Mid-year is here and if you want to make sure your current recruitment strategy is good to go, make sure you use SWOT analysis as a way to evaluate your performance. SWOT is a short for Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat, which gives you a thorough look into your current recruitment strategy and revamp it if needed. SWOT approach is simple to apply and identifies internal (strengths and weaknesses) as well as external (opportunities and threats) factors influencing your current talent acquisition performance. Here is all you need to know about it.

Why SWOT Analysis?

A recruitment SWOT analysis has several advantages in recruiting. It allows the company to reframe its recruiting challenges by considering a variety of factors that are not typically considered. Using this new outlook, recruiting teams may notice trends that were previously ignored. To get a better understanding of your recruitment process, you should also do an onboarding SWOT analysis and an employee engagement SWOT analysis.

When it comes to recruitment, there are various factors that influence the process and the people involved, regardless of industry. According to Marimon, here are some basic aspects to evaluate in a recruiting SWOT analysis that might affect companies, managers, employees, and future candidates:

• Strengths: high retention rates, employee productivity, key performance indicators, pay grades, benefits, holiday allowance, work-life balance, business growth, and specialization.
• Weaknesses: low retention rates, employee morale and wellbeing, pay grades, business presence, credibility, company culture, and lack of effective management or training.
• Opportunities: continual professional development (including internal movement and promotion, additional benefits, and travel prospects), collaborations, and investments.
• Threats: economic climate, industry decline, geographical restraints, competitors targeting prospective or existing employees, and new legislation (such as living wage increases).

Why SWOT Analysis?

A recruitment SWOT analysis will help recognize the aspects that contribute to both your recruiting difficulties and success. This is an efficient approach to learn about the factors influencing your recruitment. A recruitment SWOT analysis may also provide much-needed perspective, whether you are confronting the changing climate of talent acquisition in general or seeking for answers to difficulties that are specific to your industry.

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Strength and Weakness

The recruiting strengths and weaknesses you highlight on your SWOT analysis are organizational characteristics. What are your workforce benefits? This is your chance to highlight your company’s most valuable qualities. These are the variables over which you have the most influence, but they are also the ones in which you are least likely to be objective

Recruitment Strength

Recruiting strengths are those features that improve your candidate search or make your company more appealing to job seekers. Pay scale and benefits are among two most appealing strengths to attract the best candidates. However, there has been a growing interest in flexible working arrangements that is seen as a strength in recruitment. The following are common strengths of the best recruitment process:

• Pay scale above average
• Flexible or hybrid working arrangement
• Inclusive recruitment strategy that diminishes ageism and gender discriminations
• An applicant tracking system (ATS) for talent recruitment that ensures the most qualified applicants are at the top of the interview list

Recruitment Weakness

Internal factors that make your candidate searching more difficult or cause candidates to see your company as less appealing than competitors are examples of recruiting difficulties. Consider company presence, corporate culture, attrition, and credibility to assess your company’s weakness in its current recruitment strategy. The following are examples of common recruiting process weaknesses:

• Less comprehensive benefits package than your rivals
• Lengthy online application that takes more than 15 minutes to complete
• A physically demanding or uncomfortable work environment
• Lack of career advancement opportunities

Opportunities and Threats

Discover the areas where you may have an opportunity to shine as you continue to analyze and get more knowledge about your competitors. In this part, you compare specific elements of your organization to theirs. You need to also anticipate what threats there are that can make room for your competitors to ‘steal’ best candidates in the same job market. 

Recruitment Opportunities

You may have difficulties determining which quadrant to employ as you seek better recruitment opportunities. Some aspects, such as your employer branding, begin as internal factors but eventually become external parts subject to independent judgment. The following are examples of common recruiting process opportunities:

• What your company has, but your competitors don’t
• Hiring freeze in your industry and other competitors
• Partnership with top universities through campus hiring

Recruitment Threats

Threats are related to the external objects, which serves as a warning for what precautions and actions should be done. There is a correlation between the opportunities and threats that the company must confront.  The following are examples of common recruiting process threats:

• Geographical restraint
• Inadequate online presence of your company compared to competitors, which make your employer branding looks less credible
• Competitors having bigger funding and offer much higher salary to candidates

Given the current condition of the economy, the recruiting market will definitely need to reform its strategy in order to provide better overall outcomes. While some businesses are laying off employees, others are recruiting and being more selective in the individuals they seek. The same candidates are most likely being pursued in related companies. How effectively you prepare and equip yourself with the necessary information will determine which Recruiter wins and which candidate continues to follow. Good luck!

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