Happy New Year! While most of you were swilling champagne and running around at 10 ‘til midnight trying to land that oh-so-quintessential New Years kiss, I was planning for a new year of personnel growth. In order to best execute my goals in regards to recruitment in 2012, I know that first I must create a plan of action. In order to do that, I had to first identify my Human Resource Plan in relation to my overall company strategic plan.

My HR Plan for year 2012 identifies:

1. How many employees need to be added to each department (Operations, Marketing, Sales, Warehouse) in 2012?
2. Will I need to add, redefine, realign jobs within each department to better suit our overall business objectives?
3. Listing the essential job functions and talents that we currently have in place and identify any new talents/skills that are necessary to the success of new hires.
4. What is our turnover rate? Is it higher in any specific department, and if so, why? What processes or behaviors can be changed in hiring/training managers to decrease the turnover rate?
5. Will we support any employee training and development efforts in order to benefit our overall business strategy?
6. Are we on trend to market standards of compensation and alternative rewards? If yes-what will we do to maintain an equitable standard of compensation? If no-how can we bring out company up to market standards?

Because I work for a small company, our Human Resources department is very small; we consist of two people, myself and another individual who’s work predominantly falls under the accounting umbrella. In a typical HR department, the HR Plan would also identify any changes that needed to be implemented in the following departments: Recruitment/Staffing, Employee Relations, Compensation/Benefits/Alternative Rewards and Organizational Development.

Ask yourself-what are the goals of your 2012 Staffing Plan? For some companies, it is to increase the number of employees to support an increase in work load. For others, it’s to identify and hire top talent within your industry. You should keep in mind that a good staffing plan is cost effective, generates a high number of qualified job applicants, is adaptive to the company culture and, if applicable, meets EEO requirements.

When I initiate a recruiting/staffing initiative, I write down the elements of my Recruiting Plan.

1. Objectives-why am I recruiting and what is the expected outcome of my recruiting initiative
2. Number and type of positions needing to be filled (full-time, part-time, contract)
3. Job descriptions
4. Pay Rates, Benefits and Compensation Package(s)
5. Open-to-close time line (how long am I giving myself to fill each position)
6. Recruitment sources (online, employee referral, professional referrals, external sourcing, etc.)
7. Recruitment budget
8. Candidate selection process
9. Recruit-to-new hire tracking tools (how am I tracking my recruiting process)

Succession Planning: Before I start the actual recruitment process, I like to sit down with the hiring managers and senior management and create an Employee Succession Plan. By creating a flowing replacement chart of employees, I can identify: who can move up into higher positions within the organization; I can better identify what skills/training will be needed for incumbents and; I can estimate how many new hires I will need to on-board. For example, I can better forecast if I will need to hire 3 new entry-level sales representatives and 1 sales supervisor, or if an incumbent sales representative can be promoted within 6-12 months to a supervisory position and I can bring in 3 entry level sales reps. Succession Planning also helps identify talented employees and the skills they bring to the company that promote success. This leads me to identify specific talents or functions required for new hires.

Looks like this 3 part series, will turn into a possible 4-5 parter. Stay tuned for the next installment of the Strategic Staffing Series: Recruiting-From Sourcing to Hiring: What You Need to Know About Identifying and Hiring Top Talent.