Human resources isn’t a group of fortune tellers, but they might be the next best thing. Before your company finds itself in dire need of specific skills, HR will have prepared a recruitment solution. This, however, is no magical feat, nor a walk in the park. Identifying and addressing hiring needs is a delicate and complicated process that requires data and decisive action. 

This piece will explore exactly how an HR team can effectively identify their company’s hiring needs. We’ll be giving you 5 tips that will make the decisions your group will make, and the collection of necessary information much easier.

5 Ways to Identify Hiring Needs

Create an Identification Process

Like any other important HR undertaking, identifying hiring needs takes planning and a regular process. Having a regular process allows data from previous hiring years to be absorbed into the current plan. This makes it easier to locate employment trends, identify departments with weaker retention rates, and any other recruitment inconsistencies within the organization.

Identify Current and Future Talent Gaps

Before deciding what positions need to be filled and when, it’s paramount that recruiters find the areas of greatest weakness within the company — as well as departments that have the greatest need. To do this, you’ll need to obtain an overview of your company’s employees — all of them. 

There are a variety of tools that can help you compile an employee database if you don’t already have one. After you have all of the necessary info, organize the data into relevant categories. Salary, experience, department, departure date, and contract type are some of the most often utilized data groups. 

This data should help you determine talent gaps within the company. Are you going to lose a social media expert after August? Take note. Are a large number of employees leaving the production department? Get prepared.

Determine Budget

Work with your hiring manager to determine the maximum budget needed to fill the talent gaps. In order to determine the perfect budget, you’ll need to understand how many roles you anticipate needing to fill, the priority of those roles and how specialized they are. The equation for talent doesn’t need to be rocket science. With historical data at your fingertips, you can easily determine the best budget for your needs.

Create a Job Description

After you’ve determined the areas that will need to be filled, and those that will fit within the budget, it’s time to create job descriptions. Determine with your team and hiring manager exactly what skills are necessary for the positions, as well as the minimum experience necessary in order for a candidate to be considered. Then, begin the writing process.

A good job description should have a concise, direct description of the position as its title. Follow up with an eye-catching summary of the job, and any duties they’ll be regularly performing. Don’t get unnecessarily wordy, as that will drive potential talent away. Also, avoid vague assertions that they should be open to performing tasks outside their job description. That too will drive off folks who don’t want to be taken advantage of.

Utilize AI Recruitment Tech

Artificial intelligence isn’t what it used to be—it’s gotten much more effective. Less than a decade ago, AI recruitment tech was limited to a few algorithms and chatbot programs. Today, recruiting with AI can provide you with data-driven solutions that can prevent hiring gaps before they occur. 

Chatbots, which were previously only able to hold a basic conversation, can now provide hiring suggestions based on data collected. Our chatbot, Wendy, can do all of that and more. She can send personalized messages, schedule interviews, and provide services throughout the recruitment process — including helping identify talent gaps.

Other AI tools, including PandoLogic’s suite of AI recruitment software, provide valuable data that aid in identifying hiring needs. Not only that, they can free your HR employees from time-consuming menial tasks, saving resources and letting them work on necessarily human endeavors.