UK 
United States
Numerous businesses depend on volume recruitment for a variety of reasons, whether it’s expansion, a new project or changing needs within the company.
Either way, it’s important to ensure you are sourcing the right candidates to represent your organisation as well as your values. Volume, however, can sometimes make this a tricky task.
In the following points, Webrecruit lays out its 5 golden rules you should consider when looking to carry out a high volume recruitment campaign from preparation to candidate management, to aid you with your next volume project.
1. Always Construct a Plan
When building a plan for a large-scale recruitment project, you’ll need to set achievable targets. What’s also vital is to plan way in advance, to ensure you are in control during the campaign, and are prepared beforehand.
Ensure planning flexibility, to cover any potential factors that may affect your campaign goals.This planning stage is one of the most obvious yet fundamental parts of the project. Consequently, the more time invested at this point, the better your end results will be.
Within your plan, ensure to look at internal elements (that’s people, equipment, budgets, processes, facilities, gaps in knowledge/skills) and external elements (what happens if there’s a change to employment laws you are operating to, social trends or anything outside of your control?)
2. Always Create a Process that Everyone Understands
Everyone should be aware of what their responsibilities are, which should be part of a sound recruitment strategy. If you’re working with an agency, make sure they are aware of your internal processes to support a seamless working partnership.
Ensure that you have process in place based on how you will manage candidate applications. High volume recruitment can take up a substantial amount of manpower and admin, so without a refined strategy, it can incur unnecessary costs and could last longer than intended.
With high volume recruitment, an applicant tracking system can help with the management of large amounts of applications, as well as providing a way of producing various types of reports for your campaign. This software will also centralise all the information on candidates, and prevent heavy loads of paperwork.
3. Always Implement Effective Screening (but don’t forget the candidate experience)
Sourcing new hires can be a time-consuming task, particularly if there is a need to hire a large amount of employees at once. However, working with a third party resourcing company can save you a large amount of time on such projects. They can take on heavy administrative duties, and pre-screen candidates for you, so you only see the most relevant talent.
Seek to have simple and concise screening criteria, to ensure a straight forward, efficient short listing. A solid screening process means less time spent on candidates who aren’t right for the job.
To achieve this, at the beginning of the project, review in-depth the skills, competencies and personalities you are looking for to guarantee a smooth screening process for recruiters.
When communicating with applicants, don’t forget the candidate experience. This important part of your hiring process can be the difference between finding the right fit, and receiving a high number of drop-outs.
Alongside all plans must be a focus on hiring quality: if your quality-of-hire decreases, the objectives of the company will be affected. This is even more relevant for high volume campaigns, to avoid high turnover costs from hiring the wrong candidates.
4. Always Conduct On-Boarding Preparation
Remember to inform your candidates of the next steps once they have been hired, including any training programmes and new-starter information.
The hiring process does not end at offer stage, so look at what you need for when your new employees begin their roles. With a lot of individuals to manage, prepare for what they will require at the beginning of their contracts, in order to get them up to speed as quickly as possible.
5. Always Set Up Effective Reporting
Measuring the success of your campaign is essential. Report on metrics such as retention rates for the first 3 -6 months, SLA (service level agreement) times, average cost of hire and length of time to hire.
Review with your colleagues and any agencies you may have partnered with, what worked well within the strategy, and what didn’t, ready for your next high volume project.
Interested in learning more about volume recruitment, or using recruitment software for your next campaign?
Here are some of Webrecruit’s top resources:
Unite Students & Webrecruit – A High Volume Recruitment Case Study.
4 Ways to Work with an Agency to Achieve a Values-Led High Volume Recruitment Campaign
The Pocket Guide to Applicant Tracking Systems
Implementing your ATS: 3 Myths Debunked
6 Things to Consider When Looking to Secure Buy-in For Recruitment Software
