By Gary Berney
The business is looking for you to hire a new manager in a short space of time and of the right quality to make an impact quickly. It’s not an uncommon recruiting problem. So you ring up your preferred recruitment agency, they go out to their contacts and you end up having to interview various strangers, for that’s what those candidates are, and hope that they are as good as they say they are. It’s a recipe for failure, but what if you looked at someone who’s previously been with the company?
Here are 6 reasons why Boomerang employees are a good source of recruitment:
● The hiring failure rate is extremely low – These aren’t candidates who can pull the wool over your eyes. These are people whose capabilities you know and trust, so they are far less likely to fail. ● You’re gaining a wealth of knowledge. Boomerangs didn’t sit on their hands when they left the company, they went out and learnt new skills and knowledge which your company can now benefit from.
● They have high retention rates. Let’s face it, they know your company, it’s culture and its failings but believe they can make a positive contribution by coming back. In other words they are in for the long haul, meaning you reduce your need to hire again any time soon.
● They have a new network. When you’re looking for other hires these people have a whole new network they’ve built up while away from the company. It’s time to tap into that new referral network for your next hires.
● You get a quick return on investment. Because they assimilate back into the business quickly your investment pay back is rapid, well ahead of any hires from traditional recruitment.
● They’re a quick hire. You already know a huge amount about the candidate so you’re only assessing what they’ve been doing since leaving you. All other checks have been done. Therefore the number of interviews and debates over whether they are the right person are minimalised.
With all these great reasons for looking at corporate alumni to return to the company, why aren’t more companies tapping into this rich source of recruitment? The main reason seems to be time. It takes a lot of time and effort to keep in contact with alumni and keep them posted of the latest jobs.
Here are 3 ways to keep alumni informed of job vacancies:
1. Email them
2. Have alumni join a particular social media group and inform them of job vacancies there.
3. Use HireUp to automatically post out job details and track them, avoiding extra work for HR and allowing Alumni to apply for a role or refer in candidates for job vacancies that aren’t a good fit for them. You win either way!
