The Recruitment Phase Is the First Step to Keeping Star Employees
Bill Gates once said, "Take our 20 best people away, and I will tell you that Microsoft would be an unimportant company." This quote, then, would suggest that key employees play a pivotal role in the successful development of any enterprise.
Given the highly active nature of the current job market, employers and HR staff must consider how to provide key employees with incentives to stay, and then how to utilize these key employees to the benefit of the company. In truth, cultivating loyalty in star employees doesn't begin after employment, but rather during the recruitment process.
Generally, a company's recruitment process is composed of the following methods:
- using job advertisements in order to announce an employment opportunity to the public (this may include both traditional print media as well as new media)
- internal or external employee recommendations
- on-campus recruiting,
- headhunting, and more.
As far as a company's more important positions are concerned, internal recommendations usually receive first priority, after which the company will then consider recruitment via headhunting.
Regardless of whether it relies on recommendations or headhunting, recruitment is, at its core, an extension of social interaction. This kind of social bond is not only a primary means of recruiting new workers—it is also an important step in making sure that they stay. Whether or not a candidate is willing to work for a company is inextricably linked to their interactions with the employer (or the person recommending them). Through this person, a candidate can form a crucial understanding of a company's corporate culture, the professionalism of their HR department, the work pace, the happiness and well-being of the employees, as well as prospects for future development. A candidate will not be willing to establish a long-term professional relationship with a company unless they have obtained sufficient information about, and have approved of, that company and the position advertised.
As we can observe from many case analyses, the key to obtaining outstanding employees lies in the recruitment process. Recruitment and selection of employees is not just a key phase in HR management, but is also a crucial strategic element in the survival and development of an enterprise. A sophisticated HR team combined with an efficient recruitment strategy is not only beneficial to the initial recruitment process, but will also lay down a firm foundation for the development and cultivation of loyal employees.
