Fast growing companies are known to invest large amounts of capital and resources into marketing, production and business administration. But most skimp on one of the most important elements of a successful company: Managing recruitment.
Managing the process of hiring qualified talent can prove challenging during periods of unprecedented growth. So, what are the best practices—the key needs and requirements to recruit successfully in a fast growing company?
Each company has its own unique recruiting challenges and requirements – regardless of whether it is a fast growing company or not. The challenges for hiring talent with good ROI are clearly different for a large company than for smaller startups. If you are looking to turn your recruitment process into a winning strategy, you will need to look critically at the technological options at your disposal. Have you invested in the right systems and tools that your fast growing company will need to build and manage a successful recruitment operation? There are some general rules that apply to companies across the board in every industry.
Most companies are quick to overestimate the effectiveness of their internal recruitment program. However, their employees are singing a different tune as outside talent is called upon to fill new openings, instead of allowing in-house employees these advancement opportunities. This practice can cause the most talented and loyal employees to leave the company, as soon as the chance presents itself. Recruiting from within is essential, proving to employees that advancement is possible, without leaving the company. And it’s important to provide opportunities, incentives and benefits to ensure these dedicated employees remain with your fast growing company, and focused on excellence.
The days of relying entirely on emailing and cold-calling are nearing an end, for both employers and prospective employees. With the increasing popularity of social networking platforms, gathering internal referrals has become much easier and viable for companies on the fast track to growth. Powerful networks such as LinkedIn, empowers employers with the ability to reach thousands of contacts, in just a matter of clicks. While getting a referral from your employees is an often overlooked best practice, an employee knows the work environment, is familiar with the culture, and is the best gauge in determining which candidates can succeed in a particular role in your fast growing company.
Unfortunately, even with the immense potential of using such leverage, tracking employee referrals can be costly, unreliable and difficult to justify. A modern applicant tracking system can enable organizations to manage internal recruitment processes and employee referrals easily and effortlessly.
Targeting the right candidates and establishing a winning team is virtually impossible without automation. Take a hard, honest look at your company’s current recruitment system and decide whether or not it’s scaling with the needs of your fast growing company. Is your system equipped to not just receive applications, but to screen and process those applications quickly and efficiently?
Does your current system give hiring teams the ability to collaborate and participate from any location? Does it score and rank candidates according to specific criteria—empowering your recruiters to make informed decisions, quickly? Today’s fastest-growing companies must leverage a modern applicant tracking system to ensure the hiring process continues to run smoothly, and without any hiccups.
Many companies are stringent in their policies limiting the use of external or temporary help. Yet, many of these businesses are already at a stage in growth where recruitment has become a full-time job. Effectively outsourcing recruitment efforts can help your fast growing company avoid the problem of hasty hiring decisions, common in growing companies. Instead of using rapid expansion as an excuse to hire inferior talent, rely on outsourced recruiters to fill any immediate talent demands. Free up resources and increase productivity by delegating the task of vetting, interviewing and disqualifying numerous candidates, to dependable contractors or companies. A properly implemented modern applicant tracking platform can make sure that you can delegate a portion of your recruitment efforts to external stakeholders while keeping control of the overall process.
Adecco, a leading HR solutions provider, published a survey consisting of 17,000 job seekers and 1,500 recruiters worldwide. The study found 5 out of 10 job hunters depend on social media for their job search, while 7 out of 10 recruiters rely on social media to perform daily personnel tasks. In other words, 3 recruiters out of 10 are not utilizing the power of social networking. Smoothing out the recruitment process, tracking job candidates successfully and staying organized requires the use of social platforms and applications—more now than ever before. Social recruiting will need to be a key component of your fast growing company’s hiring regiment going forward. Make sure that you have the right systems in place to recruit socially.
Hiring and retaining the best talent and expertise to accommodate explosive growth may not be possible when limited to a local level. Now could be the time to expand your geographic barriers when searching for that perfect candidate, by hiring internationally. Recruiting internationally may demand a higher budget upfront, but for certain positions, this method may prove to be far more lucrative in the long run. Fast growth companies are in a unique position to attract the most qualified and sought-after candidates, especially if they’ve established a worldwide buzz.
As a company facing quick growth or expansion, the biggest challenge to overcome is capacity. The demand for your products or services has been built—often painstakingly. And bringing in the right people, at the right time, to handle the demand—is difficult. Following these best practices will help your company foster more growth in the future, by managing the acquisition of your most valuable asset: your employees.
Photo by Guillaume Jaillet on Unsplash