Sample Recruitment Strategy Planning Template

Strategy is
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www.Monster.com
A large percentage of employees hired www.CareerBuilder.com
by human services agencies for entry
level jobs are seeking their first career www.Jobs.net
Not reaching job. Many are young, either fresh out www.Hotjobs.yahoo.com
majority of of college, looking to establish a new Ihiresocialservices.com (job site specializing
Online applicants, career, or relocating to a new area. The in human services jobs)
Recruiting especially newspaper want-ads are not an
www.Socialworker.org/joblinks (specializes
young college effective recruitment source for most of
in human services jobs linked to the
grads todays applicants. Placing vacancy
National Association of Social Workers
announcements online is more effective
website)
and economical than using most
traditional forms of advertising. www.NABSW.org National Association of
Black Social Workers

Send team of HR representative with an

experienced social worker or frontline
supervisor to fairs provides an opportunity
Both professional and paraprofessional for job seekers to ask both job specific and
applicants can be effectively recruited hiring process/benefits questions.
Campus Need to
at job fairs sponsored by state Send an ambassador from the agency to
Recruiting improve
workforce development agencies.
and Job overall classrooms of social work majors to guest
College recruiting can be a very
Fairs applicant pool lecture or provide an agency overview.
effective method for attracting
applicants for professional jobs. Schedule experienced employees or
supervisors to speak on a hot topic in the
human services field at a brown bag
luncheon at a local college or university.

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 Strategy is
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Collaborate with university deans and

professors to help generate student interest
in the field.
Not enough Developing a variety of recruitment
University applicants with strategies with area universities,
Develop stipend program partially covering
Partner- specialized community colleges and Schools of college tuition and other expenses of
college students who agree to work for the
ships social work Social Work to encourage students to
degrees pursue careers in the human services. human service agency for specified periods
of time. (See an example by the Kentucky
Cabinet for Families and Children and ten
university social work programs

You may need a more diverse Target community job fairs to increase diversity
workforce that better reflects the client among new recruits. See an example by the El
Targeted Lack of population you serve. For example, you Paso County, Colorado, Department of Human
Recruit- diversity in may need to recruit employees with Services who created a Diversity Coalition to
ment targeted job/s specific language skills, or with recruit and retain minority staff. (see
specialized degrees (e.g., MSWs or www.cpshr.us/workforceplanning/documents/06.
Criminal Justice). 04_six_doable_steps.pdf )

Interns sometimes are paid a stipend,

but in most instances interns are
fulfilling an academic requirement of the
Need to See the El Paso County, Colorado, Department
college or university. Although
improve of Human Services for an example (see
Internships supervisors and/or casework staff must
overall www.cpshr.us/workforceplanning/documents/06.
spend time supervising and training
applicant pool 04_six_doable_steps.pdf)
interns, the potential payoff is having a
known applicant who is familiar with
agency operations.

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 Strategy is
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Even if employees are not actively referring

If current employees are happy in their vacancies to friends and acquaintances,
Need to jobs, they become one of the best their positive word of mouth about the
Word of improve sources of recruitment. Some human agency is a powerful recruitment source.

Mouth overall service agencies are so well regarded Great frontline supervisors in organizations
applicant pool as a great place to work that they turn that engage and value employees are
away quality applicants. critical to being considered a great place to
work.

Issue periodic reminders to staff that

vacancies exist and their referrals are
Need to appreciated.
Employees The next step beyond word of mouth
improve Offer recruitment bonuses to staff that
as recruiting is encouraging employees to
overall
Recruiters recruit others. refer applicants who are eventually hired.
applicant pool
Tie the bonus to the successful completion
of the probationary period.

Many human service agencies carry a

Hire employees in anticipation of vacancies that
large number of vacancies relative to
are projected to occur. (See examples by the
the number of filled positions. There are
Delaware Department of Children, Youth and
many reasons bureaucratic approval
Families and the Michigan Department of
processes, heavy workloads preventing
Too many Human Services they have significantly
Keeping hiring managers from having the time to
unfilled reduced their vacancy rates by recruiting and
Jobs Filled go through the selection process, and
vacancies hiring new recruits so there is a ready pool of
failure to anticipate vacancies. It is
trained workers to step into vacancies as they
critically important to keep positions
arise. (see
filled. Vacant positions increase the
www.cpshr.us/workforceplanning/documents/06.
workload of all employees and add to
02_tomorrows_vacancies.pdf )
the stress of already stressful jobs.

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 Strategy is
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Have a pool of pre-screened, interviewed

Some human services organizations applicants always available to be called for
delay hiring until staff vacancies reach a second interview with the hiring
Maintain a Too many crisis proportions. They then initiate a supervisor. When using this approach, its
pre- applicants get recruitment process that is designed to important to minimize the amount of time
screened hired with only bring new employees on board as soon between the initial interview and the second
applicant the minimum as possible. The unfortunate result is interview to prevent top-quality applicants
pool credentials hiring employees who meet the from being hired elsewhere.
minimum requirements, but nothing Human Resources will need to do
more. continuous recruiting and screening, even
when there are no current vacancies.

Realistic Job Previews are designed to

prevent applicants from taking jobs that
Unwanted
they have little knowledge of, or are not
turnover
suited to perform. A RJP is a recruiting
among new
Realistic tool designed to reduce early turnover
workers who Develop a Realistic Job Preview (RJP) (see
Job by communicating both the desirable
did not The RJP Tool Kit: A How-To Guide for
Previews and the undesirable aspects of a job
understand Developing a Realistic Job Preview)
(RJP) before applicants accept a job offer.
their job when
RJPs can be in the form of videos, oral
they were
presentations, job-shadowing
hired
opportunities, and pamphlets or
brochures.

Many public-sector human service

agencies are regulated by merit
systems that make it difficult to attract
Hiring process
Improve and maintain the interest of top-quality Seek central HR agency approval for hiring
takes too long
Hiring applicants. Top applicants in todays flexibilities
- high quality
Flexibilities economy are searching the Internet for Move to online recruiting
applicants are
in Highly jobs that are available now. They arent
looking See Michigan as example of a merit system
Centralized interested in taking a civil service exam
elsewhere for that has transformed their recruitment away
Systems and sitting on eligibility lists for months.
jobs from written testing to online recruiting.
In some systems, rigid requirements
and lengthy inflexible scoring processes
wash out well-qualified applicants.

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Additional

Strategy:

Additional

Strategy: