Resource Planning

Some Key Questions

• Does the vacancy really exist?
• Have you considered both the short and long terms needs of your department?
• What about overall business plans?
• How many vacancies are there?
• Have you looked at all the alternatives: temporary; flexible working; cross dept transfer.
• What are the implications/knock on effects of filling the vacancy in-house?

Recommended Practice

• Take the time to get this right - it is your only opportunity to review your current resourcing options
• Think about the chain of recruitment likely to arise. If you promote someone who will take their job and how will this vacancy be filled and so on. By thinking this through in this way considerable time can be saved during execution and the overall impact on the business reduced. Treating each vacancy in a chain as an individaul event will lead to a very long process.
• Involve your HR team
• Consider short and long terms needs both in terms of numbers, but potentially more imporantly, skills, competencies and capabilities
• Consider training and development plans for key individuals and how this job can contribute to talent development
• Consider if the vacancy creates an opportunity for some organisation changes, the reshaping of a job to facilitate individaul development or better meet business needs.