Will A Checklist Help Us Recruit More Effectively?

Dear Kept in the Dark:

The checklist is the easy part. Before tackling that, however, let’s first examine the underlying problem: that upper management isn’t informing your recruiters until well after positions become vacant.

This sounds like a “disconnect” in which human resources partners fail to keep each other informed, rather than an oversight by upper management. But learning about terminated employees earlier in the game is not the only condition you’ll want to address.

How prepared are you for downstream changes in your business (six to 12 months out) that may require you to recruit a huge volume of experienced professionals with scarce new skills—more people than your organization has experience recruiting?

Also, think about the problem of planned growth within divisions that possess solid succession plans, where you know who will step into newly created positions. If these high-potential, high-performance employees are scheduled to move from their current positions, maybe your recruiting effort should focus on looking for candidates to backstop these high performers now.

We could actually make a long list of situations where the added value of recruiting might resonate with hiring managers, HR partners, upper management and other stakeholders. Rather than a checklist, what you need is a mutual agreement that is written and signed by the different parties responsible for recruiting.

Here’s how it should look. First, it typically arises out of a series of discussions between human resources and other business leaders to establish the quality of your services. These service level agreements, or SLAs, are primarily a contracting tool keyed to establish and meet clients’ expectations. The client and the service provider (recruiting, for example, or more likely HR) determine in advance which services and performance levels will be provided, and decide how the success or failure of an SLA is measured.

In staffing, an SLA should essentially speak to the expectations of recruiters, recruiting coordinators, interviewers and hiring managers, since their partnership is essential to the attainment of your goals. Any worthwhile agreement would also describe the process, roles, timeframes, and accountabilities for all parties.

An SLA for recruiting might include an outline of the complete process used by recruiters and hiring manages to fill job openings as quickly and efficiently as possible. A staffing SLA takes managers step by step through this process—from submitting a requisition to extending an offer—and notes applicable turnaround times.

The most competitive corporations use SLAs to manage the quality of their process, and it isn’t unusual to have several SLAs in place between internal HR functions, i.e., recruiting and other HR services.

The solution isn’t to look for, and adopt, an SLA template (although there are many). Rather, you should engage all the stakeholders in your process: hiring managers, upper management, recruiters, recruiting coordinators, vendors, and candidates, and establish a level of service they can expect from you—and what you need in return to commit to it.

SOURCE: Gerry Crispin, CareerXroads, Kendall Park, New Jersey

LEARN MORE: Get more recruiting insights by reading “Tips for Fast Turnaround.”

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.