DavidNesbitt

In these uncertain economic times we get to see a real mix of reactions to recruitment from organisations. The majority of businesses adopt the cautious approach as sales decline and revenues fall. We then have the dreaded recruitment freeze and these organisations go into lock down. The majority of Managing Directors and CEO’s will then ask Human Resources to go into consultation with the managers and department heads to reduce the workforce. 

The best performing organisations and the companies that I would like to be employed by adopt a different strategy. They don’t lock down the business and apply a recruitment freeze and go into defence mode. They view this as an opportunity to get ahead of their competitors and a time to improve their position and the capabilities of their people. They may not be looking to grow the organisation and do masses of recruitment but they use this as a time to sharpen their game and get ahead of the competition.

So what strategy and actions do the top performing organisations take?

  • Manage out and get rid of the dead wood that is clinging on – the bottom 10% of their workforce.
  • Replace this dead wood with the top performing talent in the industry or sector.
  • They focus on their top performing people – these gems need to be developed and retained.
  • They ensure that their top performing people are effectively managed. Do they have the focus, tools and skills to continue to achieve these high levels of success?
  • Ensure that the top performers are fairly rewarded in terms of salary, bonus and that pay reviews happen.

This strategy to resourcing and talent management will mean that the overall level and calibre of the people in such organisations improves. They raise their game through the talent in the company. Then the business performance will improve and this will fall down to bottom line profit and market share. Such organisations will have even more advantage over their competitors and can grow quicker as we come out of these times....

At Core Talent Recruitment we have an agreed ‘talent pipeline’ with a number of these top performing companies. In the background we target the top talent in the Engineering and Manufacturing, Purchasing and Supply Chain and Logistics sectors in Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Birmingham. We network and forge relationships with high performers. It is at these times when we can attract the best people to move when they are not being looked after by their current company or lose faith in the leadership and direction that their business is taking.