The best way to start is with a thorough review of the recruitment strategy.
Why does recruitment strategy matter? Despite today's persistently high unemployment figures many employers complain about the dearth of qualified candidates. Every job opening is flooded with applicants but too many are lacking the necessary skills. This is true in the public as well as the private sector. Considering that the government has always had trouble competing with the higher paying private sector this recent turn of events is not exactly encouraging. Anyone who is in charge of hiring for government (or dependent on their success) needs to thinking about game plan now.
A good strategy needs to have defined goals and a clear plan that lays out the steps necessary to achieve them. It should contain benchmarks and milestones so that management can know if they are on target or if some corrective action needs to be taken. The plan needs to take a holistic view of the employee life-cycle. You can meet all your recruitment goals and still find yourself short of critical skills due to early employee departures. When you take a step back and look at the big picture, meeting recruitment goals is a component of the larger goal of maintaining a workforce equipped to provide the level of service promised to the constituents. With that in mind you need to start incorporating retention into your plan.
In today's tough market, a solid recruiting plan may not be enough. Many recruiters are using the same old methods to find talent amongst a pool of talent that is changing rapidly. If your text advertisement is not working you could try video or a podcast. Don't wait for the candidates to come to you; you should be actively searching the online professional networks. The perfect candidate for your new position may be the one who just barely got beat out for an older opening.
Government needs to be taking active steps today to get ready for the hiring needs tomorrow and beyond and one critical component of the overall plan is a solid talent recruitment plan.
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