What is recruitment?
No matter what industry your organisation falls under, recruitment is one of the most crucial parts of your business plan. It’s the process of attracting, identifying, and retaining the best possible candidate for each vacancy in your business. It’s also about finding where those vacancies are, so your resources are spent in the most effective way possible.
Simply put, it’s a broad and multi-layered practice that is essential for your business’ growth.
This comprehensive guide explains why recruitment is important for a business and give you all the tools you need for a more effective recruitment process.
Why is recruitment important?
Labour markets are volatile, and competition for top talent is incredibly tough right now. Around 72% of organisations attempted to fill permanent vacancies in the last 12 months (a 7% increase). Likewise, 60% of organisations report that talent is proving more difficult to retain than it was even last year.
Recruitment isn’t just about filling vacancies as and when they arise, it’s also about having processes in place to anticipate the long-term needs of the business, creating a more optimised workforce, and ensuring resources are used appropriately.
Following best recruitment practice will ensure you can attract and retain top talent.
Why is your recruitment process important?
Figuring out the nuances of what your organisation’s recruitment process looks like adds a huge amount of value to any business. The main drive around a clear recruitment process it to make sure your candidate experience is consistent. That helps drive results, boosts employee engagement, and enhances your company culture.
Emily Glover, Head of Talent & Resourcing from MHR says, “An organisation is built on its people and its talent. Without a solid understanding of why the recruitment process is important, you’ll struggle to grow sustainably. Effective recruitment means more than hiring the right person for the job.
A fast and efficient recruitment process can reduce business costs, enhance a company’s brand both from a market and candidate perspective and ensure that the very best talent is identified.
Having an efficient process is not just about filling an immediate vacancy but about impacting the long-term success of the business by finding the most suitable candidate which inevitably saved time and money on replacing and training new people.”
Who handles recruitment?
While traditionally you’ll see recruitment in HRM departments, they’re not the only group responsible for your recruitment process. In a small business, line managers and CEOs might be in charge or you might need to outsource to an agency. In larger businesses, you should have a dedicated department.
It’s also worth noting that in some highly specialised departments (most famously software development), the line managers will have a much better understanding of the hard skills they need, and what an ideal candidate looks like. Their input should always be factored in. The recruitment process is much stronger when the hiring manager and the recruitment team work together.
However, HR should be involved in the hiring process at every stage, so they can ensure it is following best practice.
Enhance your recruitment process with MHR
MHR offers a range of recruitment tools to create a more seamless recruitment process. This can reduce your time and cost to hire, adding a huge amount of value to your business for years to come.
People First is ideal for creating a centralised location that will massively reduce your recruitment administration, both for external recruitment as well as supporting internal recruitment.
