CIPD Course: Strategic Workforce Planning
Learn how to gain competitive advantage using workforce planning strategies, interactive tools and techniques to run analyses of your workforce strategy.
Specialist knowledge
Resourcing
Identifying, attracting and assessing to get the right people for the organisation
Resourcing involves the attraction and selection of individuals into the right role at the right time and cost. It's about using relevant workforce planning data and knowing the right sourcing approaches and digital tools to tap into diverse candidate pools, both active and passive.
Those involved in resourcing activities should be focused on understanding the candidate experience, designing effective assessment and selection approaches and, overall, how to make effective recruitment decisions.
Understanding the labour market, your market position, your unique people proposition and job analysis will ensure roles are engaging to a wide range of people.
Mencap case study: Recruiting from the heart
How a team with boundless dedication managed to transform the way the Royal Mencap Society finds and keeps its people. Read Mencap's story.
Resourcing standards
Each standard progresses through four levels of impact. Which level do you most embody in your day-to-day work?
Foundation level
At this level you'll understand:
- Workforce planning approaches in your organisation
- Different methods and techniques to search for candidates
- The principles of fair and objective assessment
- How candidates react differently to adverts and other selection methods
- How to carry out basic quantitative research techniques
- The dos and don’ts of online interactions and conversations
- Different types of workers and working arrangements
- Different work experience approaches
- Which organisations are in competition for talent
Associate level
At this level you'll understand:
- How workforce planning impacts the resourcing agenda
- Different sourcing approaches for passive candidates
- How to conduct fair and objective assessments
- How candidate reactions can impact the effectiveness of the recruitment and selection process
- How to work with social media resources and channels to lead campaigns
- Country specific people policies, and how to work with partner suppliers on issues such as relocation, immigration, tax, legal
- How work can be delivered and resourced in different ways (such as the gig economy)
- How to work with education providers to deliver work experience programmes
- Different market insights into competitor organisations, their performance, culture, reward, benefits and learning offering
Chartered Member level
At this level you'll understand:
- How to use workforce planning data to inform resourcing approaches
- Different approaches to candidate pipelines, and how to assess the value of different sourcing channels
- How to design and select assessment approaches for all levels in the organisation
- How to tailor recruitment and selection approaches to appeal to different candidates
- How to align social media channels with other channels to create the best candidate experience
- How to design global mobility policies and how to manage supplier contracts which support global moves
- The role of different types of workers in an organisation’s resourcing strategy
- How to create employability programmes with education providers
- How to use market insights to shape resourcing initiatives
Chartered Fellow level
At this level you'll understand:
- How to integrate strategic workforce planning with the resourcing strategy
- How to integrate sourcing approaches into the overall resourcing strategy
- Current and future assessment approaches and how they align with organisation culture and wider people assessments
- How to integrate diversity of candidate reactions when creating a resourcing strategy
- How to integrate social media approaches into the resourcing strategy
- How global mobility strategies impact organisation performance
- Current and future trends in workers and how this may impact the organisation’s resourcing strategy
- How to shape educational curriculums to meet long term industry and sector-specific skills shortages
- How to use global insights into competitor performance to shape resourcing strategy
Things to start thinking about
Use these prompts to reflect on your understanding of Resourcing and uncover areas for future professional development.
- How does the tight or loose labour market affect the attraction of talented individuals to your organisation?
- What digital channels does your organisation use to source passive and active candidates?
- When did you last seek out feedback from applicants on how effective your candidate journey and experience is?
- How do your resourcing plans support the wider people strategy?
- Which assessment methods are most effective for your organisation’s resourcing needs?
Resources to guide your work, career planning and development, available on the CIPD's main site.
View the course
Next: Reward
Creating remuneration and benefits approaches which are aligned to current and future organisation needs and market conditions