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Recruiting Strategy


Like the Needs Analysis, the Recruiting Strategy is an important element to an organization’s overall recruiting program. It is also one which is usually overlooked.

Some companies get as far as “Our recruiting strategy is to hire the best/smartest/A-player people.” Great. How do you get there?

Without a well-defined strategy capturing your organization’s approach to hiring, the “best people” may pass by you without you even realizing. Alternatively, don’t confuse the tactics or methods used for recruitment with a recruiting strategy. (“We hire passive candidates through networking.”)

While tactical methods are indeed an element of recruiting strategy, the strategy itself is a big picture of how recruiting will impact the organization. Similar to an organization’s Mission Statement, defining your company’s recruiting strategy will allow your hiring team to focus beyond the tactical and aim toward creating a competitive edge for your organization.

Consider the following when developing your formal recruiting strategy:
  • Focus on the primary goals of recruiting - are you building a pipeline of employees who will grow with the organization; are you hiring a few, targeted skilled individuals; both?
  • Prioritize jobs within your organization - Do you need a different strategy for key versus routine openings?
  • Identify the key competencies you want to assess (refer to your Performance Profiles)
  • Determine how you will assess competencies and skills (Interviews, pre-employment skills assessments)
  • Decide who owns the process. Do you have a recruiter on staff, or will you look to your managers to handle the process themselves?
  • Finalize primary sourcing methods - How will you go about searching? What tools will you use?
  • Promote your Discriminators - The “best people” usually have other options - Why would they want to work for you?

Once you have pulled out a few of these elements, you should be able to draft a statement like the one below.

XYZ Company employs an outward-focused, professional-growth strategy targeting top-tier performers/ agile learners across industries:

Our strategy is based on “hire for aptitude, train for skills” focusing on acquiring experienced top performers for targeted key positions. Our sourcing methods center on proactive, cross-industry searches run by our recruiting specialists.

Candidate selection is mainly through in-person interviews which assess candidate’s aptitudes based on previously identified competencies. Specific, skills-based online assessments are used for roles requiring particular technical expertise.

Our main discriminator to attract top-level performers is our “community of learners” company culture where experienced professionals have the ability to learn new skills while sharing their own expertise which may have been developed in another type of role or industry.

The above example provides clarity to the hiring team that their recruiters are sourcing top performers from across-industries and the selection process should focus on aptitudes rather than actual experience. Keep in mind that your recruiting strategy will evolve as your organization evolves and requires constant monitoring and evaluation.

In the next segment, we will address the importance of Metrics.

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