Almost every day, we hear about skills shortages and the difficulty of recruiting people in the current market. As professional recruiters we can tell you that this shortage is real – it’s really challenging currently to find good people.
A Global Industry Report for Q3 2021 produced by JobAdder (a CRM used extensively by inhouse and external recruiters) highlights the very real candidate shortage currently being experienced and backs up our anecdotal view:
There is definitely a supply issue, with closed borders not helping, but there has also been a change in candidates’ willingness to apply, as they are being approached daily. In demand potential job-changers are being very selective, as you would expect. The upshot of all of this is jobs are taking longer to fill everywhere, especially where recruiters are working reactively and sourcing from scratch. Expansive talent pools need to be constantly refreshed, pipelines of candidates need to be consistently engaged with, and ongoing trust needs to be built, even before a candidate is briefed on a role.
To help overcome these challenges, these are our top five tips on how to potentially make it easier for you if you have a vacancy that needs to be filled.
- Don’t just focus on the skills required for the vacancy unless, of course, particular technical skills are required in which case you have to! Wherever possible, focus on soft skills you want over practical skills required for the vacancy, eg. strong work ethic, emotional intelligence, communication skills, critical thinking, teamwork, motivation, and resilience.
- Look at industries where people are likely to have transferrable skills that you can use in your organisation, eg people who have worked in commercial recruitment are likely to have the sales and communication skills to be able to transfer to working with participants in the employment services sector. Give thought to how you can target these potential candidates and how you are going to attract them. A recent LinkedIn survey revealed that 52% of prospective jobseekers wouldn’t accept a job offer if they didn’t know a company’s mission, values or purpose.
- A lot of time and effort needs to be put into the interview process if you are looking to employ people who haven’t worked in your industry before. Make sure that interview questions will encourage candidates to talk about the approach and attitude they have taken or would take to given situations.
- Be brave and take a risk on someone. By thinking about the above three points, this risk can minimised. Everyone starts in a role that they haven’t done before at some point and giving someone with transferrable skills and the right attitude an opportunity to work in your organisation can really pay dividends.
- Revisit your induction programme and be prepared to put serious effort into training people who are making the transition from another sector into yours. This is more difficult if people are working remotely as the best way to learn is often by shadowing someone who is doing the job they are moving into. You will potentially need to factor online buddying and some form of SME compliance support into your induction/training programme.
As recruiters with many years’ experience, we would suggest that as everything else has been thrown up in the air in the workplace because of the pandemic (and we have a very real shortage of good people), now is the time to rethink who you recruit.
With the recruitment wheel now spinning in a very different direction, revisiting what and who is required in a role seems sensible, as well as how you have traditionally approached the advertising of vacancies.
