9 steps to analysing your recruitment needs and making a success of your future hires!

Recruitment has never played such a crucial role! Companies are looking to make their processes more efficient and reduce the risk of error. Applicants expect an irreproachable candidate experience.

Hiring someone represents a real investment, both in terms of time and money. Making sure that you don't lose time, money or motivation because of a recruitment error is a priority for Human Resources.

There is a method that makes recruitment more reliable while maximising the chances of success: recruitment needs analysis.

Deployed in the early stages of recruitment, this solution enables you to find the talent that matches your specific needs, simply by asking the right questions beforehand: questions that will help you to better define your requirements.

Analysing your recruitment needs is THE key to increasing the chances of successful recruitment. So how do you go about it?
Let's take stock!

See all software Recruiting

First of all, what are recruitment needs?

Recruitment needs: definition

The recruitment requirement is one of the first stages in the recruitment process. Its aim is to define expectations very precisely by working in two areas:

• identifying the reasons for recruitment
• determining the search criteria for the ideal candidate

By analysing the recruitment needs, we can formalise the expectations and set the criteria for selecting the candidate who best meets the challenges identified.

Not to be confused with expressing a need

While the needs analysis gives rise to a job description and a job offer, the expression of need takes place just upstream.

This is the stage when discussions are held with the manager who is looking to recruit: the manager describes the context, the tasks and the skills required for the position to be filled.

At this stage, the description remains succinct and is formulated in natural language. It's the job of the human resources department to make sure that the job is well defined and that the profile sought is well defined. HR also ensures that recruitment meets an immediate need or is in line with the company's medium- and long-term strategy.

Why it's important to define recruitment needs clearly

Whether you're creating a new post or replacing an existing one, it's certainly vital that you recruit the perfect candidate persona. In other words, the person who will quickly integrate into your team, while having the required skills.

So analysing your recruitment needs is a key step. It has a number of advantages:

Finding the right profile is easier

Defining your expectations correctly will have a direct influence on the quality of the recruitment process. Armed with a clear vision of the desired profile and the detailed recruitment context, you can choose the most suitable candidate without hesitation.

You'll save a lot of time

By analysing and formulating your expectations, you can save time when sorting through the applications: you can eliminate those that don't match. What's more, throughout the process, you'll have the exact profile and skills you're looking for in mind: you'll increase your chances of finding the right person more quickly.

As a bonus, you strengthen your employer brand

If you're well prepared, your process will be clear and your project well formulated. Your company's communication is enhanced. It's easier for you to answer candidates' questions during the job interview. A well-defined framework and a professional approach reassure them.

This action helps to make your employer brand (a major issue in human resources) more impactful. A great bonus!

Our 9 tips for optimising your recruitment needs analysis

1. Rule out any in-house solutions

Before you even start thinking about a job description, check with your manager that all internal solutions have been considered. Sometimes the need for skills can be met by transferring employees, training existing staff or reorganising the team.

An employee promoted to a new position can sometimes be a better fit than an external candidate. What's more, the process will be less cumbersome!

2. Canvass the departments or managers concerned

All recruitment stems from the expression of a need, by a director, a manager or a team. It's the recruiter's job to clarify and flesh out the description of the need.

To do this, you can offer to take a step back and look at the activities of the future employee. Ask for a description of a typical day, of the tasks or operations to be carried out, and so on.

In this way, you will be able to identify the full list of tasks and responsibilities, while ensuring that you are on the same wavelength as regards the right profile for the position to be filled.

3. Determine the recruitment objectives

Recruiting a new member of staff will help your business to grow. Hiring can support sales growth or free up resources that can be allocated to other tasks.

When analysing your recruitment needs, it is therefore essential to determine the objectives you are pursuing. And you'll find the right answers by asking a few questions:

• Why do we need to recruit?
• What strategic objectives can be achieved?
• Will the new skills added in this way help the teams to achieve their overall objectives?

4. Formalise your skills requirements

Don't have the time to carry out a full assessment? Then make every effort to formalise your skills requirements.

These must be adapted to the needs of the organisation, while providing a balance and complementarity with the know-how of the current team.

Support the manager in drawing up the list of skills required for the position: business and technical skills, interpersonal skills and soft skills.

5. Define the profile of the ideal candidate

Defining the profile of the ideal future employee allows you to take stock of expectations and provides a precise framework for the qualifications and personality you are looking for. The objective? To ensure that the new recruit not only fits the job, but also the corporate culture. So what should you look out for? 👇

• Technical skills: these are obviously the first criteria to look at. Assessing skills and experience is necessary before going any further in the process. List the knowledge that is strictly essential for filling the job, but don't overload this list. Candidates are not robots!
• Behavioural skills: what soft skills are required for the company's activity? Not everyone can hold the 17th meeting of the day and stay calm at the same time. Communication, teamwork and stress management can already serve as a basis.
• Alignment with the corporate culture: identifying a candidate who will fit into the working environment while sharing the company's values is a way of facilitating long-term collaboration.

Our advice: to recruit without making a mistake, make an initial selection of profiles before the interview. And on the day, organise an appropriate assessment. Depending on your sector, determine what is essential and offer technical tests, behavioural interviews or situation simulations. There's nothing like the real thing!

6. Draw up the job description

It's almost done! You've detailed, analysed and understood the need perfectly. You're in line with everyone involved in the process. You are now ready to write your job advert.

Now you can create the deliverable that is the result of your efforts: a job description.

It can be made up of the following elements

• the job title
• overall objectives
• role in the company, responsibilities, level of authority required
• place in the organisation chart / hierarchical position
• the skills required for the job: knowledge, know-how, level of training, etc.
• essential skills: interpersonal, writing, physical, intellectual, etc.
• the departments, staff and external service providers with which the future employee will be in contact
• a presentation of specific tasks and responsibilities
• working conditions: number of hours, working hours, travel, special constraints, location of the position, description of the working environment, etc.
• opportunities for career development
• remuneration and its composition (fixed, variable, commission, benefits).

Your job profile will then give rise to the job advert.

7. Give yourself the time and resources to plan ahead

Many companies recruit in a hurry. In this case, the analysis of recruitment needs is neglected or dealt with quickly.

Taking the time to draw up an exhaustive and relevant description of the position to be filled is a good practice that should be implemented as soon as possible!

The next step? Think about GPEC, or Gestion Prévisionnelle des Emplois et des Compétences. This will enable you to build up a pool of resources dedicated to your global recruitment initiatives, whether they are carried out as a matter of urgency or prepared in advance!

8. Draw up a forward recruitment plan

The recruitment plan is your roadmap for anticipating future needs. This schedule lists all the recruitments planned for the more or less long term, in accordance with the GPEC. A quality plan will be precisely defined with the positions available, the profiles sought, the recruitment dates and the budget allocated. A real GPS for recruiters!

However, to be effective, recruiters need to anticipate the challenges and internal developments of the company and the market in France and abroad. The rapid evolution of certain professions means that resources and positions have to be constantly adjusted. If you don't keep your GPS up to date, you run the risk of ending up in a dead end... A flexible organisation is essential if you are to adapt quickly to the company's development.

9. Demonstrate adaptability

In the face of changes in the market and the company's needs, and depending on each candidate, adaptability during the recruitment process is inevitable. Recruiting for a job is a bit like taking part in a football match: it can change direction at any moment! Keep your ears open and adjust your aim by a few percent:

• to applications: the perfect candidate matching your search on every point may not exist. 🐑 Some profiles will not exactly match the job description, but may offer maximum potential for development. Don't make the mistake of dismissing them out of hand.

• The job market: it changes very quickly. Certain profiles will be in high demand, while certain sectors will be short of candidates. Take responsibility for adjusting the criteria or types of contract to the current context.

• the company's staffing needs: a new need? A different need? The evolution of a company can lead to a new direction and changes in strategy. It's all about adapting to keep ahead of the competition.

What tools can help you?

The recruitment needs questionnaire

To help managers express and formalise their recruitment needs, why not create a dedicated questionnaire?

Here are a few examples of fields to add to the form:

• the job title,
• the department and manager expressing the need,
• a summary of the position and the context of the recruitment,
• the list of essential functions,
• prerequisites (experience, training),
• the skills and knowledge required.

This document is a good basis on which to begin the analysis and save time. Perfect, because it's quick and easy to put in place! The HR department receives a detailed and precise request, but above all one that is harmonised across all departments and all managers.

The recruitment needs table

This is a more comprehensive document for identifying needs. It can take the form of a needs definition grid. It also helps to prioritise the various actions.

This table will help you answer the questions: who, to do what, how, why and when?

You can put it together in different stages:

1. Make a list of the existing skills in your teams;
2. If certain skills are only held by one person, indicate whether it is necessary to plan a replacement system (Who takes over this person's tasks in the event of absence? Can an employee be trained, or should recruitment be considered?
3. highlight the missing skills. Distinguish between the skills that are currently lacking (urgent) and the skills that will be needed for the company's planned development (to be programmed).

For example:

The role of this table is to help you see things more clearly in practice. However, this table alone is not enough! It must be combined with other elements such as the job description form or the expression of needs form, which are ideal for giving a precise structure to all the tasks associated with the post.

The expression of recruitment needs form

Think of the expression of need form as the first part of your recruitment project, the foundation phase. This preparatory document includes the key information about the request:

• the position
• the tasks
• the type of employee required and the context,
• the reasons for hiring.

Ideally, it also includes a point on the person's remuneration. This is not always the case, but it is a prudent solution for keeping in line with the available budget and avoiding wasting time with future talent whose salary expectations are too far apart.

☝️ Be careful not to confuse this form with the questionnaire, which is more flexible and collaborative.

• The questionnaire is used by the teams to define their specific needs before being forwarded to human resources management.
• The needs expression form is a more formal document, validated by management, which will serve as the basis for the job advertisement.

This crucial stage avoids ambiguities and ensures that the requirements are shared by everyone in your company, upstream of the process. Better a clear document than a big lonely moment during the interview when you're asked why the job exists. 😬

Recruitment software

To make your recruitment process easier, more harmonised and more professional, consider equipping yourself with specialist software. These are invaluable aids for saving recruiters time, while ridding them of time-consuming or repetitive tasks.

🛠 Here are some examples of software that can help you right from the recruitment needs analysis phase:

• Beetween optimises the entire pre-recruitment phase, and more: you can communicate directly with the people involved in the recruitment via integrated messaging, set up recruitment authorisation requests directly in the collaborative tool, and stay informed of the progress of your requests via notifications;
  
  
• Taleez automates your job opening requests using a dedicated module: you define roles (applicants/validators), you create templates, you track your requests on a monitoring dashboard updated in real time, and as soon as a request is validated, it is automatically integrated into your ATS.
  
  

Whichever you choose, an ATS makes it easier and quicker to recruit, while centralising the information you need for the process. And, as an added bonus, this software offers you the possibility of automating tasks, such as automatically sorting CVs according to pre-established criteria.

See all software Recruiting

Let your company's recruitment needs analysis flourish!

In short, the recruitment needs analysis is an essential stage in your recruitment process. If you give it time and attention, it will pay off in spades, because there are many benefits to be had: better organisation, obvious time savings, and good practice to help your employer brand shine.

You'll then be able to focus on the rest of the process with peace of mind: publishing the job advert, sorting through the applications and selecting the best ones, defining who will be in charge of recruitment and what method will be recommended for the interviews. And don't forget the signing of the contract and onboarding for a top-notch candidate experience!