Many clients and human resources professionals often ask me to share the secrets and special tools recruitment firms use to successfully secure new recruits time and time again. Of course, I can’t speak for all the recruitment firms out there but I can share three of Essence Recruitment’s secrets – just between you and me.
- At Essence Recruitment everything starts with RELATIONSHIPS, that’s our first ingredient for success. The relationships we nurture with our clients allow us to really get to know their organizations and their people. We pride ourselves in understanding their values, vision, mission and goals. We meet as many employees as necessary to obtain a complete picture of the organization. We review their organizational structure, the need for the new recruits and their intended roles, responsibilities and relationships within the organization. This attention to knowing our clients’ businesses, their teams and organizational culture naturally leads us to our next ingredient, the consideration of fit.
- There is more to recruitment than merely finding a candidate with the education and experience outlined in a job description. The most educated and best skilled recruit may not always succeed in a new position if it turns out that they and the organization are not the right FIT to ensure success within the team, the new recruit and the organizations need to be compatible in terms of values. The candidates have to believe or at the very least be open to the industry or field in which they will work if it is different than their previous experiences. The organizational culture also has to be appealing to the candidates – for example if a candidate likes to work the traditional 9 to 5, they may not appreciate an environment where people may come and go throughout the day but are expected to work odd hours to complete projects.
- Another ingredient is COMMUNICATION. My colleagues and I place a large emphasis on our ability to effectively and respectfully communicate with our clients and potential candidates. Through our constant communication approach, we provide personalized services that foster open and regular feedback throughout the recruitment process. This allows us to ensure that we are always in tune with the client’s expectations and to be able to tweak things promptly as may be necessary. Similarly, our focus on direct communication with potential candidates means that we don’t rely solely on online communication via email or text messaging. We take the time necessary to connect with prospects via telephone, video-conferencing and in person when it makes sense to further explore the potential candidates’ fit. Getting to know the prospects through in-depth conversations early on can help speed the recruitment process later on.
As you can see, the three ingredients I mentioned all work together. When these ingredients are integrated into efficient processes, that’s what I call the bonus ingredient. It means having the right tools to adequately source prospects and well-designed processes to track applicants – their skills, educations, experiences, personality and aspirations – as well as the means to develop a tailored recruitment strategy and report findings to the clients in a timely and cost-efficient manner. Truly, having a coherent overall approach to recruitment is really the key – it ensures that relationships, communication and fit add value to the recruitment process and lead to success.
