The word "recruit" is
a combination of Latin
and French words and
means "to grow again."
At its best, a recruitment effort is a growth process, a chance to discover the needs of an organization and to bring in an individual or group who can turn those needs into opportunities. We think of "recruiting" as adding to the numbers, for example, when an army recruits, or adding to the quality, as when you recruit your health. In terms of adding new personnel, "recruiting" may be both an increase in staff size and a broadening or enhancing of the cumulative skills of your team.
If you have ever had a garden, you know that the growth period is one of unending activity. Weeding, watering, pruning, and feeding all must happen consistently and on schedule. A recruitment process is the same; once begun, you cannot let it languish, or momentum and the chances of an abundant harvest are lost. The best results are obtained by paying daily attention to the search effort. To develop a diverse candidate pool use sequential and differing methods for identifying prospects such as multi-media ads, phone contacts, and personal letters. Then maintain a balance between eliciting new candidacies and cultivating existing candidacies by regular communication with those who evince interest in the position.
We have found in our work for scores of institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations that with diligent effort and strict adherence to a well-thought-out search schedule an efficient recruitment process can be accomplished in 12 to 16 weeks. This time frame allows for the development of a robust pool of candidates, but doesn't drag on so long that good candidates are lost to competing opportunities. Additionally, moving aggressively through a search schedule helps you and your staff avoid "interview fatigue," the feeling that comes with the tenth or twelfth interview that you would be willing to hire almost anyone just to end the process.
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