Top 3 Critical Pieces of a Superior Recruiting Plan

A recruiting plan is your road map to a successful hire of top candidates. Just like a road map, you need to know your destination, you need to know how you plan to get there and if you want to go there again you better write down how you got there.

Brian Tracy says, 'Action without planning is the cause of all failures. Action with planning is the cause of all success.'

Here are the top 3 elements of a successful recruiting plan.

Needs Analysis – Like a road map, you need to know your destination so you know where to go. The needs analysis is the description of what type of person you are looking for to fill the position. It is in a very real sense your destination. To not know your ideal candidate and start an interview process is like going on a road trip without a destination. You will come across some really interesting places but you won't end up anywhere. Similarly if you don't have a needs analysis, you will find some great people but not necessarily the one who would fit the position. The question is, why spend all the time and resources searching for someone to fill a position only to be setting them up for failure?

Methods & Strategy - If the needs analysis is the what, the methods and strategy is the how in your recruiting plan. Going back to the road trip analogy, this is your form of transportation. It is how you are going to get there. In both instances, it requires understanding the resources you have available to attract great candidates or in the road trip scenario how you will get from point A to point B. There are literally hundreds or methods available but the best method depends on a number of factors including your company, the type of position, the importance of the position, etc.

The job here is to collect the methods that make sense, evaluate potential other methods and develop your strategy. Not to say it can't change but you need to have a starting point.

Document and Track – Finally you need a way to document and track your results. Whether you are creating a recruiting plan or going on a road trip, if you want to repeat the process you better write it down. In your road trip you would write down where the traffic was bad so next time you could pick a better rout. In your recruiting plan, if you don't have enough candidates you could look for other ways to find or attract more candidates for the next recruitment.

This may seem tedious but there are two very important reasons to do so. First if you go to the trouble of finding candidates, you should collect that resume and hold on to it. That candidate may not be a perfect fit for the job this time but may be a fit for future openings.

Second, you need to know your numbers. If it takes you 3 months to fill a simple position, you need to understand why. Are you starting with too few candidates? (Maybe you need to source more candidates.) Are you interviewing and rejecting lots of candidates? (Maybe you need a better screening process.) You get the picture.

Aside from these improvement and efficiency reasons to document and track results for your recruiting plan, there may also be government regulations that require you to keep candidates on file for a certain period. These laws vary by location, and size of company. Best to check with a local authority to find out what is required of your company.

Final Thoughts – Like a well planned road trip, a recruiting plan will guide you through a process that will result in attracting and hiring great candidates so long as you follow the process and use the information it is providing to continually improve the process.

Here is some more information about how to create a superior recruiting plan.