As members of the workforce move on to new roles or retire, talent acquisition teams need to consider the importance of succession planning. When the older cohort of employees leaves the workforce, organizations must plan for how they will handle potential leadership and knowledge gaps. This process often focuses on internal talent for open critical roles. Radancy is here to help you find the right-fit candidates that will strengthen your internal talent pools when future-proofing your organization.
Succession Planning Overview
What is Succession Planning?
Succession planning refers to a practice organizations use to ensure business can continue running smoothly after employees in critical roles retire or move on to new opportunities. This process effectively acts as a contingency plan for organizations, enabling them to identify potential replacements inside or outside the company. Businesses can also prepare for the future through leadership development programs, setting employees on a path of success and longevity. According to Forbes, 70% of leaders have postponed or delayed implementing any leadership development programs.
By planning for the inevitability that people in key positions will retire or move on, businesses that are proactive will be able to avoid any talent gaps and hire or promote emerging candidates that are prepared to take on those roles.
What are the Benefits of Starting the Succession Planning Process Early?
Planning for future personnel changes during hiring offers several benefits, including:
- Finding right-fit candidates: By hiring with the future in mind, you can tailor your job descriptions and utilize AI and automation to effectively engage with talent that aligns with your company culture and is more likely to remain at your company.
- Talent retention: Being transparent about succession planning from the start gives candidates the motivation to pursue their professional goals and progress through the ranks of an organization. By communicating what their career path may be during the hiring process, candidates will have a clear goal in mind, as well as an incentive to stay at a company.
- Fewer talent gaps: Implementing proper planning practices at the start of the hiring process enables you to develop a talent pipeline of candidates who will be prepared to step into crucial positions when the time comes, helping you to avoid significant talent gaps.
Implementing Succession Planning Practices in the Hiring Stages
Career Sites and Advanced Job Descriptions
Career Sites
Integrated talent acquisition platforms, like the Radancy Talent Acquisition Cloud, allow you to build branded Career Sites that get smarter with each candidate interaction. Career Sites enables you to deliver site content that is personalized specifically for your ideal candidate, allowing your organization to engage specifically with candidates you believe will align with your company goals, while also giving them a view into your company through the content you share.
To determine if candidates are a good fit, you can share content that highlights company culture, training and development opportunities and potential career paths. Providing job seekers with a robust job description can help candidates understand their growth potential within your organization.
Advanced Job Descriptions
Advanced job descriptions clearly define role expectations while visually illustrating success, required skills and potential career paths. They also showcase your company’s brand values, employee experiences and work environment to give candidates a well-rounded view of what to expect.
By providing this level of transparency, you build trust and encourage long-term commitment. A well-crafted job description helps candidates understand both the role and company culture, ensuring you attract the right talent for today and the future.
Internal Mobility Sites
Internal mobility sites give current employees the opportunity to find job openings within your organization. You can uncover hidden talent in your employee databases and access top employee matches for open critical roles. Using these sites to hire internally to replace employees who have retired or moved on also saves you time and reduces external hiring costs.
Through internal mobility sites, you’re able to speak in a shared company language to your employees, and outline the unique benefits and opportunities for each role. You can spotlight growth paths, mentors, rewards and recognition that you may not necessarily share with external candidates. This enables your current employees to see their future at your organization, priming them to step into key roles when necessary.
Employee Referrals
Employee Referrals can aid your continuity plans by finding external candidates in the event of talent gaps in your internal talent pool. Through Employee Referrals, your current employees often refer candidates they know will fit the company culture and they know are qualified. This can reduce time-to-fill, as the candidates who are referred are often a better fit for the company from the start.
When planning for the future, implementing an employee referrals strategy can help you hire top talent faster when backfilling critical roles or positions that were held by employees who have moved on. In a similar vein, employees who have retired can be re-hired as consultants to train new staff. As consultants, these employees can also continue boosting your organization’s internal talent pools with their personal connections.
Talent Acquisition Technology and Succession Planning
To develop a robust strategy from hire to retire, an integrated approach can simplify your process. Consider a single, integrated platform that enables you to be transparent with candidates, provide them a view into their career path and give you an idea of how they’ll fit into your company culture.
The Radancy Talent Acquisition Cloud, bolstered by rich data and deep industry expertise, is helping employers proactively attract and hire the talent they need. With an AI-powered, data-driven platform, talent acquisition teams can help develop your internal talent pools,
avoid talent gaps and hire right-fit candidates that go the distance, faster. To see if we’re the right fit to help with your succession planning, request a demo today.
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