How does your company measure up to the demands of talented graduates? Implementing effective workforce planning strategies reduce the unfortunate layoffs during economic downturns. These developments have created a new trend among human resource professionals - workforce planning . In this article, we will look into three aspects of workforce planning: increasing HR personnel's involvement in company plans, discovering weaknesses in the organizations, and focusing on the organization's growth.

HR Is the Decision-Maker

Human Resource managers and supervisors are major decision makers in the hiring process. Companies that exclude the HR department face failure in recruiting top talent for their company's needs. According to the Global Workforce Planning Survey, companies that integrate workforce planning are flexible for economic changes such as this recession that slashed over 100,000 jobs. Employers with highly skilled personnel kept the hard-to-find talent while hiring new grads with exceptional skill sets. With this in mind, the HR department's goal should be to align talent demands by discovering the company's weaknesses before we hit another recession. In "Benchmarking 'The Value of Workforce Planning'", Candice Arnold reviews the impact of workforce planning for organizations that plan to lose skills, talent, and knowledge during company cutbacks. This recognition of potential weaknesses is one reason of why workforce planning is vital to finding weaknesses in an organization during recession.

Discover Weaknesses in the Organization

Is there a weakness in the talent of your organization? Industry standards change every year, so your company must remain involved to stay globally competitive. Your can do this by allowing HR personnel to adjust the educational needs of employees through workforce training programs. The training used by personnel will sharpen and strengthen weak skill sets throughout the organization. Companies that practice on-going training are considered the top in their industries; if you want to strengthen your organization, allow HR personnel to decide which educational programs are appropriate for advanced training.

Focus on the Organization's Growth

Workforce planning allows companies to focus on growth by forecasting talent needs for three to five years. Experts suggest the value of workforce planning exceeds other preparations necessary for successful recruiting. In some organizations, the lack of recruiting budgets can keep an organization's talent low. High employee retention is the number one issue for most organizations without proper workforce planning strategies. Would you like to succeed through future recessions? Remember the reasons why workforce planning will leave your company flexible. According to Peter Rowes, CEO of Infohrm (the Global Workforce Planning Survey administrators), "We are eagerly anticipating the 2008 results to clarify how progressive organizations establish a strong foundation for workforce planning." It's apparent that the opportunity to compare last year's results with this year will provide invaluable insight for HR professionals implementing workforce planning.

By: Tahjia Chapman is a writer for CollegeRecruiter.com at http://www.CollegeRecruiter.com, the leading job board for college students searching for internships and recent graduates hunting for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.