High volume recruiters wanted, but is it enough?

Last September, during a visit to his then still imaginary Gigafactory near Berlin, Elon Musk personally advertised for employees in German. Around 12,000 are needed so that 500,000 electric cars can roll out of the giant factory each year from July 2021.  “Employees wanted for ‘high volume’ hiring” was the headline in the in-house Teslamag, which at the same time advised that high volume recruiters were also urgently needed as part of the hiring offensive.

While the initial staffing of Tesla’s Gigafactory is not necessarily an example of classic high volume recruitment, once there is a recurring need for personnel, it takes more than a recruiter trained on a piecework basis for a company to be able to react efficiently and flexibly to bottlenecks. When it comes to high volume recruitment, our partner Promerit, a multi-award-winning consultancy firm for transformation and people management, relies on a winning combination of a well-thought-out strategy and an efficient CRM platform.

High volume is not a question of the number of applicants

So, what does high volume actually mean? First, it has nothing to do with the number of applications, says Michael Eger, partner at Promerit. He defines the term from a different perspective. “We talk about high volume recruitment primarily when there is a high number of standardized vacancies. Especially when these needs are recurrent. “A flood of applications makes it crucial to ensure proper process mapping with optimal filter functions in the applicant tracking system (ATS). However, in order to find the needle in the haystack, high volume recruitment presents the company with other challenges. Here it is necessary to fill a lot of vacancies largely at short notice and for a limited period.

The classic situation: 43,000 seasonal courier drivers in the logistics industry

As a rule, it is about similar, rather straightforward profiles. Examples can be found chiefly in the logistics industry, hospitality, retailing, tourism, and the event sector. The four largest parcel and delivery services in Germany and online retailer Amazon alone employed 43,000 additional delivery drivers last year as seasonal and part-time workers to cope with increased demand as a result of lockdowns and Christmas sales. A very high, temporary demand that recurs at fixed intervals is what characterizes high volume recruitment.
And, it also exposes the limitations of linear recruitment processes. Imagine you had to address multiple candidates, sift through applications and conduct interviews – to hire 10,000 temporary workers for a limited period within a few weeks. The cost-benefit ratio is probably not very healthy.

Linear recruitment for mass target groups? Not a good idea

“When we talk about real contingent recruitment, the classic ATS is no longer sufficient”, says Michael Eger. “Companies also need an active pool of suitable candidates that they can automatically contact when the need next arises, to enquire whether people wish to work for them again.” In his eyes, this makes relationship management indispensable for successful high-volume recruitment because it requires that candidate profiles be maintained even during periods of inactivity and that details are up to date. In addition to contact details and general availability, e.g., during university holidays, this also includes must-have criteria such as a driving license, good physical fitness, or language skills.  “Especially with the large amounts of data that are essential for high volume recruitment, a simple support logic is an advantage. In these dimensions, contact management can no longer be mapped one-to-one. We are talking here about one in ten thousand and this is only possible with an efficient CRM platform.”

Successful CRM needs a well-thought-out strategy

But even a talent pool able to manage large groups and contact people en mass at the right time is only as good as the strategy behind it. “Who am I looking for in the first place? The conceptual question of target groups is the basis for recruitment. That is why it is so important to clearly draw your own target group roadmap”, Eger recommends. “In which areas can I communicate with mass target groups, where standard and proactively sourced candidates require a greater recruitment effort? Many companies fail on account of this basic process, but it is enormously important for strategic personnel planning.”

An analysis of target groups is essential in order to design the right recruitment strategy. Even with high volume recruitment, the company needs to think about how a mass target group can be kept happy with reasonable effort. Regular updating cycles, for example, asking whether the email address is still current and whether candidates wish to remain in the pool, are a good way to keep in contact – just as building a community is. Michael Eger also advises: “Create added value for the target group, for example, by sending vouchers, forwarding the employee newsletter or congratulating people on their birthdays. A CRM platform like Talentry is an excellent way to map, automate and evaluate such measures.” This way, you can adapt the strategy as needed and, using it as a roadmap, exploit the full potential of the talent pool for high volume recruitment.

Would you like to learn more about getting started with candidate relationship management for your high-volume recruitment needs? Get our free e-book!