High-volume hiring is when a company quickly brings on many workers to fill multiple positions. It takes a lot of effort and resources at all stages to successfully conduct a high-volume hiring campaign. It’s more than going through hundreds or thousands of applications. It also involves screening final candidates and then onboarding new hires. Fortunately, high-volume hiring projects are common, and we’ve developed best practices to help guide our clients through the process.
What Are Some High-Volume Recruiting Challenges?
The biggest challenge is often the large number of candidates and new hires involved. Even for a large company, high-volume recruitment will take up a large part of the HR department’s time.
Speaking of time, that is another key concern. High-volume hiring often comes with tight deadlines and time constraints. The need to fill multiple positions quickly can put significant pressure on your HR department. This is often where a staffing agency can provide much needed assistance. They specialize in time-efficient recruitment strategies and have the necessary resources to expedite the hiring process without compromising on quality.
Other high-volume hiring challenges typically are in the candidate pool, pay rate and geographic location for the roles. When companies need to scale quickly, they build off current strategies in their locations, and often the labor pool for that market is already saturated. Inflated pay rates that disrupt the market help to combat this issue. If a company is identifying space in a less populated geographic area, the challenge then becomes identifying enough people in the area and quickly building brand loyalty with a market that has never heard of the company before.
3 Ways to Manage High-Volume Recruiting
Chances are your company is busy — or preparing to get busy — if you’re about to launch a high-volume recruiting campaign. While it requires a lot of effort, there are ways to make it more manageable.
1. Automate What You Can
Using technology in your high-volume hiring process will not only save you time doing administrative work, but also help you reach the quality candidates more quickly. This can be done by screening for keywords in the applications or resumes, using calendars for potential candidates to select interview times online, and using virtual interviews through Zoom, Google or Facetime.
2. Utilize Talent Databases
Often, companies will compile databases of leads where talented individuals can
submit their credentials, contact information and other data. This makes it easier for marketing personnel to reach out if they require talent in that niche. It grants easier access to qualified candidates who are often looking for work.
3. Leverage Data
When working with recruiters to find potential candidates, it’s important for the staffing agency to know what the gearing ratio is for the company so we can work backward to effectively fill each start class needed. We need to research the geographic area to ensure that pay rates meet or exceed the market standard and that we are familiar with companies to identify potential candidates in the market. We also need to identify how many recruiters will need to support the high-volume business to meet client expectations each week. We need a plan for interview, references, onboarding and start classes to ensure we’re setting our candidates up for success.
The high-volume hiring process isn’t easy, especially in a tight labor market. By leveraging the strategies above you can put your company in a better position to overcome the challenges you may experience.
Aerotek’s Director of Recruiting in New England, Danielle Pond, has spent the past 12.5 years with the organization specializing in our manufacturing and distribution and logistics skill sets. She oversees recruitment in our 7 New England offices and has a passion for expanding markets and creating new opportunities for her people across the region. When not at Aerotek, she spends time teaching Pure Barre and volunteering with Sweet Paws Animal Rescue.