Key areas in which to sharpen your in-house recruitment in 2014

If you'd like to spend 2014 less dependent on recruitment firms and with a more effective in-house recruitment process to take advantage of the relevant talent continually entering the market, you'll need to focus on various aspects of how you recruit within your company - including having the appropriate brief, ensuring the right character fit and many more vital steps.

When writing a job specification, for example, it is essential to fully understand what your business requires at this stage of its development. The desired recruit's technical skills, character and development potential will all need to be factored into the final job spec, and the offered salary will also need to be competitive with the market. If it isn't, you'll need to consider areas in which you are willing to compromise in terms of the quality of candidate, potentially training and developing a candidate internally.

Recruitment firms know that as a company evolves, there will be a need to target different types of people in their advertising. Good 'small company' people are those who can quickly learn new skills and take responsibility for a range of tasks as part of a disparate team. But with the company's continual growth, there will be a greater emphasis on processes and procedures that can feel restricting to those more suitable for smaller firms.

Also appreciated by good recruitment firms, but not necessarily by too many in-house recruiters, is just how crucial it is to look in the right places for the best candidate. Advertising plays a central role in attracting those who are actively seeking a new challenge, but many of the best people are too busy doing a great job for their companies to put themselves on the market - necessitating more proactive methods to lure them, potentially encompassing social media.

Employer branding should be another key consideration for in-house recruiters. After all, an affinity with an employer's brand can be enough to attract and retain talented workers even if they are not rewarded as highly as they ought to be, whether in financial or non-financial terms. You can also significantly lessen your recruitment costs by creating your own talent warehouse, made up of those who may not have been the best technical fit when they first got in touch with you, but who may nonetheless be the perfect match for a later-available role.

The interviewing, offer and on-boarding processes also need to be right, and can be refined by the most diligent in-house recruiters in so many ways. Your interviews, for example, should reflect an in-depth understanding of what you want the eventual recruit to deliver in the role, rather than a dependence on what may be ill-informed 'gut instinct'. The best recruitment firms would also advise in-house recruiters of the need to make the new employee feel welcome, from the moment it is decided that they will join the business, such as by sending out the contract promptly.

Editor’s Note: Webrecruit (http://www.webrecruit.co.uk) are represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Email: info@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.

British cities and their recruitment strengths

Where should candidates look for the greatest chance of recruitment in a particular sector, and where should recruiters base themselves if they wish to tap into a readily available workforce with the appropriate skills and experience? Analysing the state of the job market in various UK cities serves both parties that may use recruitment firms like Webrecruit (http://www.webrecruit.co.uk).

Aberdeen has a renowned oil and gas industry, making the city a real engineering recruitment hotspot. The Scottish capital city of Edinburgh, meanwhile, with its stunning architecture and artistic bent, attracts many seeking a creative career with organisations like National Museums Scotland - although NHS Scotland and the Royal Bank of Scotland are also significant employers here.

Edinburgh's great rival, Glasgow - Scotland's largest city - has replaced much of its former might in steel and shipbuilding with thriving financial and retail sectors. Travelling south over the border, another former shipbuilding giant, Newcastle upon Tyne, is now more of an epicentre for service and retail recruitment, with its bustling city centre and the presence of national retailers like Next and Marks & Spencer.

Other leading recruitment cities in the north of England include Leeds, now considered the UK's most important financial centre outside London; as well as 2008 European Capital of Culture, Liverpool, which has unsurprisingly made the most of this accolade and its link with the Beatles to develop a strong tourist sector. 36 miles away, Manchester is now a major legal and financial centre, with its media presence also set to strengthen with the arrival of the BBC at nearby Salford Quays.

Further south, many graduates find jobs in Nottingham, which can count Capital One, Siemens and Speedo among the multinational employers basing their headquarters there. Another extremely desirable place to live and work is Bath, with its strengths in education, health, construction, manufacturing, tourism and leisure, while the 'city of dreaming spires', Oxford, is an excellent place to recruit staff in the long-established printing and publishing industries.

Nor can Britain's other great university city, Cambridge, be overlooked, such are its cutting-edge technological careers that couldn't possibly provide a greater contrast with the city's age-old tradition. Cambridge's cluster of leading electronics, software and biotechnology businesses is known as 'Silicon Fen', and includes the multinationals CSR and ARM.

Wales also offers various opportunities for recruiters and candidates, with Cardiff strong in such fields as media and sport. But for so many companies and jobseekers alike, London remains irresistible, from the frenetic atmosphere of the City to the multicultural idiosyncrasies of the north, south, east and west parts of the capital.

With all 20 of the world's largest financial services organisations and banks having a presence in London, when recruiting staff through a firm like Webrecruit (http://www.webrecruit.co.uk), many companies find that there is no greater source of able, motivated and well-matched candidates - notwithstanding the aforementioned recruitment strengths which are evident across the country.

Editor’s Note: Webrecruit (http://www.webrecruit.co.uk) are represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Email: info@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.

Make your candidate sourcing active, not passive

If you have spent any time at all listening to the advice of a recruitment agency like webrecruit (http://www.webrecruit.co.uk), chances are that you're pretty bored by constant talk of "active" and "passive" candidates - and in any case, it isn't necessarily such an important distinction. After all, even the most passive people are often open to the offer of a great job. Instead, it needs to be asked whether your business has an active or passive approach to candidate sourcing.

For all too many companies, their approach to recruiting staff is a passive one. These are the firms that simply post fairly standard recruitment advertising on the most predictable online job boards and LinkedIn, simply waiting for candidates to reply.

Are you always sifting through hundreds of average CVs, leaving you with no time for the building of more meaningful talent pipelines? Or maybe you tweet a job only occasionally, not following it up with further advertising if you get no response? Perhaps you never review your existing recruitment database?

If you can respond with a "yes" to questions like those above, then it's possible that you, too, are being too passive in your staff recruitment. For as long as this continues, you will never consistently attract the very best talent out there, instead only drawing those candidates who happened to see your advert.

There are, however, ways to be more active when you recruit staff. You could start by recognising that people work for companies rather than jobs. Active and passive candidates alike tend to choose the firm, manager, working environment and future promotion opportunities. And yet... job adverts often overly emphasise a list of bullet pointed skills and little else. 

So, successful online recruitment depends on you using the Internet to really promote your organisation, its brand values and strengths and what exactly awaits the prospective employee. Both active and passive candidates should notice your company and be able to identify with its goals, environment, culture and vision. This increases the chances of them applying to your company, whether speculatively or for a particular role. 

Such candidates will be much more likely to be employees who refer your jobs within their own networks. Top talent tends to know other top talent, and if your employees view your business positively, they can be much more effective brand advocates. You should also ensure that your business is interesting and interactive online, making the most of social media as well as your main website and blog so that your talent pools and communities have reason to keep engaging with and listening to you.

An active candidate sourcing strategy certainly places the greatest emphasis on the 'social' aspect of social media, with the best clients of recruitment firms like webrecruit (http://www.webrecruit.co.uk) constantly meeting, engaging and conversing with people. By doing all of this with passion, creativity and a genuine belief in your organisation's values, you stand the best chance of attracting the best quality candidates with similar qualities.

Editor’s Note: webrecruit (http://www.webrecruit.co.uk) are represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Email: info@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.