In my role at CareerBuilder.com I wear two hats. The first hat is focused on how we market to our customers and prospects. The second hat is focused on creating relevant content for hiring managers and HR professionals. Often times I feel like I have one of those Sherlock Holmes hats on and I turn it around and around…

Anyway, I was wearing the first hat Wednesday and Thursday of last week when I attended the BMA annual conference in Las Vegas. Overall, it was a good conference. I came home with several specific action items to apply to our business – my main takeaway is to get closer to our customers. I spend time every week calling our clients to learn more about their business and their needs. But, I’m motivated to push for more. This blog is one way to engage, but there are lots of others that we need to employ. There were also great takeaways about working with agencies and dealing with the explosion of social media.

Rotating my hat 180 degrees, I’ve been thinking about how what I just experienced connects to recruiting “A” players to your companies. One thing was clear in all the presentations – it is important to have a plan. No marketing happens without a plan. And, it strikes me that the exact same claim can be made about recruiting the right employees – no recruiting can be done without a plan.

Sure, I can send e-mail which technically is marketing. And, sure you can hire a person or two on an ad hoc basis. But, without a plan both our efforts aren’t scalable or repeatable. The danger of not having a plan is that we spin our wheels and never achieve the greatness we were meant to achieve in our roles.

I met with one client last week (before Vegas) and watched some focus groups we conducted. In all cases none of the companies we spoke with had a formal recruiting plan. When we asked them about their use of new media for recruiting, such as Facebook, YouTube, etc. all companies shrugged their collective shoulders. Since there is no plan in place, none of these new forms of media have even been considered as a recruiting vehicle.

So, before we get into an in-depth conversation about the benefits of social media for recruiting, let’s first explore our recruiting plans. Do you have a recruiting plan? Is it a shared conversation between front-line managers and HR? Is your plan documented in some way? Is the plan measurable?

I know recruitment plans are out there. And, I know that some of you might like to share. If you are so inclined, I also know there are some clients and others out there who would welcome some ideas not only on best practices but also on how you got started with your plan. Please share.