Of all the human resource functions that have developed in today’s corporate world, recruitment and hiring continue to be the most vital. Without qualified personnel and effective staff management, no business operation can ever hope to reach its full potential. Because of its universal importance, recruiting has grown into something of an industry itself; providing a wide range of external search firms, temporary work agencies, and specialized recruiters. In order to keep up with the marketplace, more and more companies have begun to use the full complement of resources at their disposal, in order to treat the hiring process as a continuous and evolving function, but also one that can be adjusted and enhanced in order to handle fluctuating production and variable short-term needs.
The typical recruitment process has three main components: sourcing, screening and selection, and onboarding. Sourcing entails the search for and identification of potential candidates through any number of methods and techniques. Internal postings, external recruitment events, and newspaper and internet listings are a few of the more common approaches. Screening and selection follow sourcing, and involve the critical assessment of an applicant’s relative skills and qualifications. This portion of the process includes interviews, résumé consideration, and reference checks, along with any specific tests or examinations that may apply to the particular job. Onboarding begins with the actual hiring of a new employee and is aimed at making the transition into his or her new role as smooth as possible. Though this portion of recruitment is often overlooked, it can have a huge impact on both the individual and the company, helping both become fully operational at a much quicker pace. Mentoring programs, team introductions, and social ice-breakers all fall within the scope of this broad category.
While most, if not all, organizations once handled the entire hiring process by themselves, the broadening acceleration of the market, along with increasing responsibilities being placed upon internal HR departments over the years, has compelled many companies to consider a different approach. The rise of independent recruiters and search agencies provides a variety of businesses with an external alternative to in-house staffing that can prove both cost-effective and efficient. By contracting out portions of their staffing work to this available pool of hiring expertise, companies often find they can simplify internal structures and locate better candidates at a quicker pace.
Temporary employment agencies can also be an effective resource for those companies that must handle sudden increases in corporate work volume, or adjust to seasonal labor demands. Using temp workers has its tax and payroll incentives, but, like contracting an external recruiter, the greatest benefit is the direct access to qualified candidates with particular skills. Some firms and agencies have become increasingly specified alongside particular market niches, so that even companies with the most atypical of staffing needs will likely have multiple courses of action from which to choose.
Not all businesses will face hiring demands that require outside assistance, but it is important to be aware of the available strategic options. While, in an ideal world, most companies would prefer to select each and every new worker brought aboard, as production expands and volume grows, this becomes increasingly difficult. To that end, external recruitment options have become an increasingly viable and successful approach to the hiring process.