How to Manage Recruitment Volume Spikes

Sometimes the circumstances of an organisation can change quite significantly, quite quickly – whether it’s the undertaking of a new large-scale project or securing a contract that will result in massive growth. Such news is fantastic for the organisation, of course, but for recruiting teams, it can present some significant challenges.
shutterstock_72873097A team might suddenly need to hire hundreds of new employees. But, should these hires be made on a permanent basis? Are hundreds of permanent hires sustainable over time? Engaging contingent workers might be a more sensible option, but how will that work in practice? Can full-time staff be managed alongside your new contingent cohort?
These questions are difficult ones, and there are other issues to consider as well. You need to have a talent acquisition team with the support, capacity and capability to cope with significant spikes in recruitment needs. Another consideration is time. You need to have sufficient time available to allow for training of additional talent acquisition consultants.
Another potential problem to consider is the possibility that the new team will not deliver the required results. Obviously, reducing the risk of this possibility becoming a reality is of paramount importance.
Such scenarios are common and even during such extraordinary periods the day-to-day ‘business as usual’ of recruitment teams never stops. So with the pressure mounting all the time, it’s no surprise that organisations choose to engage with RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) providers, and it’s in scenarios such as those detailed above where RPOs can come into their own. RPO providers will ensure that candidates in the talent pipeline are always engaged and that the talent is always readily available. This makes RPO providers specialising in project work an excellent way for an organisation to manage significant volume spikes when required.shutterstock_128428937
In challenging situations such as recruitment volume spikes, the need for a fertile talent pipeline of potential candidates becomes so important. Being able to access the data held on candidates and to get in contact quickly with these candidates will be a crucial factor.
The importance of developing and managing the talent pipeline should not be underestimated or overlooked. Principles of asset management should be applied to talent pools. This keeps the talent engaged and is important for your employer brand. This essential area of work can become the responsibility of RPO providers.
Applying asset management principles such as maintenance, replacement and upgrades will ensure that if another significant recruitment spike occurs, everything is set in place and the organisation is ready to cope with the demand.
Re-hiring or re-engaging when necessary is an excellent way of improving the productivity of employees and delivering efficiency. The alternative – essentially starting from scratch every time a spike occurs – means more time, more cost and, quite often, poorer productivity levels.
[bctt tweet=”Re-hiring or re-engaging employees is an excellent way to improve productivity and efficiency” username=”ATCevent”]
The demands of managing scalability should not be underestimated. The time taken to hire talent acquisition consultants and train them can be an excessive burden for an organisation. A project RPO solution will ensure that consultants are experienced, appropriately backed by a sourcing team, and that talent pipelines that can be used well into the future are created at the same time as well.
Regarding handling recruitment volume spikes, there are three key areas where RPO providers can be of great benefit. Firstly, there is the development and management of the talent pipeline. Secondly, RPOs can also ensure scalability of talent acquisition teams. As numbers increase and decrease to address spikes and drop-offs as appropriate, RPO providers can manage this for the organisation. Finally, RPOs will use appropriate metrics linked to project cost, time and delivery and ensure that processes are robust and deliver results.
Images: Shutterstock

This article first appeared on LinkedIn on August 8th, 2016.

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