How can SME’s be competitive with their recruitment in 2022?
A recent Korn Ferry report found that by 2030, there will be a global human talent shortage of more than 85 million people. And closer to home right now, we’ve seen job vacancy stats in the UK for September to November 2021 continue to rise to 1,219,000, with 13 of the 18 industry sectors showing record highs*.
This level of vacancies and the changing preferences to work remotely for many individuals are creating new challenges for recruitment.
We’ve said this in other recent articles, but the war for talent really IS upon us. Added to that, with new employment laws following Brexit, it is expensive, complex, and not guaranteed to obtain visas for non-UK resident labour.
Understanding the following will determine how competitive your business is when it comes to recruiting in 2022:
1. The pandemic has created a new mindset for many
The Great Resignation is a new phenomenon, as millions have had clarity around what they want, or can realistically have, in terms of their work/life balance since the pandemic began. This realisation means that many have chosen to leave their employment for a company that offers what they really want long term, or maybe for a job that they always wanted in a different discipline. So, it is becoming increasingly challenging to not only recruit new staff but to retain them once they join you.
2. Recruitment needs to be a positive experience at every step
All too often we see the ‘recruitment’ process stop at the job offer, but actually a very large part of building loyalty, trust, and confidence in your business as somewhere that any new starters want to stay working is in fact right from their initial application experience all the way through the onboarding process.
If you don’t get these aspects right, you could be missing out on the best talent as there are many companies who do choose to invest in offering a great candidate experience.
The risk of losing people is highest in the first three months, particularly in a hybrid/remote working model. And that leaves you right back at the start of the recruitment process again, potentially short on staff with the knock-on effect that has on your business productivity and ultimately the impact for your customers.
3. Efficient recruitment processes are a key differentiator
For many SME’s, recruitment can be a real resource drain as management staff are pulled away to focus on the time-intensive aspects of recruiting; advertising and response management, CV review and shortlists, interviews, assessments……the list goes on. Moreover, the longer it takes to recruit to fill a role, the longer the role has to be covered by someone else within your business. All these elements transpire to mean a drop in productivity and added pressure for your staff.
On this last point, the war for talent means all industries find themselves in a candidate driven recruitment market. Gone are the days of taking time to recruit – too long, too little by way of communication and action, and that perfect candidate for your vacancy will most definitely get snapped up by the competition!
So, as an SME, how on earth can you or your managers juggle the additional ball that is recruitment, and maintain productivity and deliver on your core roles too?
One solution could be to invest in tools to reduce the admin and other time-draining tasks that go hand in hand with sourcing and recruiting new people.
Do any of these resonate with you?
• Are you advertising directly with job boards and spending a fortune?
• Are you too busy recruiting and or too many managers involved so paperwork is getting lost?
• Are you worried about GDPR in your recruitment process?
• Are you investing in building long term talent for future roles?
• Do you need a dedicated careers web page for recruiting but not sure where to start?
• Is recruitment impacting productivity and taking up too much resource?
How about if we told you these challenges and more can be improved through the use of an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)?
An ATS is designed to streamline and automate because all that recruitment admin really shouldn’t be taking up too much of your time. They are designed to give you the flexibility to manage all your recruitment with ease.
These are just some of the ways the ATS can give you back your time:
1. Automated emails
2. Auto-reject unsuitable applicants
3. Self-service interview scheduling
And in the war for talent, you need to make sure your roles are seen and heard by the candidates you want to recruit so an ATS will give you access to a careers site or vacancy page where you can share:
1. All your latest jobs
2. Background info on your organisation
3. All the reasons why candidates should join your team
Once those candidates have found you, you want them to have a great candidate experience. An ATS offers:
1. Easy-apply job board integrations
2. Interview and new hire surveys
3. Onboarding
So, how do you find the right ATS for your business?
Finding any new system, including the right ATS can just be another overwhelming item to add to your to-do list so we’ve done that for you and are delighted to say we have now partnered with Hireful, a leading ATS provider.
We want to help you be as efficient as you can be in your recruitment process so that it works for you. We believe that the right solution like Hireful can help you compete effectively in the war for talent.
*****************************************
*Office National statistics December 2021