Guess what? You’re to blame for the weak hires over the last year. It’s so your fault! You have been here all year and with a zero candidate pipeline. Z-E-R-O!

Where is the recruiting strategy you promised? Why didn’t we hire any “Rock Star” candidates that were laid off? What happened to the process, the database, and the improved time to fill? Bro, where is the Beef?

Okay, stop. Rewind to January 2009.

Half the recruiting team was let go and the work load nearly doubled. You didn’t have time to build a candidate pipeline. You didn’t have time on refining the recruiting process. Or, even attract these so called passive “rock star” candidates out in the streets. Basically, you struggled to meet the somewhat unrealistic expectations.

Press play for today January 2010.

The dust has settled and companies are slowly adding to their teams again. It’s time to rebuild the recruiting pipeline and work on employment branding. It’s time to start changing the mindsets of hiring managers and selling the candidate on accepting the job.

Before anything can happen, take the time to come up with a strategy. Evaluate the team and get overall assessment of the current state of recruiting. Then create the recruiting process and stick to it.

Sourcing is going to be critical this year. It’s going to be a race to build candidate pipeline, and it’s not going to happen over night. Recruiters are getting hired again. And, it’s going to feel like a land grab for candidates this year.