The recruiting and hiring process can put a strain on your time and money. Perhaps another approach could help. Agile recruiting can make hiring for your small business or startup easier and more efficient.

This article takes a look at this strategy. You'll learn what's involved in the process and get the information you need to start determining whether the agile recruiting approach could give a boost to your HR efforts.

What is agile, or sprint, recruiting?

The Agile Methodology, as it’s called, was first implemented in the realm of software development. It was meant to make the process more responsive to customer needs. The approach also looked to increase flexibility and improve efficiency.

In practice, the Agile Methodology involves breaking the process into smaller tasks, which are called "sprints." These are then divided up among the team, either to individuals or small groups. These sprints add value to the overall project, each working together to push the project towards its overall goal.

Agile recruiting takes this general framework and applies it to the world of human resources, targeting techniques towards locating strong job candidates and bringing them into your organization. In the software world, the agile process focuses on customer satisfaction and creating the best-possible product. Turning that approach to recruiting, the strategy seeks to secure the best-possible candidates.

The agile recruiting strategy also places a high value on communication. The strategy puts a heavy emphasis on feedback, flexibility, and collaboration, aiming to react to changing environments and improve the procedure over time.

Benefits and challenges of agile recruiting

Agile recruiting can represent a major change in your HR process. Is it worth the effort? That depends on the upsides you can achieve and the costs associated with the new approach.

With that in mind, here are some of the benefits you can expect from transitioning to an agile approach, along with the common hurdles you're likely to face:

Benefits

• Achieving better outcomes: The goal of the process is to hire better people and improve recruiting KPIs.

• Benefitting from a virtuous communication cycle: Agile recruiting is centered around collaboration, which can help create a positive feedback loop that will improve connections between employees and further upgrade your outcomes over time.

• Improving your employer brand: The Agile Methodology in general has a customer focus. In this case, that means better relations with job candidates — a prioritization that will help your reputation with prospective hires.

• Increasing engagement and satisfaction for your team: By empowering various members of your team, you make their jobs more interesting and more fulfilling.

Challenges

• Transitioning to the new format: Moving from a traditional approach to hiring and the agile recruiting method can create some hiccups. As such, careful planning of the transition is necessary to minimize friction.

• Getting buy-in from your team: Given the teamwork involved in successfully implementing agile recruiting, you'll need everyone on the same page. Clearly communicate the process, as well as your expectations, to maximize buy-in from your employees.

• Coordinating the sprints: Optimize your communication. This will ensure that all aspects of your hiring process work in unison.

How to get started with agile recruiting

If you're intrigued by the possibilities of agile recruiting, it's important to think about how you'll go about the process of implementing the strategy. Go beyond theory and consider the practicalities. Here are a few tips that will let you get the most out of agile recruiting:

Define success

To track how well an agile approach is working, you need to have a clear definition of success. Going into the effort, create KPIs that you can use as benchmarks. This way, you can review the outcomes and tweak the process as needed.

Of course, these KPIs will center around quality of hire. However, there are other measures that could come into play as well. Consider stats like costs, time to hire, and candidate satisfaction.

Identify places to break out sprints

The heart of agile recruiting involves subdividing the hiring process into smaller tasks. This creates the sprints that drive the strategy forward. Once you've clarified your objectives, you'll need to carve out these discrete bundles of tasks.

Find places where recruiting naturally breaks into distinct sprints. Assign these to the appropriate people on your team. At the same time, sketch out how these sprints will interact with each other, designing the most efficient process possible.

Build a process for frequent communication

Agile hiring means breaking the process into chunks and handing those tasks to individuals or small teams. This divvies up the sprints that form the basis of the strategy. To work effectively, these various moving parts need to stay in contact with one another.

Don't assume this will happen naturally. Instead, set up an efficient communication structure that will keep the hiring process moving forward, while still getting the most out of the collaborative opportunity.

Consider tech that can provide support

As we noted earlier, one of the challenges of agile recruiting comes from coordination. Technology can help in that regard. The right tools can assist you in developing a strong communication process and keeping your hiring on track.

Tips for getting the most out of agile recruiting

As you put agile recruiting into effect, there are steps you can take to optimize the process. This will let you maximize your benefits while minimizing the risks. Here are some tips to consider as you plan a transition to agile recruiting:

• Learn agile recruiting best practices: Before putting anything into effect, take a deep dive into agile recruiting. Educate yourself on the structures and procedures that best fit your situation.

• Set the stage before implementation: Talk to your team before taking any action. Get them familiar with your plans and involve them in the process of implementation.

• Establish specific goals: Detail your expectations. This includes setting general objectives and then using those to establish specific KPIs.

• Encourage feedback: Keep your team in the loop as you roll out and execute your agile recruiting strategy. This includes asking for their feedback and responding appropriately to what they say.

• Tweak the process as you go: As you move forward, don't be afraid to adapt. Stay flexible and update your procedures and policies in response to events.

Is agile recruiting right for you?

Agile recruiting brings the Agile Methodology commonly associated with software development to your hiring efforts. The approach breaks the process into sprints, using collaboration to add flexibility and efficiency.

Done right, agile recruiting can lead to better hiring outcomes, while further empowering and engaging your staff.

Done right, agile recruiting can lead to better hiring outcomes, while further empowering and engaging your staff. However, it comes with challenges as well, meaning it isn't right for every organization. Use the information provided here to determine if this approach would be beneficial to your small business or startup.