It’s no secret that recruitment costs can be astronomical. A typical hire costs up to £11,000 and takes an average of 27.5 days, with with 73 percent of organisations complaining about an increase in time to hire over the past five years. Contributor Carl Hoffmann, Founder and CEO – Talentry

Faced with a looming talent gap set to total 85 million skilled employees globally by 2030 (which is the equivalent to $8.5 trillion unrealised revenue), and economic uncertainty on the back of Brexit, it is perhaps unsurprising that recruitment is under the spotlight as organisations look at new approaches to source the right candidates quickly and cost effectively.

Out with the old..
Traditional recruitment models have typically focused on a ‘funnel’ framework, which mirrors a sales strategy, focusing on the generation of leads to fill specific positions. This linear approach ends as a position is filled, resulting in a need for the process to start from scratch as a new role becomes available. The problem with this approach is that it takes a short term view of value creation. 

Whether the campaign is focused on events, career websites or outsourcing to external agencies, once the position has been successfully filled, all other candidates are effectively eliminated from the process. Through putting the role at the centre of the process and discarding high quality candidates who may be suitable for future roles, potential remains untapped and much of the investment channelled into the campaign goes to waste.   

..and in with the new
In recognition of the limitations of traditional recruitment models, forward thinking HR professionals have started to change their mindsets. Taking on board a more marketing-centric approach, many are establishing new models which place the candidate, rather than the role, at the centre of the process.

These new models, which focus on a recruitment ‘wheel’ rather than a funnel approach, ensure that the leads nurtured as part of a recruitment campaign are maintained and converted into candidates who continue to be engaged by the organisation and considered for future positions. 

It stands to reason that not every talented candidate will be recruited. The timing might not be favourable, the individual may not be interested in the role upon further discussion, or they may simply be second best to another candidate. However, through nurturing this network of talent, HR professionals can organise individuals into talent pools and engage with them via targeted communications until a suitable role becomes available. In turn this builds long term relationships and the capability to mobilise and hire talent quickly and cost effectively.   

Completing the ‘wheel’, those candidates are then converted into employees as suitable positions arise, and employees become advocates for new talent leads.  

Maintaining a strong talent pool
Once a candidate has been converted into an employee, they then become an ambassador, actively involved in ongoing recruitment to top up the talent pool. This kind of advocacy is hugely powerful in attracting candidates who represent a better fit for the organisation, as trust in brand values is inevitably perceived to be more authentic than a job post on a recruitment site. 

In supporting this brand ambassador approach, of course the right frameworks and systems are needed, and many leaders in this space are capitalising on digital employee referral programmes and platforms through which content can be shared across social media networks. By exploiting these networks, the speed at which referrals can be made is unprecedented, 55 percent faster in fact than those appointed via career sites. In addition, referred candidates have higher job satisfaction, with over 46 percent staying in the role for one year, 45 percent for two years and 47 percent for over three years (almost 10 percent more than the ones hired per career sites and job boards in every category).

New mindsets
But while those figures might point to some kind of panacea, having the right tools in isolation simply isn’t enough. Referral programmes must be part of a recruitment culture shift, a new mindset which sees marketing principles applied fully to recruitment practices, respecting candidates in the same way as customers, and taking a holistic view of the candidate lifecycle.  

A combination of economic volatility, unprecedented talent shortages and an increasingly digitalised world, mean that it is imperative for age-old recruitment models to evolve. Establishing new, modern practices and embedding new frameworks, will undoubtedly differentiate the leaders from the laggards in tomorrow’s war for talent.