Plan for High-Volume

Recruitment

Use project management principles to navigate and plan for high-volume

recruitment.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Situation Key Insight:
• Most job openings are due to organizations adding new roles
faster than turnover (MRI Network, 2017). The demand for
talent is high, and organizations are struggling to fill roles.
• High-volume recruitment (HVR) is the process of filling a
higher than average number of roles within a short period • Balancing the candidate
of time. Depending on the organization, this can vary from a experience and hiring manger
dozen roles to a thousand. Examples of this include seasonal needs with process efficiency
hiring, opening a new location, and winning new business. may seem impossible. Use
project management principles
Complication to make it achievable.
• A tight labor market already makes regular cycle recruitment
challenging. An HVR project not only increases the amount of
requisitions a team will have to fill but also amplifies the
impact of regular recruitment challenges (e.g. poor
candidate experience, inconsistent hiring results, inefficient
talent acquisition process, etc.).

Resolution
• Be proactive and leverage project management principles
to meet the clear timelines typical of an HVR project.
• A plan for HVR will help balance the need to have an efficient
process and a good candidate experience and meeting hiring
manager needs.

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MCLEAN & COMPANY OFFERS VARIOUS LEVELS
OF SUPPORT TO BEST SUIT YOUR NEEDS

DIY GUIDED
WORKSHOP CONSULTING
TOOLKIT IMPLEMENTATION

“Our team has “Our team knows “We need to hit the “Our team does not
already made this that we need to fix a ground running and have the time or the
critical project a process, but we get this project knowledge to take
priority, and we have need assistance to kicked off this project on. We
the time and determine where to immediately. Our need assistance
capability, but some focus. Some check- team has the ability through the entirety
guidance along the ins along the way to take this over of this project.”
way would be would help keep us once we get a
helpful.” on track.” framework and
strategy in place.”

Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

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Follow McLean & Company’s three-step
process to plan for high-volume recruitment

1 2 3
Define the Assess and
scope and customize Develop the
complexity the TA project plan
of the process for
project HVR

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SAMPLE SLIDES

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 The tight labor market makes hiring
increasingly difficult
The demand for talent is strong But finding the right talent is hard

7.3 1.3 open jobs for of employers find too many unqualified
million each unemployed 80% resumes from job boards are a barrier to
open jobs in worker (Indeed, finding the right talent (MRI Network, 2017).
the US 2019.)

employers say filling skilled trades roles

Only 1.2% of employers are downsizing. This 1 in 4 is harder compared to the prior year
signals employer demand for workers is high (Manpower, 2018).
(Indeed, 2019).

According to 88% of employers, job openings

are due to newly created positions (MRI Network,
Hiring is not only filling roles. It’s about finding the
2017).
right talent to meet your organization’s needs.

Talent shortages are a growing problem

Globally, 45% of employers found it difficult By 2030, there will be a global talent shortage of more
to fill roles – the highest it has been in 12 than 85 million people (Korn Ferry, 2018).
years (Manpower, 2018).

McLean & Company 6

 Challenges are amplified with high-volume
recruitment
High-volume recruitment (HVR) is the need to fill a higher than average number of roles within a short
period of time. Depending on the organization, this can vary from a dozen roles to a thousand. Examples of this include
seasonal hiring, opening a new location, and winning new business.

Regular talent acquisition challenges
of recruiters have had candidates
75% change their mind after signing an
offer (Jobvite, 2018).
of job seekers decided against
55% applying to an organization because
of a negative online review (HCI,
2018).
of applicants will abandon an
60% application that takes too long (HCI,
2018).
average cost per hire (SHRM,
$4,425 2017).
On average, a regular cycle role receives about 58 applications,
while each role in an HVR project can receive an average of
250-300 applications (Roubler, 2018). The sheer volume of
applicants magnifies regular talent acquisition challenges.
HVR challenges
Managing an efficient process
• Short timelines and increased volume put more pressure on
the talent acquisition (TA) team. This results in process
bottlenecks that are resolved by taking the wrong shortcuts,
such as removing essential assessments.
Difficulty meeting hiring manager needs
• High-volume need for the right talent in a tight labor market
makes finding quality candidates more difficult.
Maintaining the candidate experience (CX)
• Communicating with candidates is harder in HVR because of
the volume of talent you’re working with. Candidates can get
lost in the process and have a poor experience.

McLean & Company insight

Taking shortcuts is appealing when you’re under pressure. However, impulsive shortcuts fail to take into account risks or
benefits and will affect critical goals such as hiring quality candidates.

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A planful approach will minimize the risk of an
inefficient TA process
Interview & Background
Requisition Source Screen Offer
Assess Check

Common bottlenecks in the TA process are heightened when undertaking an HVR project
The biggest bottleneck to recruiting
is working with hiring managers:
• 50% of recruiters find themselves
waiting for hiring managers to move
candidates through.
• 44% find that their process
bottlenecks when hiring managers
review resumes.
(Jobvite, 2018)
Increasing the number of assessments will improve effectiveness of
candidate assessment (McLean & Company Trends Report, 2018,
N=560), but bottlenecks can occur when you need to wait for hiring
managers to move candidates through each stage.
• Glassdoor found that the length of the interview and assessment
stage is impacted by the region, the industry, and the role you’re
hiring for.
• Due to a stricter assessment process, jobs in the government average
53.8 days for the hiring process (Glassdoor, 2018).

These project
Define and Manage the Create a clear
management scope your process for plan for
principles are project clearly efficiency execution
critical for HVR

McLean & Company insight

Using project management principles will enable you to assess, scope, and direct a team to meet your HVR
goals.
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PROFESSIONALS TO:


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apply HR best practices
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 acquisition & retention
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programs to drive
measurable results.
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Vice President,
McLean & Company

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