In his article today, Kevin Wheeler wrote:
“What we really have is the classic struggle between doing day-to-day tactical work and thinking longer term and strategically. Most of us struggle with the proper balance, and most of us err in favor of the tactical. We do this because we are more comfortable doing the day-to-day things and find more immediate reward from doing them. Strategic things take time, and the reward is much further away.?
Strategic also requires significantly more knowledge – and considerable outside-the-box thinking. For instance, how many of you are considering how one of the most important economic issues today ? gasoline prices can impact your recruiting efforts? Having moved from Connecticut where a significant number of people regularly commute over 45 miles to work, I know for a fact that the difference between $1.80/gal and a soon-to-see $3.00/gal is a major difference between hiring ? and not hiring – that great talent.
I?m not suggesting that recruiters need to be energy analysts but I am strongly urging that recruiters keep an eye things such as oil futures and the geopolitics of the Middle East and consider how the short and long term changes in these areas impact our profession. Then think outside-the-box. How? A technique I use is to ask the ?What if Low/High Value?? question ? ?What if gas prices rose to $5.00 per gallon ? how recruiting change and how would we continue to bring in high quality talent as cost-of-living expenses rise faster than salaries?? Then answer the question.
So whether it?s reimbursing for travel expenses to interviews to offering virtual interviewing to working with your leaders to create new company locations where the pockets of talent live so as to minimize commuting, the strategic issues (political, economic, social,, technological) that impact talent acquisition cannot be overlooked. We need to be more explicit as it relates to strategic planning.
The Recruiting Inferno 