Top Recruiting Trends to Watch for in 2015- Trend #8

Previous posts in this series:

The Top Recruiting Trends to Watch for in 2015- Trend #1

The Top Recruiting Trends to Watch for in 2015- Trend #2

The Top Recruiting Trends to Watch for in 2015- Trend #3

The Top Recruiting Trends to Watch for in 2015- Trend #4

The top Recruiting Trends to Watch for in 2015- Trend #5

The Top Recruiting Trends to Watch Fro in 2015- Trend #6

The Top Recruiting Trends to Watch for in 2015- Trend #7

As competition for top talent heats up, there is a trend for corporations to rehire previous high-performing employees. While there is resistance on the part of some who look upon these “boomerang returns” as traitors for leaving the company in the first place, the reality is few people stay with one company for their entire career. And, statistics show that these rehires are among the company’s highest quality hires.

The ease and availability to now easily track corporate alumni through social media sites like LinkedIn has added to this trend. All things considered, rehiring of former high-performing employees is expected to reach 15 percent of hires in major firms.

The advantages of boomerang rehires include:

• Searching for and assessing past employees is much faster than starting a search from scratch.
• You know what you are getting because you have worked with them before.
• They will start producing faster because they know company culture and processes, as well as the business.
• They are more likely to stay because they have been exposed to other opportunities and still chose to return to your company.
• They can provide you with valuable information about competitors and offer new ideas.

A key consideration is to be selective in the pursuit of which former employees are targeted for rehire. They should be those who voluntarily left, were in key positions, and have exceptional skills and contacts.

Some drawbacks of rehiring former employees include the reality that they may be bringing previous “unwanted” baggage of bad habits with them.  They may find it difficult to work with the new regime of employees and for former “subordinate” employees who will now be their supervisors.

As a general statement, however, any drawback will not be greater than the benefits.  It’s a trend that is proving to be positive for most companies. Increasingly, employers are finding that hiring boomerang employees represents an overall benefit to the company.

From The Key Corporate Services Blog Team