve your recruitment strategy and turn it into a lever for growth and competitiveness? Dive into the heart of a winning method that will help you build an effective recruitment strategy and find the best talent!

What do we mean by recruitment strategy?

A recruitment strategy refers to all the action plans, methods and processes a company puts in place to attract, select and hire the most qualified candidates suited to its recruitment needs. It's a proactive approach to human resources management, designed to ensure that the company has the talent it needs to achieve its growth objectives.

The ultimate goal of a recruitment strategy is to build a team of talented individuals who will make a significant contribution to the company's success, while minimizing the costs and time involved in the recruitment process. This usually involves a good knowledge of the job market, the company's needs and the skills required of candidates.

What are the main signs of a poor recruitment strategy?

A poor recruitment strategy can have costly consequences for your company, including recruitment difficulties or errors, loss of time for those in charge of recruitment, whether they are your operational managers or your Talent Acquisition Managers, a loss of resources, particularly financial resources, as the cost of a vacancy or poor recruitment is high, an increase in the staff turnover rate, or a drop in productivity. Here are some of the main signs that your recruitment strategy is not effective and needs to be improved:

1. Candidates ill-suited to the positions for which they were recruited

‍Whena candidate is unsuitable for the position or leaves the company quickly, it is often necessary to restart the recruitment process. This translates into a drop in productivity, as the identification and selection process for the position has to be restarted. The time spent searching for candidates, conducting interviews, checking references, etc., becomes a source of low morale for the Hiring Managers and TAMs in charge of recruitment, and the costs associated with these re-hiring activities rise rapidly. This is a sign of the urgent need to put in place a solid recruitment strategy that effectively focuses on skills and culture-fit adapted to your company and context.

2. High staff turnover

A high turnover rate is often a sign of a flawed recruitment strategy. This can be due to unclear job descriptions, poor integration of new employees or misalignment with your corporate culture. Not only does this increase recruitment costs, it can also have an impact on your company's reputation.

3. Excessive recruitment costs

‍Ifthe costs associated with the recruitment process exceed the budget, this may indicate that your recruitment strategy is not effective. It may be necessary to review sourcing methods, the tools used for sorting CVs or selection interview processes to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

4. A long and complicated recruitment process

A process that takes too long can discourage top talent from applying. If suitably qualified candidates find other opportunities while the company takes its time to make a decision, this can lead to delays in recruiting people essential to your company's success. It's urgent to adapt your recruitment strategy to market expectations.

5. Inconsistent selection criteria

Inconsistency in selection criteria can lead to inequality and a lack of diversity in recruitment. It can also make it difficult to assess candidates objectively, which in turn makes it harder to select the most suitable candidates and can lead to recruitment errors.

6. Poor communication with candidates

If candidates don't receive feedback or clear communication about the recruitment process, it can damage your company's image and its ability to attract quality candidates who won't be inclined to continue the recruitment process with your company. This is a sign that your recruitment strategy needs to be improved to ensure that you don't lose good potential candidates for your position.

7. Absence of applications or irrelevant applications

If the company receives no applications or no relevant applications for a given vacancy, this may indicate that the sourcing strategy is inadequate, or that the job description is unclear or unattractive. The challenge will then be to redefine a recruitment strategy adapted to your position and your company.

8. Lack of long-term planning

Recruitment must be aligned with the company's overall strategy. Without long-term planning, the company may find itself in a situation where it has to hire in a hurry, which can lead to poor recruitment decisions and ultimately to gaps in crucial skills and expertise.

9. Lack of diversity

A diverse workforce can bring different perspectives and skills, which is essential for innovation and growth. The absence of diversity may indicate a bias in the recruitment process or a non-inclusive corporate culture. An optimal recruitment strategy must be able to ensure good diversity in your team.

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An ineffective recruitment strategy can have multiple negative consequences for a company. These can range from the hiring of unsuitable candidates to high recruitment costs, high staff turnover and a lack of diversity. These problems are often interconnected and can have long-term consequences, not only on employee well-being, but also on company performance and competitiveness. It is therefore crucial to adopt a well-planned and considered approach to recruitment to avoid these pitfalls.

Now let's take a look at the solutions you can activate to turn your recruitment strategy into a competitive advantage and recruit the best talent.

How can you improve your recruitment strategy?

Here are our recommendations for developing an effective recruitment strategy:  

1. Clearly define your staffing needs

Before starting a recruitment process, it's important to define your needs. Identify precisely the skills, experience and qualifications required for the position. Create a detailed job description to attract suitable candidates.

2. Building a strong employer brand

Develop a positive image of your company as an employer. Highlight the company's culture, benefits, professional development opportunities and values to attract more candidates.

3. Use a variety of recruitment channels

Don't limit yourself to a single recruitment source. Use online job boards, social networks, recruitment agencies, cooptation, recruitment events, etc., to broaden your pool of candidates. Recruiting by direct approach to candidates, otherwise known as headhunting, is also a good recruitment method when inbound recruitment does not give good results.

4. Use a specialist recruitment agency

Recruitment agencies offer a significant advantage to your recruitment strategy for key positions in your organization, thanks to their in-depth expertise of the job market and their extensive network of contacts. Their team of specialized consultants saves time by efficiently filtering out the best candidates. What's more, their position encourages open and transparent communication with candidates, and their replacement guarantee offers added security in the event of a recruitment error.

5. Optimize your recruitment process

Simplify and streamline the recruitment process to make it more efficient. Reduce response times to candidates and ensure that each stage is well defined, with short lead times between interviews. A process duration of less than one month between contact with a potential candidate and the offer of employment is an optimal timeframe , demonstrating a high level of process efficiency.

6. Invest in training for recruiters

Make sure your recruiters and hiring managers are trained in best recruitment practices, including identifying and approaching candidates directly, assessing skills, conducting effective interviews and evaluating the motivations of potential candidates.

7. Establish objective selection criteria

Develop selection criteria based on concrete skills and qualifications, rather than on prejudices or personal impressions. The use of a scorecard can be very useful in this context, as it allows criteria to be quantified and made more comparable between different candidates. This is crucial to avoid unpleasant surprises and ensure a fair selection process.

8. Involve internal stakeholders

Work closely with operational teams to understand their recruitment needs. Involve them in the recruitment process and in decision-making. An effective recruitment strategy is necessarily collaborative, as it is based on precise skill requirements from Hiring Managers, who need to be included, for example, in technical interviews and in the assessment of candidates' skills.

9. Continuous assessment and adjustment

Track recruitment-related KPIs, such as time to hire, cost per hire, step-by-step drop rate and turnover rate. Use the data from your recruitment software to constantly improve your strategy. For example, if you have a high volume of hires, you can opt for an RPO recruitment solution, which will reduce your unit cost per hire.

10.Focus on diversity and inclusion

Promote diversity by implementing recruitment initiatives aimed at attracting candidates from different backgrounds, and ensure that your recruitment process is inclusive. Launch partnership programs with diversity-focused organizations, such as professional associations for women in technology, to attract a wider range of candidates. Training courses on preventing unconscious bias could also be offered to those involved in your recruitment process to make your recruitment strategy more inclusive.

11.Offer a positive candidate experience

Pay attention to the candidate's experience throughout the process. Answer their questions promptly, and make sure they feel valued and informed at every stage. Your company can set up a tracking system that sends notifications to candidates at every stage of the recruitment process. For example, a confirmation email after the application has been received, an update after each stage and feedback, whether positive or negative. All this testifies to a demanding and well-organized recruitment strategy.

12.Integrate new employees effectively

Once candidates have been hired, be sure to put in place a solid integration program to foster their success and long-term commitment. When they arrive, for example, a 30- to 90-day induction program could be put in place. This program could include training, meetings with key members of the company and even mentoring to help new employees adapt more quickly to their new role.

13.Monitor job market trends

Keep abreast of developments in the job market, new technologies and recruitment trends, so you can adapt quickly to change. For example, recruitment managers can subscribe to specialized newsletters or podcasts, attend conferences or professional meetings, and use monitoring platforms to keep abreast of the latest trends and methods in recruitment. For example, as telecommuting becomes a dominant trend, your HR or TAM team will be able to adjust your recruitment strategy to attract talent who are comfortable with this new way of working.

14.Always bear in mind that the market is tight

At every stage of the process, make sure you're not only validating the candidate's skills, but also convincing them to join you. If you wait until the end of the process to promote the position and your company, you run the risk of losing ideal candidates before then. In particular, it's very useful for some positions to carry out technical tests. In this case, avoid theoretical and generic tests, preferring real-life situations that will enable candidates to learn more about their future day-to-day work. Don't forget to give them feedback so that they can progress and not just feel they're taking an exam.