times of low unemployment, building a robust, collaborative recruiting team is particularly important. That team is the front line in your efforts to successfully attract top talent to your organization. It’s one of the most valuable roles in the organization.
But how can companies build rock-solid recruiting teams? If your business never had a recruiting team before, or if the current team isn’t up to par and you’re ready to improve, we have four critical steps for building a capable group of talent finders.
Step 1: Define Your Goals and Set the Stage
Determining the roles of your new recruiting team is a crucial first step before you even have your first interview. Consider, first, how large your team will be. How many roles do you anticipate each recruiter will fill? In small companies, just one recruiter may be all you need, at least initially. One recruiter is typically the right size for a company with around 50-employees. In fast-growing companies recruiting is a full-time job.
But what kind of recruiter are you looking to hire? Here are some right questions to ask before placing an ad for the role:
- Do you need someone with a high level of technical expertise, or will the recruiter hire for more generalist roles?
- Is the recruiter handling sourcing, interviewing, and making the offer?
- Will the recruiter handle all of the paperwork leading up to the hire?
- How will internal departments engage the recruiter in sourcing and hiring?
- If you’re building out a team, do you need a more senior recruiter plus a junior or a recruiter dedicated to sourcing?
- What kind of training will you provide the recruiters?
Map out the workflows for the recruiting team to avoid any confusion later on. Will they spend their days sourcing candidates by phone, or will they attract candidates by attending events or engaging in other activities? Once you map how the department will look, consider the types of tools you will provide the team.
Step 2: Set Up Rewards to Encourage Your Team
Engaged recruiting teams produce more and better job candidates. The new recruiting team should understand their mission as much as they know the job they’re sourcing. To keep teams motivated, set up rewards that will keep them engaged even in the face of rejection. Some ideas include:
- Financial rewards for big wins.
- But you can celebrate even the small wins with catered lunches, gift cards, or other gifts and prizes.
- Allow flex time and work from home to improve productivity and increase motivation.
- Offer training and educational opportunities and opportunities for advancement.
Recruiting is a hard job with a lot of rejection. Motivating your recruiting team each week will keep them happier and more productive.
Step 3: Measure Success with KPIs
Key performance indicators are the best way to measure success for any team. To build a powerhouse recruiting team, set individual and team goals. Measure these regularly to guide the behavior of your team and improve their performance. Some of the best KPI for recruiters include:
- Time to hire, or how long from the job ad to hire.
- The quality of your candidates and new hires.
- The best sourcing channels for finding top hires.
- Offer acceptance rates.
You may also decide to track necessary activities, such as:
- Number of contacts per time (day/week, etc.)
- Networking events attended.
- New LinkedIn contacts.
To keep track of KPIs, you’ll need a recruiting dashboard to measure their success in real-time. That requires next-generation recruiting software. It’s a tool both you and your recruiting team will need to be successful.
Step 4: Give the Team the Tools They Need to Succeed
Exelare is the best tool for high quality recruiting teams. It provides recruiters with a single dashboard to manage jobs, candidates, sourcing, recruitment marketing, and KPIs. Exelare if mobile-friendly and has easy to use but sophisticated reporting for managers.