"if you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else."
                 -- Dr. Laurence J. Peter

Effective recruitment requires a strategic plan designed to attract highly qualified applicants who possess the competencies necessary to perform the work. How often have you recruited for a job based on a vacancy announcement that was developed five years ago? Do you assess your recruiting efforts by the number of applicants - or by the quality? To successfully attract quality candidates, organizations must integrate well-planned pre-recruitment and recruitment activities into their hiring process. These activities incorporate job-specific activities within the larger recruitment strategy.

Successful recruitment strategies must include knowledge of your organization's mission and goals as well as knowledge of the vacancy for which you are recruiting. Essential activities include consultation between the hiring manager and the organization's recruiter to assess the job, develop the vacancy announcement, and determine recruitment time frames and marketing approaches. A successful recruitment strategy attracts highly qualified candidates. An effective strategy looks to the future and continually changes to meet your organization's evolving business needs.

Risks of not implementing an effective recruitment strategy include: inability to reduce turnover, inability to realize current or future organizational goals, and inability to hire candidates with the best knowledge, skills and abilities.

This section provides tools that your organization can incorporate into its overall strategic recruiting plan. Refining pre-recruitment and recruitment processes and prioritizing your hardest-to fill positions are explored. You will find information for tapping into professional organizations, campus recruitment offices, campus organizations, and community resources to find candidates. Finally, this section discusses the role of internships, fellowships and student programs as candidate sources.