10 Best strategies to master high-volume recruiting
High-volume hiring is a competitive talent acquisition strategy that many organisations employ to fulfil their extensive workforce requirements. While large organisations adopt this approach to sustain their business, many small or mid-sized organisations also leverage high-volume hiring to meet specific business needs effectively. For example, high-volume hiring can help such organisations scale up their teams to facilitate expansion into new geographies or establish new business units to aid rapid business growth.
Typically, when organisations hire in large numbers within a short timeframe, it is called high-volume hiring. The volume can range from dozens of people in a week to thousands within a few months. A recent HR research institute survey titled, The State of Hourly and High-volume Hiring, said 73% of organisations surveyed are currently engaged in high-volume hiring. Notably, 97% of those already engaged in high-volume hiring indicated they intend to continue doing so in the next two years. Also, 65% of these organisations plan to increase their budgets for high-volume recruiting. These findings indicate that it will remain popular in coming years.
However, when even recruiting in small numbers is becoming arduous, high-volume hiring can throw up many challenges that can test the mettle of talent acquisition teams. Here are the top three challenges quoted in the HR research institute survey quoted above:
- Not enough candidates (36%)
- Reducing time to hire (34%)
- Managing high-volume manually (34%)
Challenges plague every hiring stage, such as sourcing, screening, scheduling, assessing, and onboarding. Any strategy that organisations adopt must address the bottlenecks identified in the various hiring stages. Other than the three challenges mentioned above, rendering good candidate experiences, keeping processes bias-free, ensuring the quality of hire, and reducing cost are all significant concerns in high-volume hiring. What can turn around high-volume hiring outcomes are some carefully crafted strategies.
Let us look at ten strategies that can help organisations master high-volume hiring.
- Automate and use recruitment tools
As mentioned above, managing high-volume hiring manually and time to hire are among the top concerns. The solution to these lies in automation. Adopting recruitment automation tools such as Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), customised online assessments and interview platforms, etc., can help manage the scale and reduce time. The above-quoted HR institute report mentions that 75% of organisations use job/competency assessments in high-volume hiring.
Using functional assessment for high-volume hiring helps them make more accurate hiring decisions. It also speeds up the process. When AI-powered tools provide analytic insights to back the process, it aids bias-free decision-making to enhance effectiveness. Moreover, AI-powered online assessment platforms with remote proctoring helps keep the online assessments fraud-proof.
- Focus on employer branding
Strengthening employer branding can help organisations attract talent and solve the lack of candidates issue. Some innovative approaches to employer branding are to ensure that the website, social media channels, and all other digital presence sends a positive and authentic message. It can include some positive employee stories and testimonials that help attract candidates who seek specific attributes in their future employer. Organisations must align their CSR initiatives towards diversity and inclusion and other social issues that matter to Gen Z, and spread the word around the same. Monitor company review sites where ex-employees post their experiences and maintain a good reputation.
- Implement employee referrals
When asked which tools and strategies were most effective in high-volume hiring, 53% of respondents in the HR research institute survey quoted employee referrals. It is a good strategy for organisations to incentivise their employee referral program to make it a success and also increase the satisfaction levels of current employees. Talent acquisition teams must leverage their networks and ask employees to leverage theirs to refer suitable candidates. This strategy can also reduce the time and cost of hire.
- Conduct exclusive job fairs
Conducting exclusive diversity fairs or specific skills-only career fairs can help attract more candidates. For example, some people may feel more comfortable attending such fairs. This approach can also help organisations gain the reputation of being an inclusive employer. Specific skills-only career fairs can attract good talent from one domain, making it easier to filter and fill those positions in large numbers.
- Work with an RPO provider
It seems 89% of organisations outsource some aspect of high-volume recruitment, according to the HR research institute survey. It also mentions the most common outsourcing partners as online talent platforms or RPO providers. Indeed, working with an RPO provider is an effective way to manage high-volume recruiting. They have the expertise, professional network, etc. Some credible RPO providers have proprietary hiring platforms, tech-enabled tools and specialised services to deliver accurate and consistent results. HirePro’s AI-powered recruitment platform and interview services are examples. Also, RPO partnerships can be based on SLAs to reduce risks and derive maximum benefits. RPO gives organisations many benefits, such as time savings, cost-effectiveness, employer branding, process streamlining, improved quality of hire, and more.
- Explore flexi-staffing
Recently, we have seen that India Inc. has shown an increasing preference for flexi-staffing. Flexi-staffing helps organisations to effectively bridge talent gaps during business uncertainties. Freelance or gig workers have the relevant skills and experience to deliver from day one without much training. This approach is a big plus for organisations to increase productivity metrics while reducing costs. It helps fill roles faster. In a recent 2022 Future Workforce Report by Upwork, 78% of hiring managers who work with independent professionals (freelancers) said they are confident about finding the talent they need. It is this confidence that is aiding the rise of flexi-staffing. Organisations must analyse all open roles and see which ones can be filled quickly through professional staffing.
- Optimise processes for candidate-first experiences
The HR research institute survey had an interesting finding about the technology most widely cited for effectiveness. It said 62% of people access recruitment tools via mobile devices. Therefore, organisations optimise their websites and career pages for mobile access to ensure they are accessible to a large audience. Hiring processes must be short and speedy to suit the preferences of Gen Z. Otherwise, they lose interest and drop out. Ensure constant and relevant communication at all hiring stages to keep up the connection. The job descriptions must focus on the roles and responsibilities to provide complete clarity to attract suitable candidates. Despite all the automation, never undermine the power of personal touch in hiring. It helps build a connection that keeps the candidate interested till the onboarding stage.
- Rediscover talent pools
In high-volume hiring, there is a need to manage a continuous talent pipeline. It is only possible if organisations diversify their sourcing avenues to find new talent pools and revive old ones. One option is to rediscover talent pools from within the system. For example, examine previous applications, revisit previous referrals, and contact ex-employees to see if they suit the current open roles. Such candidates can be identified and approached proactively to participate in the process again. Another tactic to consider is train-and-hire schemes which came out as the most effective high-volume hiring strategy in the HR research institute survey (57%).
- Create a dedicated team
High-volume recruiting needs a different approach. Only a dedicated team with the right mindset can succeed in this. The high-volume recruiting hiring may have to start with a few good hires for the recruitment team. This team must be able to arrive at relevant strategies, identify issues and plug them, maintain the pace, monitor, and course correct as often as needed. High-volume recruiting must be driven with a single-minded focus to achieve the set goals.
- Identify, measure and track performance metrics
To ensure continuous improvement, it is essential to identify, measure, and track a few performance metrics periodically. Unless stakeholders analyse the data and study the relevant insights, organisations cannot take corrective actions to improve the results of their high-volume hiring. For example, employing programmatic advertising that combines data and technology can ensure that job Ads reach the right audience and optimise the Ad spend. However, stakeholders won’t explore improvement options unless they track the Ad spending metric against set ROI. Some other key metrics, organisations that can be tracked are conversion rate, diversity goal, drop-off rates or triggers, cost-per-hire, etc. Use analytics to make data-driven decisions that are objective and provide desired results. This approach will also help compare the performance against industry benchmarks.
In conclusion
High-volume recruiting is a different ball game that needs a dedicated mindset and approach. However, research and carefully crafted strategies can help organisations overcome the challenges that hamper success. Here is what organisations can focus on to ensure consistently favourable high-volume hiring results:
- Ensure quality of hire even as options to diversify sourcing are explored
- Nurture employer branding and build a compelling employee value proposition
- Leverage data analytics and technology for improved outcomes
- Explore outsourcing and alternate staffing options
- Create superior candidate experiences
These bullets effectively summarise the ten strategies discussed above and organisations can adopt the ones that suit their specific needs best.
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