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If you’re not like me then you will probably fall into the bucket of the thousands of workers in the UK who plod along until the next best gig comes along, or the pressure and strain of uncertainty and job dissatisfaction becomes to much and you just end up resigning, having done little due diligence.

We all know the working year seems to fly by quickly, so when do we see this spike in attrition. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realise that people like to be employed in the run up to Christmas, also staff will almost never take the leap of faith until bonuses are secured and delivered in the new year. Perhaps the new year brings new resolutions and desires for those sitting on the fence. Next time you sit down with your HRIS team take a look at Q1 attrition vs remainder of the year. So does this ring true to your organisation, perhaps not. But if so what contingency measures do you put in place? I think there are two topics here… Employee Retention and Pipelining Strategies. For the benefit of this blog I’d like to focus on the latter.

We are all aware of Pipelines and the importance of building these, but how seriously do we really take it. What does it really mean to your teams and hiring managers, sometimes I feel this is an overused buzzword that results in a mediocre list of silver medal candidates.

Below isn’t designed to be your one stop shop solution with all the answers. My philosophy is keep it simple! it’s all about simplicity in a ever evolving and changing market.

1. Ensure you have sight of hiring forecasts for the year and future potential organisational changes. If this doesn’t come to you by default, make it your job to get the information.

2. Along with the above and current headcount, factor attrition for the year and build your manpower plan and get it signed off.

3. Dependent on hiring volume and profiles, determine your go to market strategy.

4. Ensure you make full use of your technology and staffing programs (ATS, Sourcing REQs, Careers Portal, CRM, if you have a sourcing team, Media Campaigns, Career fares, assessment days) you know the list.

5. Stay in touch with candidates and always give feedback, for me there’s no point finding talent pools if you are going to park them for 12 months and not give the courtesy you would expect.

Execute the above and perhaps there will be less challenges, remember a successful pipeline strategy will drive talent into your organisation whilst having a direct impact on…

1. Cost per hire
2. Time to hire
3. Source of Hire, improving your direct hiring model.

All of the above metrics we are typically measured on, good luck for the year ahead!

Ask any recruitment professional today ‘how important is a strong employer brand?’ I’m certain the likely response in most cases would be advocating such initiatives, ask the same person how much attention or input their organizations puts into their employer brand, you’ll likely to get not such a positive response.

A strong employer brand is why talented people want to join your organization. It’s the image and perception of your organization from external talent on the market, as well as your employees. With so many foreign multinationals set up alongside regional companies here in the Middle East, brand perception can be so diverse. Everything from best practices: working from home, extended parental benefits, paid leave etc… to pay discrimination based on nationality and clock watching managers and rude managers in the interview.

Where do you think top talent would rather work and why do we neglect our employer brand so much? Professional circles in the Middle East are niche, word spreads fast, so don’t be surprised if your offers are getting rejected more frequently.

The Middle East has seen an enormous amount of Talent come into the region over the last decade, the economic downfall in 2008 saw some expats returning home, but we’re starting to see the needle shift the again, with Dubai reporting for the first time a population of two million late last year. Companies are eager to capitalize in these expanding markets and it’s even more crucial that they have the right talent driving such success.

Employer brand can be such a grey area, who really does own it, HR, Marketing, Hiring Managers? In my opinion it shouldn’t be treated as a project with roles and responsibilities (time lines etc…) your brand proposition should be a behavior, a way of life, a cultural belief!  In my view everyone has a part to play, the moment an applicant looks at your careers site, the moment they apply, the screening conversations with internal recruitment, the interview with hiring manager, the offer process and finally the on boarding experience. Every touch point from pre-hire to post-hire has an integral part to play that shapes the way employees / applicants perceive the company.

So what can you do improve your employer brand? Firstly you need to understand exactly what your organization represents and stands for, what is your goal? If it’s truly important then invest time and map the touch points applicants have with your teams, create a forum where you can get feedback and opinions. Collate this data and benchmark it, what is real versus what you want to achieve, you may be surprised. It’s important to continue this exercise intermittently with new hires throughout the first year. If you do have a gap between expectations and reality, put active measures in place to bridge this immediately. This may be simple task or a complete change management initiative, either way your actions will create engagement with employees.

It will become very apparent if you succeed, retention and probation metrics will improve as would the quality of talent wishing to be part of your organization. One of the obvious tell tale signs of a weak employer brand is a lack of employee referrals, fix this and you should see the referrals flowing inn. Finally the most obvious is your company financial performance; we all know that our employees are our most expensive commodity. This cost is multiplied with churn, keep your employees longer and performing will have a positive impact on the books.