It’s tempting to ignore hiring until the need arises. The hiring process can feel as if it pulls attention away from other urgent and important tasks. Many managers respond by leaving the topic alone until hiring itself becomes urgent.
Yet thinking about the workforce only when a role needs to be filled can cause problems. Leaders who focus on workforce planning set themselves up for hiring success.
What is a Workforce Plan?
A workforce plan ensures that an organization has the right candidates with the right skills whenever it needs someone to fill a particular role.
To create an effective workforce plan, an employer must consider several questions:
- What does supply and demand look like for each role?
- What skills are associated with each role? Which are becoming obsolete, and which are rising in importance?
- Where does our current workforce have skills gaps? What can we do to address those gaps?
With answers to these questions in mind, an organization can build a candidate pool of qualified individuals who can fill gaps in staffing as they arise.
Why Do We Need a Workforce Plan?
Have you heard the old saying “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?” In the case of workforce planning, an ounce of planning is worth a pound of scrambling to find talent when a role opens up.
Benefits of workforce planning include:
- A clearer understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing your organization, resulting in better strategic planning overall.
- The ability to tailor job postings and candidate searches to the specific skills required for each role.
- Access to a pool of qualified candidates, reduced pre-screening time, and more opportunities to dig deep with candidates in interviews in order to find the right fit.
What’s the First Step in Building a Workforce Plan?
To create an effective workforce plan, an organization needs to understand its existing roles and skill demands, how those roles and skills are shifting within the company and industry, and how to find the right talent to fill any current or anticipated gaps. Working with a staffing partner is a strong first step.
Need Assistance? Contact Our Recruitment Experts Today
Need help creating a workforce plan for your organization? Contact the team at Employment Professionals Canada. We’ll help you find the talent you need and cultivate a candidate pool that ensures you’ll be able to find qualified people at the right moment. To learn more, contact us today.
