Talent Management - July 2008 - (Page 20)

recruitment & retention assessment & evaluation compensation & beneﬁts performance management learning & development succession planning portunities, and these candidates will receive the attractive, appropriately branded messages and thus will be more knowledgeable, and hopefully more comfortable, about the move they are considering. Typically, in an RPO passive-candidate engagement, the RPO provider and client will work together to identify the scope of the work; design sourcing, screening, hiring strategies and processes; develop a team structure; and create metrics and a reporting system. They also will create a tracking system to ensure they stay in close touch with candidates — keeping them warm — particularly for positions that don’t have an open requisition. Passive recruiting sourcers must understand four types of candidates: • Active candidates: Typically unemployed and in need of a job. didates are presented, and they move forward with offers without having formal requisitions open and active. Strategy 2: Augment Efforts For Hard-to-Fill and High-Priority Requisitions The second strategy uses dedicated recruiting teams. In this scenario, a passive candidate recruiting team is comprised of high-end recruiters and sourcers that augment the RPO delivery team’s efforts to ﬁll highpriority or hard-to-ﬁll positions. The team, which ideally is engaged from the beginning of the requisition process, deploys a multi-prong sourcing strategy. The strategy includes social networking sites; sourcing sites; blogs on various niche sites and directories; referral programs; trade organization and association Web sites and online user groups. The team typically is comprised of the strongest sourcers, who are experts on social networking and direct recruiting. These sourcers are entrenched in the appropriate networks and build relationships for referrals and contacts in the ﬁeld. RPO passive candidate programs have emerged as a valuable option to stay ahead of the hiring curve. • Semi-active candidates: Employed but want a better opportunity. They tend to look on a regular basis and are a great source for talent. • Semi-passive candidates: Employed but tend to look infrequently. The only ways to ﬁnd them are through referrals and direct recruiting efforts. • Highly passive candidates: Employed, happy in their positions and must be lured away. The cost to lure these candidates can be very high in some cases. They are best targeted for high-end, mission critical or niche positions. There are three basic strategies for dedicating resources exclusively to passive candidate recruiting. Strategy 1: Get Ahead of the Hiring Curve The ﬁrst strategy focuses on ﬁnding candidates that are typically in demand by the RPO client. This type of recruiting is driven not by open requisitions but by an ongoing and critical need to ﬁll certain types of positions. For example, many companies have a constant need for specialists in accounting, ﬁnance, engineering and information technology. Pipeline teams continually source for these skills whether or not open requisitions exist, creating a robust talent pool that quickly can be tapped when positions open. In some cases, candidates with hot skills are systematically forwarded to hiring managers, prior to the opening of a requisition. This strategy is best used by creating a team of hiring managers that consistently reviews resumes and provides feedback to the recruitment team. The hiring managers will conduct interviews when strong canJuly 2008 The team also may leverage competitor mapping, in which entire departments of key competitors are mapped out and used for direct recruiting. Strategy 3: Apply Overwhelming Force in Aged Requisitions The third strategy involves supporting excessively aged requisitions, particularly those falling short of servicelevel agreement requirements. In this scenario, a passive candidate recruiting team is engaged to bring an overwhelming force of dedicated resources to augment the RPO delivery team and ﬁll the aged position(s). Since RPO passive candidate programs are still evolving, companies need to carefully screen and select a partner. Important questions to ask include: • Are the recruiters/sourcers dedicated to each account, or are they spread across multiple accounts? • How are the recruiters/sourcers compensated? • What is the experience level for recruiters/sourcers? • How are passive candidates typically sourced? • Is there ﬂexibility to scale up and down to meet changing organizational needs? • Can you talk with at least three RPO client references with similar size/scope? As the job market becomes more candidate driven, savvy HR professionals realize they must take a more proactive approach to stafﬁng, particularly for highvolume, high-demand positions and those requiring specialized skills. Rebecca Callahan is senior vice president for recruitment process outsourcing at Spherion Corp., a recruiting and stafﬁng company. She can be reached at editor@talentmgt.com. 20 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com http://www.talentmgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Talent Management - July 2008

Talent Management - July 2008 Editor’s Letter Human Performance Leading Edge Learning Connections Guest Editorial Passive Candidate Recruiting: Evolving with a Changing Workforce How Do They Feel? Sec Regulations and Executive Compensation Performance Management: A Retail Perspective Train the Non-Trainer Management-Go-Round: Developing Future Leaders Netflix Creates Its Own Script for Talent Management Intuit Spotlights Strategic Importance of Global Employee Recognition Make HR a Profit Center: Automate Technology to Gather Tax Credit Data Offshoring and the Impact on Talent Management Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential

Talent Management - July 2008

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