As an RPO provider and onsite solution, it is critical to be trusted advisors to the entire hiring community.  That being said, being a trusted advisor is an evolutionary journey that both the RPO team and the client travel. 

So the question is, in 2013; what does being a trusted advisor mean and how is it achieved?

1. Build Credibility – first, there needs to be trust. In order for trust to exist, as recruiters we must do what we say. Credibility builds trust. Results win trust. In order to build credibility with a Hiring Manager, do your research.  Who have been the successful hires previously? What’s going on in the market? From a process point of view, what has worked well in the past? Who are our high potential internals?  To be able to draw upon this information, a recruitment process outsourcing solution needs to be involved in and/or across the internal talent review process. Your ATS should be able to pull reports on previous activity and be up to date with notes, to assist with knowing your hiring manager and their past hiring patterns.
2. Be Visible – in RPO it’s imperative that you are visible.  Visibility of what you do and how you do it allows stakeholders to see your expertise in action. When delivering a brief to a Hiring Manager, talk them through the statistics and ratios so that they understand how much work goes into the screening, long listing and short listing process.  How many candidates applied? Which sourcing channel did they come from?  Numbers screened?  
   
   While this may seem like ‘recruitment 101’, we often overlook this part especially when it’s a Hiring Manager we’ve dealt with before. It’s still important to demonstrate the level of activity and effort that’s gone into recruiting the position and continue to show the value and expertise you’re adding to the recruiting process.
3. Market Knowledge – know your market and share your knowledge. Hiring Managers want to understand the candidate and competitor market and we’re their eyes and ears when dealing with candidates directly.  Encourage your Hiring Managers to also share knowledge and relevant opinion pieces through social media platforms like LinkedIn. It will help them build their social presence and brand, which in turn can attract better quality candidates and assist us with getting the best person on board for their team.
4. Know Your Business – attend town halls and look for business updates and read press releases. Use every opportunity you have to learn and get exposure to other areas of the business. Ask your hiring managers what their business’ top 3 objectives are for the year and understand how the recruitment strategy fits into this and then the role you play in sourcing the necessary talent. It’s hard to be a trusted advisor if you don’t know what your business’ strategy is.
5. Get a Seat at the Table – attend business unit meetings. Be across what is happening in your portfolios and understand where the issues are and areas for growth. Go prepared with data and take the business unit through their previous quarter’s recruitment activity. You might need to get yourself invited to the first couple, but once you start sharing data and updates and contributing to discussions, you’ll soon be a part of the regular agenda.

So if you are doing all of the above, how do you know that the business sees you as a trusted advisor? Some of the key indicators may include:

• You are ‘getting a seat at the table’ without inviting yourself.
• Your opinion is sought out by the business and you’re not just having recruitment discussions, but talent discussions.
• You have built relationships where you are comfortable to challenge the status quo.
• You find that hiring managers pop past your desk sometimes just for a chat.
• You are bringing quality hires into the organisation, who stay, love what they do and achieve success. This can be measured tangibly by performance review scores, EAI survey feedback results, awards received and turnover stats.
• Through tracking your Hiring Manager surveys, you can see you are getting positive feedback and consistently high scores and you actively take any opportunity to address feedback that’s constructive and turn it around.

Finally, knowing you’re a trusted advisor can also sometimes simply be measured by some of the ‘intangibles’ like the language used (it’s not all ‘us and them’!) and the level of camaraderie felt with the business. If you enjoy coming to work every day and partnering with your hiring managers, then there is a fair chance that they feel exactly the same way!

The Hudson RPO onsite teams have identified key factors in securing top talent for our pharmaceutical clients:

• Talent Pipeline
  This is often what drives prospective applicant interest; understand the company’s pipeline and any future developments/acquisitions/mergers etc.
• Market Knowledge
  Be proactive and keep abreast of the competition. Competitor redundancies, downsizing, relocations & drug failure may provide an excellent opportunity to attract talent to your business.
• Candidate Experience
   Ensure there is a great candidate experience from initial contact through to on-boarding and beyond. Set and manage expectations early on and make the transition as streamlined as possible. As onsite recruiters we are the face of the business, this could contribute to influencing a candidate’s decision one way or another.

Retaining talent is somewhat trickier. We are under no illusion there are a multitude of factors contributing to an employee’s decision to seek alternative employment, however, by utilizing our resourcing skills and expertise we have identified strategies which mitigate unnecessary staff turnover. Employee retention doesn’t need to come with a price tag; by implementing the simple steps below, we have found that the number of resignations have decreased and that employees are more focused on continued growth and success within their current organisation:

• Mentoring
  Assigning mentors guarantees a continual line of knowledge-sharing and engagement throughout employment.
• Communication
  Have regular meetings. It’s important to maintain a regular dialogue from the start with employees to understand their development needs and aspirations.
• Internal Career Development
  Opening up potential career opportunities cross-functionally provides employees opportunities within the organisation. Company knowledge is then carried through adding value to your business.
• Managerial Engagement
  Regardless of the sector you work in, employees leave managers, not companies. The management of your top employees must be as high quality as the achievers themselves if they are to be engaged and reinforced by respect, a challenging environment and support.
• Training
  Employers do not need to spend vast amounts on external training courses for their employees; internal training teams should guide managers on how best to develop their staff. This allows employers to focus on allocating spend to more technical focused training courses and qualifications.

Despite our efforts, it’s always important to remember the solution lies in engagement within the business and working collaboratively with resourcing teams. Talented individuals will always be in demand, but it’s evident that commitment lies within an organisation that is able to invest time and promise to an employee’s personal development.

Unique and Relevant

My son thought long and hard about the theme for his party. He wanted it to be different, memorable and fresh. A party with games, a cake and drinks was expected; it needed a unique twist. It also needed to be relevant to his cohorts and have credibility on the playground. We decided that Nerf guns would be the perfect solution because they’re currently all the rage among boys his age, no one else had exploited this as a theme and it’s feasible.

Similarly, businesses need to determine what is unique about their organisation whilst ensuring the message is still relevant to the target market. This can only be done with research. Not only is internal research (e.g. engagement surveys) vital to ensure actions can be taken to address and modify issues for existing employees, but external research (e.g. polls, focus groups of target candidates or the values question in an interview) is also critical to determine how to best utilize marketing efforts.

Compelling Yet Authentic

The EVP message needs to be compelling while still maintaining authenticity. The introduction of employer social media sites, such as http://www.glassdoor.com, where a branding message can simultaneously be promoted and disproved at any given moment makes this point even more important. The employer brand needs to be so compelling that it calls potential employees to action (talent attraction) and once they join, ensures they are satisfied (talent retention) and ideally compels them to want to promote the organisation (brand ambassadors).

Telling a group of 4th grade boys that the food will be prepared from scratch may not bring forth enthusiasm. However, advising them that there will be Nerf guns supplied at the party will get their attention (attraction) and once they arrive, in giving them the Nerf guns and an area to use them we are ensuring they will stay (retention) and share how great the party was (promotion).

Aligned with Business Strategy

The EVP message needs to be aligned with the organisation’s business strategies. It should be authentic with a hint of aspiration. For example, if the organisation has a strong focus on family but it is still working on improving work-life balance, then that precise message needs to be communicated by stating, “We are a company that is aspiring to further support family values and therefore, we have recently introduced new policies to enhance work-life balance”.  Although "having fun" is a much simpler goal ,  planning a child’s birthday party is still similar.

When planning an employment brand strategy it is important to be sure the EVP is differentiated yet relevant and compelling while highly authentic yet aligned with the business strategy. In remembering each of these components, your organisation will be well on its way to achieving “a place to be” image among those you are looking to recruit.