You’ve heard the phrase before: “back to basics.” As in, “We’ve got to get back to basics!”
When somebody says that, though, you know what it really means. It means that you’ve somehow strayed from the basics in the first place! And if makes sense that if you didn’t stray from them in the first place, you would not find yourself in the unenviable position of having to “get back to them.”
The basics of recruitment: degree of difficulty
According to recruiting industry trainer and speaker Scott Wintrip, there is a simple reason why people—including professional recruiters and executive search consultants—are continuously going “back to basics.
“The basics are harder than most people will admit,” said Wintrip. “It’s usually not the doing of them that’s difficult; it’s the remembering to do them that is the clear and present game changer. Corporate life today is often filled with too much to remember and do in too little time and space.”
Wintrip suggests that to improve organizational effectiveness, leaders must simplify and codify the recruitment basics. That’s because doing so helps to remove any and all barriers that stand in the way of actually doing them. And then, the agency owner or manager can hold their recruiters to doing the recruitment basics all of the time so they never have to “go back” tothem.
“This ‘no excuses’ approach holds everyone to task,” said Wintrip. “Staff have no excuse when they choose not to do the basics, and managers have no excuse when they choose not to hold people to them.”
According to Wintrip, there are four steps that agency owners and search consultants can take to master the recruitment basics”
#1—Simplify the recruitment basics.
Once again, the focus should be on making the basics simple. When they’re simple, recruiters are more likely to remember to do them, to do actually do them, and to do them more consistently.
“The best way to do this is by systematizing how things are done,” said Wintrip. “Step-by-step approaches, memorable processes, and mnemonics all help make what’s basic and important simple and sustainable.”
#2—Stay with the recruitment basics.
According to Wintrip, the best way to stay with the recruitment basics is to reinforce the basics. This starts with the owner or recruiting manager and extends to the individual recruiter. In fact, Wintrip even has a snappy analogy that borrows from another industry.
“Just like ‘rinse and repeat’ was a catalyst for substantial growth of sales of hair care products, ‘reinforce and repeat’ reinvigorates success and growth by focusing people on core recruiting practices,” he said. “Reinforcement begins with communication of clear and reasonable expectations and is repeatedly reinforced in a variety of ways to keep the message memorable.”
#3—Master the recruitment basics.
You’ve probably heard this phrase before: “Practice makes perfect.” Wintrip has another one: “Practice makes profits. To be clear, though, this does not mean practicing on customers, in this case clients, potential clients, and candidates.
“It involves creating a corporate practice field where team members review core best practices,” said Wintrip. “Repetition to mastery through ongoing rehearsals keeps the basics top of mind, while allowing people to safely expand their expertise through successes and failures.”
#4—Evolve the recruitment basics.
You might think that the basics never change. Well, that’s true most of the time. However, according to Wintrip, markets change as the needs of customers evolve over time. This includes changes in the recruiting and staffing industry and the needs of companies and candidates change in the employment marketplace. As a result, you must change what you do to make sure that you’re meeting those needs and meeting them consistently.
“Companies must shift and adapt them to meet these evolving needs,” said Wintrip. “Even if you want things to stay the same, change that addresses the changing world is required.
So—where does this leave us? If you (and the rest of the recruiters in your agency) have strayed from the recruitment basics, it’s certainly okay to “go back” to them one last time. But make it a point to agree to sticking with them on a daily basis going forward.
“There is nothing more basic than sticking with what works,” said Wintrip. “In order to codify what is working, don’t be afraid to turn to a proven recruiting software to help you scale your winning formula.”
The basics of recruitment and . . . your ATS!
Perhaps you also need to “go back to basics.” Maybe you stay on top of them on a daily basis, so you don’t have to do that. Either way, wouldn’t you like to be able to execute the basics consistently so that you can make more placements and bill more?
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