Here at People Science, we are bit untraditional when it comes to recruiting. We collaborate and work as teams to tackle those tougher-to-fill positions with as much brain power as we can. But we still hit a recruiting wall, as I like to call it, every now and then. You know the feeling I’m talking about – when you feel like you have talked to everyone you can and networked until your ears feel numb from the phone. The big question is what do you do when your staff hits this wall?????
This is where brainstorming sessions come into play. All of the teams – not just the ones that are recruiting in the so-called “tapped out” markets – get together and talk it out. This will include sourcers, recruiters, Talent and Acquisition and even processing. Each department of People Science plays an integral part in matching, placing and on-boarding candidates. This makes everyone’s option valuable. Why not hear from the people that are the masters of their craft?
In the brainstorming sessions, we start by doing just that – brainstorming ideas. We try to dump all the ideas and thoughts into one place. It’s almost like starting a puzzle; you have all the pieces, you just need to organize them and see how they fit! Once we have talked about all the traditional ways to find candidates, we go to the things that we consider out-of-the-box ideas and see if any of these will hold value to help us jump that wall we are trying to break down. At this point, we will have exhausted and drained our brain power and are ready to build a plan utilizing all of the things that we have just talked about.
Building a plan to assign new ideas and techniques to your staff shouldn’t be a challenge. Give your employees what they know, and the things at which you feel they excel! (Not necessarily the things they think they are good at.) At times, employees pick what’s easy, which is not always the most effective way to do things. It will be good for you and your employees to break out of their comfort zone and stretch their abilities. Once your new ideas are assigned, establish clear expectations and goals for each team member, and your puzzle will start to come together; this will help make recruiting become clear and consistent.
At the end of the day, you have what you need to get past the walls that you may hit along the way. Brainstorming and refocusing your teams are always a great approach. With a little guidance from you and others in management, your employees will exceed your expectations and feel empowered by the results they are getting from ideas they already had – ideas that you help them manifest.
By Lindsey Roundtree | People Science CSM