How To Source A Recruitment Team?

Martin Geissmann, Global Head of Recruitment, BACHEM [SWX: BANB]

Recruitment is a key strategic pillar for the future success of any company. Successful hires, as well as retention and development activities of employees, must be a joint effort between business and human resources, supported by robust processes, policies, and systems, aligned with the company strategy and based on data to define the path and its execution. So far, so good.

In addition, the company needs to build and uphold a strong brand to be an employer of choice in the view of relevant target groups. Interactive company profiles, job ads as videos, relevant content on social media, building up cluster communities, and including DEI and New Work aspects in all recruitment strategies are state of the art nowadays. Now, it’s getting more complex. Not to forget offering a comprehensive remuneration and benefits package as well as work models which must be aligned with different, sometimes conflicting, candidate needs. This very brief overview shows how complex the portfolio of talent acquisition is to attract talents in a more and more complex environment.

“Hire volumes are like the sea, sometimes calm, with a nice distant view, sometimes stormy, rough and pretty misty”

Every company, especially small and mid-size firms, needs to answer the question: how do we organise and deliver all those services? What do we want to deliver of the above, and to which investment? How do we live up to our own standards? Very quickly, in this thought process, the question arises whether we build up those competencies or if we buy all or part of the services in the external market.

Those questions lead to my starting question, “How do you source a recruitment team?”. Before going into details about defining recruiter skill and competency profiles and posting them or even starting RPO negotiations with external vendors, it is key to come up with a clear view of what services talent acquisition should deliver and at which price to support the company roadmap in general and the human resources plan in particular.

Hire volumes are like the sea, sometimes calm, with a nice distant view, sometimes stormy, rough and pretty misty. How do we manage both conditions and be resilient in all conditions? Ideally, in-house recruitment and external services (RPO) are combined to use the best of both worlds. As a basic rule, 80 percent of coverage should work, not facing the risk of being overstaffed in times of low volumes. One thing is for sure: having recruitment staffed at the perfect level is nearly impossible. If someone has found the perfect formula – let’s discuss it.