For HR professionals, 2009 is shaping up to be a year that can be best summarized by The 3 Cs (change, chance and calculation) and The 3 As (attitude, activity and “A-class”).

The 3 Cs

Change

As businesses respond to the challenges brought on by the current economic climate, the positions that companies need to fill in order to grow and prosper will also change to include new focus areas such as Distressed Assets, Facility Management, Infrastructure, New Media, Informatics and Revenue.

These new focus areas will bring with them the need to define roles that might previously never have existed, recruiting new kinds of people in entirely new ways.

Chance

The quantity and quality of people actively looking for work as a result of layoffs at other firms are going to increase, bringing more great candidates out into the open for you to choose from as well as others who were previously out of your reach.

Can your company really miss the chance not to hire from the high quality talent pool that 2009 promises?

Calculation

Everything has a price, every hire you make and every one you don’t make too. Recruiting decisions have to be justified, with “Return On Investment” crucial and every single recruiting activity providing a positive return on investment.

2009 is the year, more than any other, when HR professionals will have to learn the language of CFOs and risk managers.

The 3 As

Attitude

You have to stay positive and maintain a can-do attitude. Confidence, strength of purpose and staying focused are absolutely vital. Change isn’t pretty, but it’s a reality and those who cope with it best come out on top.

Accept that there will be times of confusion and uncertainty; stay positive and you’ll keep your head while other companies are losing theirs.

Activity

Don’t just keep busy, double your activity because 2009 is going to be a time for action and by that I am not encouraging anyone to chase lost causes. Far from it.

Increasing your activity means getting organized, setting priorities, and not letting distractions manage your day. Recruiting activities should be still driving the company forward in new ways and in new directions toward growth and prosperity.

A-class

Only the best will do — 2009 is not going to be business as usual and you are going to have to be on top of all aspects of recruiting.

Tough decisions will need to be made during tough times. With the need to justify all activity, you’ll need to analyze everything closely, get creative and perhaps lose some of that over-reliance on outside agencies.

From talking to industry professionals in Japan and throughout the world we have compiled a list of FIVE areas that both they and we believe will be important in 2009; and why wait until then, as 2008 begins to slowly wind its way down when better to start planning for next year and maybe even steal a march on your competitors.

Business Model.

Budgets are tightening, economic growth moves forward at a snails’ pace and corporations are forced under; what better time to start crying into bonenkai beers our and sentimentalizing about the good old times before recruiting budgets came under the sharp constraints they are currently experiencing.

But now is not the time for whining, take the opportunity to look again at the costs and benefits of your organization’s recruiting efforts; think in money terms of the expected return on investment for each type of employee you are looking to hire. In putting a tangible price on hiring to fill vacancies and leaving them open, you’ll be talking the language that CFOs and risk managers understand in demonstrating the importance of recruiting even during times of reduced hiring volume.

Employment Branding.

If your organization is really serious about wanting to attract and retain top talent, you simply cannot afford to ignore just how the organization is perceived by both current employees and key stakeholders in the external market.

You don’t need to be a multi-million dollar organization to effectively communicate just what a great company you are and what a wonderful place it is to work at, focus on growing your online presence, develop your ‘CSR’ brand identity and take steps to counter the negatives associated with your employment brand.

Social Networking.

With understanding of how best to analyze the strength of relationships existing between users of online social networks improving significantly, recruiting professionals are better able to picture the ‘degrees of separation’ lying between them and the candidates they’d like to hire.

At the same time, as internet-based social networking sites continuing to grow and develop they now more accurately reflect the needs of their users; better connecting people and jobs by more effectively adding the power of technology to the concept of “it’s not what you know but who you know” recruiting on social networks is becoming more and more of a mainstream concept.

Employee Blogs.

Build on the the power of your organization’s employment branding by using employee blogs to support recruiting programmes. A good business blog, however, should not simply highlight your company and products it should also answer questions and serve to make your company appear less mysterious and distant..

There are many parts of your business with stories to tell and an audience of employees and stakeholders who will are interested in finding out more, employee blogs as part your online corporate presence will help you recruit talented people but it is vitally important that guidelines are put in place.

Corporate Website.

Dull, dated and static websites serve the opposite effect they are intended for, and help convince potential candidates to stay away from your organization as opposed to driving great candidates towards you.

Revisit the job section of your corporate website and look at it again objectively, through fresh eyes and think carefully about the impression it leaves you with. Information should be fresh, relevant and up to date; and the experience of visiting the site should be positive and rewarding – just don’t overcompensate and create a page that is gimmicky, slow to load and leaves visitors frustrated, keep things simple and let the message speak for itself.

Too often the recruiting process has not been adequately thought through; resulting in bad hires, disruptions, upheavals and the wasting of time, money and other valuable resources.

By optimizing the recruitment process, you will be better able to find the standard of candidate you would be more than happy to offer a job to; the kind of person your organization needs, people who are going to make positive contributions to your company.

Dividing the recruiting process into 5 stages:

- Develop a Job Profile
- Post the Advertisement
- Shortlist the Candidates
- Hold Interviews
- Interpret the Results

allows important points at each stage, that contribute to optimization of the recruiting process, to be highlighted.

1.Develop a Job Profile

Define a clear profile of the type of person and kind of attributes you are looking for.

Incorporate these criteria in your job advertisement; simply and accurately portraying the type of person and set of skills required.

2.Post the Advertisement

Confusing or misleading job advertisements will not generate a pool of applicants of the highest quality or numbers available.

The advertisement must be precise; to help create an accurate profile, an effective advertisement will answer these questions:

・What qualifications and level of experience are required (mid-career, entry level, etc.)?
・Is the salary appropriate to the position?
・What does your organization do?
・Where is it?
・What are the work conditions and hours (FT, PT, contract, etc.)?
・What makes working for your company so appealing?
・When is the application deadline?
・When does the position commence?
・What is the position title?
・How important is language ability?

3.Shortlist the Candidates

Once the deadline has passed, work through the applications and discount all candidates that don’t have the required qualifications and experience.

Draw up a shortlist of candidates from the remainder.

Choose the applications that stand out.

Be cautious (but not needlessly suspicious) about candidates who seem to be too good to be true.

Look for relevant experience; for factors that indicate how the candidate will fit into the role to be filled, look for round pegs for round holes.

4.Hold Interviews

Structure the interview; allow the candidate to relax; see how they operate in normal circumstances.

Ask open-ended questions to give the candidate scope: how, what, why?

Field some questions that probe their professional competence.

Ask questions to reveal how they would handle difficult situations.

Don’t forget to ascertain whether they would accept the job if offered it, but don’t show your hand.

Draw up a checklist to allow you to remember how each candidate performed and enable you to better determine their suitability for the position.

5.Interpret the Results

Look at the person as a whole:

・How did they come across?
・Did they have the set of skills necessary to do the job?
・Did they have the body of knowledge needed for the job?
・Were the genuinely motivated to do the job?
・How would they fit into the existing corporate culture?

If you find have any nagging doubts about somebody, don’t take the risk.

Don’t set your sights too high. Perfect workers don’t exist; but personable, competent and eager candidates who will fit well into your organization and make significant and valuable contributions to your company’s success do.

Having ranked the candidates, you are now ready to offer the position to the best and most suitable candidate; get the contract signed, get them trained, and get them onboard as part of the team.