As is customary at the end of a decade, one reflects on the past 10 years, perhaps takes stock of accomplishments made and changes they’ve witnessed. The latter cannot be said to be more true or relevant than for the recruitment industry. No more paper resumes, the ever more common psychometric profiling, video interviews, phone screenings, inclusivity, flexible working hours, work-life balance…

So, with the raft of changes an industry has already seen over the last decade, what are some of the areas hiring managers can look to focus their attentions on in 2020, and the coming decade:

Don’t think your job is done when a new candidate starts…

Arguably your work has just begun… A story that is often regaled to recruiters by new perspective candidates is how they were ‘sold the dream’ when starting their previous role, but reality turned out to be quite different.

Surprisingly, many companies fall into the category of becoming ‘thermostatic’ once they’ve succeeded in hiring the new ‘talent’ they were looking for. One would be forgiven for thinking that due to such behaviours being all too commonly demonstrated, there were some hidden benefit for a company with low retention rates; or that the process of employing new talent had no costs attributed to it.

The message therefore is clear, once you’ve found that star, beaten your competitors from getting them first, ensure you do what you can to retain them! Be conscious about what the employee life cycle is like for those working at your company. Just like we discussed in our previous article (How to Win the Battle for Talent Activity*) demonstrating a strong company culture, consistently throughout the stages of an employee’s tenure with you, will play an extremely large part in whether or not they look to move away from being an employee of yours.

Hire with tomorrow in mind…

Along with increasing turnover and profit, reducing operating costs is every successful company’s core principle. We’ve all heard of the 80:20 principle, 80% of a company’s output can be attributed to the top 20% of its performers, and working smarter not harder in the context of hiring, should then translate to you spending more time assessing potential in a candidate. There are numerous tools available to assist in this, psychometric profiling, emotional intelligence, learning ability.

During your next hiring process, pay attention to what potential the candidate in front of you could have to offer given the right nurturing and environment. Does the brief you have just look for skill sets to satisfy a certain role now? Or, is there also a wider, ‘bigger picture’ of possible potential that they have?... If so, is this being taken into consideration? If not, why not?....what does that say about the culture within the workplace?

Stagnation is the breeding place of a workforce with itchy feet. Do what you can to ensure that the company creates a growth and development plan for each employee present and future, have that be part of the culture your company demonstrates.

It’s a two way street…

Heard the saying “honesty is the best policy”? Well in the context of recruitment, just one of the sure-fire ways to ‘lose’ the interest or confidence of that ideal candidate is to not stick to or communicate effectively the timelines and/or stages involved during a hiring process.

Be open and transparent with your potential new employees. Inform them about how you are conducting your selection, the selection criteria, what profiling or tech’ you’ll be using to assist you.

Manage expectations from the beginning, it may seem like common sense, but don’t forget to do the basics, like explaining stages and timelines involved and then stick to them. Provide constructive feedback after each interview. And if you want to stand out from the crowd in attracting that top talent to you instead of others; share information such as salary ranges and insights around other possible benefits and perks.

Are you taking full advantage of your hiring partner…

As we mentioned from the outset, the preceding years have seen huge changes within the recruitment industry, this can also be seen in the increasing value hiring managers are placing on the insights their recruitment partner can provide. If you are not taking full advantage of your recruitment partners experience and exposure to their given discipline, you are not making the most of the relationship. Recruiters see and hear, on a daily basis the good, and the bad in how companies carry out new process’, the pitfalls and traps to avoid, to what the current zeitgeist is in their required candidate pool.

Make sure you’re making the most of the relationship, and happy hiring in 2020.