Planning For Next Year Starts Today!

I know Thanksgiving hasn’t even passed, but the end of the year will be here before you know it! Many of you are trying to get candidates hired and on board before the end of the year, but it is also crucial to start focusing on next year so that you have the tools and resources in the budget for 2000. It is important that you take an active role in planning for next year so that you are not cut short on next year’s budget. Since most companies view Human Resources and the Recruiting function as overhead, below are a few ways to ensure that you get the dollars you need to effectively recruit candidates next year.

Review the past: The best way to plan for the future is to look at the past. Conduct an analysis to determine which sources and tools resulted in the most hires in the past year. Take into account all of the job fairs, employee referrals, internal transfers, online sources (e.g. resume databases, or Internet sourcing), newspaper advertising, and executive search fees. If you have a sophisticated applicant tracking system, you should be easily able to identify the sources that yielded the most hires.

Project for next year: It is very important that you obtain accurate information about how many new and backfill positions are anticipated to be filled during the next year. Having accurate information will be a key element in determining how much money will be necessary to be able to effectively source and hire in the upcoming year. When analyzing the data make sure to keep a close eye on the timing of when these hires are anticipated to be filled. There is no sense in building up your budget for the first quarter if the majority of your hires are not going to be filled until the third quarter.

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Review new products and services: Now is the time to open up the file that you have been saving with all the sales materials on new products and services that you have collected over the last eleven months. Look closely at the upcoming events that you may want to attend for the first time. It is also a great time to look at new services or products and determine which ones you would like to try in the new year. The end of the year can be a great time to sign up for a new database or other service and get year 2000 pricing. Many companies raise their prices at the beginning of the year, so you may be able to work out a deal to retain this year’s pricing, but put off payment until January 2001.
Review Recruiting Department staffing needs: You can have all of the necessary services and tools in place in order to effectively recruit, but if you don’t have enough people to manage the workload, you may be throwing money out the window. When you are evaluating your projected hiring and the tools, services and events necessary to achieve success, carefully scrutinize the amount of staff you will need to successfully meet these needs. If you don’t have an adequately staffed recruiting team, then you could be in for an expensive year of recruiting with little success.
Don’t cut corners: This is not time to cut corners as far as recruiting expenses are concerned. Don’t be reckless with your company’s money, but be sure that you include all necessary tools and services that will ensure your success. The way that I look at it is: if you don’t ask for it, you’re not going to get it. Just be sure that if you put something in your budget, you are able to justify the need and be able to show how it can improve the recruiting function within your company.

Planning and forecasting for the upcoming year can be a time consuming task but as you can see it is an important one. Take the time now to plan and you can avoid major headaches down the road.