Market research is so important in so many functions of business, but for HR Directors, getting under the bonnet of competitor HR and recruitment functions isn’t so easy. In the search for the marginal gains that can keep your business a step or two ahead, do you know how you compare to others in your industry?
There is a temptation to be quite insular within HR, doing “what is right for us and our unique” circumstances, and not overly caring what competitors are doing. After all, they are different organisations and what works for them might not work for us.
That argument has a certain amount of validity, but as technology and social media increasingly make the recruitment market more complex, the options of “how to do things” are increasing exponentially. Its no longer sufficient to simply assume that the way you have been doing things are the best you could achieve, especially as recruitment strategy can have such an important impact on your organisation.
One great way of comparing notes is to attend various industry conferences and keep an ear to the ground. Such networking efforts have become popular amongst HR leaders in recent times and there is value to be gained even at the level of discussions on LinkedIn and various other HR forums.
Another way of getting a more direct low down is seeking to source information from new starters in terms of what worked well at their previous employers and what could have been better.
Alternatively, you could partner with a company like ResourceBank.
