Pt. 2: Top 10 "Bleeding Edge" Recruiting Trends

The Top 10 ‘Bleeding Edge’ Recruiting Trends to Watch in 2015

by Dr. John Sullivan

 
Turnover issues dramatically impact recruiting – turnover rates continue to spiral upward (they went up 44 percent last year). Increased turnover will mean that the volume of recruiting will increase significantly, but the firm’s reputation for high turnover will also impact your ability to recruit new talent. Given the high impact of new hire turnover, firms will need to begin assessing candidates on their likelihood of an early departure.

Learning to hire whenever scarce talent becomes available — during periods when top talent is extremely scarce, the best targets enter and exit the job market over a matter of days. That means that recruiting functions must shift from their traditional recruiting model, where you hire only when a position becomes open, to a completely different approach, where you hire whenever top talent applies to your company. That means when a top talent applies for a critical high-volume job at your firm, you begin the hiring process immediately and make an offer quickly, even if there is currently no vacant position. Yes, this means that you will hire some talent a few weeks before you need them, but that results in a lower cost than being unable to fill jobs at all because no qualified talent is available when one of these high-volume positions eventually opens up.
 
Deemphasizing resumes and accepting online profiles — resumes have many weaknesses, but the primary reason that they need to be made optional is hiring speed. This is because few employed candidates have any interest in, nor do they have the time required, to update their resumes. They simply can’t become a candidate at your firm until they update and submit their resume. Firms must learn to eliminate the “resume update wait” by instead accepting LinkedIn profiles for referrals and at least the initial application for regular job openings. LinkedIn profiles are generally more accurate than resumes because they are viewed by so many individuals that any misstatements would be instantly discovered.
 
Sourcing will add a “find-their-work” component – some of the most competent professionals have weak resumes. Fortunately, with the growth of the Internet and social media, it is now becoming possible to find the actual work of most professionals. And this is a good thing because an individual’s work is almost always a better representation of their capability than their resume. Employees looking for referrals and recruiters need to also focus on discovering the great ideas and the writing, the pictures, and the video representations of their work and the actual work samples of “hidden individuals” who couldn’t be found based solely on their resume. As an added benefit, your firm gathers information on new approaches, whether you end up hiring these individuals or not.

Boomerangs return as a primary source – boomerang rehires of previous high-performing employees have proven to be one of the highest sources of quality hires. Because so many have been released, there is an abundant talent pool to choose from. And in addition, keeping track of corporate alumni is now so much easier because you can find them easily on LinkedIn and on social media. Because of their speed, low cost, and high quality of hire, expect boomerang rehires to reach 15 percent of all hires at major firms.

The above is part 2 of 3 of John Sullivan's great article.
Part one and three are below:
Part 1
Part 3
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