Thoughts about recruitment

I'd like to discuss some points raised during a discussion about recruitment during a group HR meeting.

There were interesting comments made about things to consider when changing recruitment strategies or simply engaging in large scale acquisitions. For instance:

1. When acquiring a new business unit always take into account the culture of the business. This point seems obvious in retrospect however the culture of a business or even micro cultures within a business can come secondary when discussions of market share and profitability are on the table. Will a new acquisition align with your processes? procedures? Is it a culture based around a small office environment? A culture may share the same values but work strikingly different in achieving those values through day to day processes.

2. A positive of centralised recruitment is if the recruitment team is familiar with a ride range of business areas with in the organisation they are more likely to cross recruit throughout the organisation. When recruitment is decentralised it will be more specialised however each recruitment team will be less familiar with the needs of each other team.

3. Are business units seeking quality or simply trying to fill a quantity? Businesses in high turn over environments may be doing the latter. That being said high turnover environments may not have the resources to invest in quality recruitment or it may simply not be cost effective because of the fact.

4. At the end of the day the psychological contract is between the manager and the employee not HR and the employee. What this means is what is easier for HR in terms of recruitment may not nessecarily be easier for the mangers dealing with the employee on a daily basis. That being said recruitment processes and procedures should be in the best interests of the managers as they hold the psychological contract and will hold a stronger influence on the employee's experience.

The things you know...

I was fortunate enough to attend an Organisational Development meeting the other day and was once again reminded of some of the fascinating aspects of the speciality. One point I have noticed over the years is good OD often surprises you with a flash of common sense that you only notice after someone has told you. That's because we naturally take things for granted people can easily assume and create a status quo without actually testing their base thought processes.

Two points from the meeting referring to training that I found relevant to this were:

1. Don't make assumptions about succession planning / professional development plans.


Just because you think you have a good idea where you will want someone to be in 5 years doesn't necessarily mean they want to be there. There is a huge array of factors constantly having an effect on an employee's choices on career development. It may be upwards movement, sideways or even with a different company or no movement at all.

2. Don't send people for training if the environment they're returning to isn't ready to receive their new knowledge.


After studying various forms of training needs analysis when studying my degree I always keep an eye out for a lack of training as a possible cause for organisational problems. However one vital point to keep in mind is understanding the processes, culture and tools available to an employee when they return with their newly learnt skills. Without these vital elements in place you have not only wasted your time and resources but can also cause further frustration in the employee as they feel helpless to utilize their new skills.

How to create an environment back at home which fosters the integration of new knowledge is a topic for another day but these issues are definitely food for thought in the meantime.

Change management on the rise

According to the latest Hays Quarterly Report, organisations will remain focused on retention and recognise the importance of holding on to the best people as the market picks up. Therefore, HR professionals who specialise in organisational development will also be in demand in the first quarter of 2010. (http://www.humanresourcesmagazine.com.au/articles/14/0C066714.asp?Type=59&Category=917)

Organisational development / change management is a tricky subject. It involves a huge range of factors internal and external to the organisation. Quantitative factors obviously form a staple for analysis such as company and competitor statistical data. However it's the qualitative factors which can be much harder to pin down and change or even define which are equally as important. Issues of culture; organisational or otherwise, generational shifts, social norms and tacitly upheld values - all of these and many more hold tight grips on how an organisation functions and sees itself. It is these issues which I believe if effectively engaged with separate true organisational transformers from change catalysts.

You can check out current salary trends here; just search for change management.

http://content.mycareer.com.au/salary-centre/