It seems to me that people are getting a whole lot busier these days! Redundancies have either been completed so departments are now short staffed or redundancies are looming and everyone is working harder than ever to prove the business can’t survive without them! For the former, many businesses are now entering into a new, brighter, stronger financial year. Profits are up and the idea of recruitment seems to be back on the agenda. However, does recruitment ever get to the top of the priority list and stay there?
From my experience of being an in-house recruiter I worked with some incredibly hard working Managers desperate to recruit but found the process so demanding. Why? Well trawling through CVs isn’t the most interesting of tasks and its time consuming. Preparing for interviews isn’t particularly exciting and it isn’t chargeable so another task to be done outside the average working day. So, what happens? The recruitment need doesn’t go away but the process which needs to be done to recruit successfully is pushed to one side.
As the in-house recruiter I was known for my persuasive tactics to get the managers to review CVs etc and would often camp outside their offices or grab them in the car park! I know I used to annoy them but after 12mths I won an award for my contribution to the growth of the business. All the managers personally thanked me for my persistence which enabled them to grow their teams and, in time, develop their own careers as managers.
In the current legal climate, I am finding candidates want to move but are simply too busy to meet me or update their CVs and clients are too busy to invest their time in recruiting the right people. So where does that leave me? Back to my persuasive tactics of course! So to any of my clients or candidates who may read this, I’m sorry if I hound you but I’m here to help and I’m just trying to provide the best possible service to enable you to prosper.
Liz