FocusCore selects HirePlanner to support its RPO business
September 17, 2017
FocusCore Group chooses HirePlanner.com to support its new RPO service. Combining technology with People Resources is key to help our clients hire the best talents in Japan!
Only the well equipped, experienced talent acquisition team can hunt for the best talent and thrive in sourcing the best people. One of the key points that companies miss is the combination of technology with talented individuals who skillfully and thoughtfully implement a recruitment system.
From the countless companies I speak to, a large majority of HR use Excel —if they track applicants at all. One company, on the Fortune 500, that had 8 in-house recruiters opted for Excel because they could use Japanese. Unfortunately, when tracking candidates on Excel, information often disappear. When an employee quits, the information disappears. When a search completes, often the search is forgotten as is all previous candidates. This results in companies paying duel recruitment fees, or worse yet, missing a chance to build a pool of candidates where the company skips the recruiter (and fees) all together. And to top it off, a lack of communication creates strain between a hiring manager struggling to know what HR is doing, and HR frustrated because management doesn’t understand that they are working, though the hard work and results remain lost, hidden on an Excel spreadsheet.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve not even mentioned the frustrations a poor system cause in pipeline management, inteview feedback collection, data protection, or working with job boards and agencies!
So here are my suggestions on how to combine technology and the human resources you have to win the war on talent:
1. Get an applicant tracking system. Preferably a multi-lingual system hosted on the cloud. Personally, I recommend HirePlanner https://home.hireplanner.com/home-jp/. HirePlanner.com has designed a system based on experience gleaned from working in Apple and Tesla and designed a sleek, simple system for Japan.
Whatever system you choose, here is what I recommend you expect from your ATS:
- – Headcount approval
– Website integration (you need to use your website for enticing talent to your company!)
– Interview feedback
– Candidate pipeline
– Easy search capabilities
– Data protection
– Job board synchronization
– Agency management
2. Train your staff. Partner with a company that can easily train your team to do the following:
- – How to run an ATS
- – Help develop a recruitment process based on your company needs (not some consulting theory)
- – Create specific interviews for specific needs in the company: train, practice, and role-play with those involved in interviews
If you seek out an RPO solution, then ask how the company will support your team or how they will do each of these steps. And before hiring the RPO, ask the recruiter to demonstrate 1) how they source candidates and 2) role-play an interview of a candidate. Both these steps will tell you the value to expect from your money. Many RPO recruiters may be little more than transactional administrators.
3. Create a recruitment process. See my article here on creating and implementing a recruitment process: https://www.japan.focuscoregroup.com/blog/2017/04/5-steps-to-top-grade-your-company-and-create-a-sweet-sales-team
The process needs to be easy to follow and, in the kaizen spirit, consistently improved upon. Your hiring team sets the criteria the job needs, the people who need to make the decision, and the steps (interviews, tests, presentations) that the candidate follows towards an offer. The better the recruitment process, the more successful your hires. And an excellent recruitment process helps sell your company so that a candidate wants to enter your company, making your offer negotiation easier, and often cheaper. Remember the old adage, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” Your company’s recruitment process creates that first impression.
4. Know how to partner with recruiters. Recruiters can be your biggest allies in the hunt for talent. Some credible specialists who have been in the market for a long time meet hundreds of people in your industry. Spending time with these people can give you deep insights into how the markets are going.
- => This may be taboo to say, but it’s pretty common knowledge, recruiters work with all companies one way or another. If you decide to hire a recruiter to find candidates, that is what they do. If you tell the company, “we have preferred vendors,” then you are effectively asking the recruitment company to headhunt from your organization. Your HR team, or whoever partners with your recruitment partners, needs to be diplomatic with companies.
=> Sell to your recruiters. Tell them why your job, company, team is the best. Give them quick feedback on inquiries, especially from candidates introduced or met (this is where an ATS will keep you organized, nimble, and quick). So many excellent candidates have been missed by companies because they were slow to act!
=> If you hire an RPO, make sure that part of their job is to set up systems that your staff can take over at a later date. Ask how that transaction will take place.
If you’re interested in a company that can partner with you and your human resources, drop me an email at david.sweet@focuscoregroup.com. We help companies focus on their core business. We can offer you a recruitment, an effective ATS, training solutions, and RPO. But no matter who you select to help in growing your team and company, keep the points above in mind when combining technology and your people resources to win the battle in this competitive market for the best talent.
