Putting a recruiting coach in place at US professional services and IT solutions firm CACI has helped to increase their number of hires and offer acceptances.

Since last July, when the recruiting coach’s role was created, 62% of CACI’s recruiters have increased their number of hires and offer acceptances went up for 58% of their recruiters, said Larry Clifton, senior vice president of recruiting and workforce planning, in a talk at ERE Expo.

CACI’s initiative to improve the performance of its 65-member recruitment team was put together in three months before its launch. The programme involved:

• establishing a performance baseline, which included an analysis of self-assessments by each recruiter and a review of how many hires and offer acceptances each had achieved

• developing individual learning plans for each recruiter

• executing training on requested topics such as using LinkedIn and Boolean sourcing

• assessing the results and course correcting.

The coach was a mid-level recruiter chosen from within the existing team for her “all-rounder” ability to handle to the highest standard all aspects of the day-to-day recruitment job, Clifton said. 

The installation of the coach was not well received initially, Clifton revealed. However, the coach and the overall programme are now widely appreciated, including by managers, he said.

Recruiters’ knowledge and efficiency have increased, and recruiters are receiving more bonus money, Clifton said. “They feel more valued and developed; it’s good for morale and retention. And they feel less stress because they can go to the coach for answers.”