With UK vacancies at an all-time high, does your recruitment need a rethink?
Our MD, Martin Nicholson, explores recruitment as we emerge from the pandemic into an unprecedented ‘war for talent’.
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One area, in particular, that is definitely different as businesses navigate the way into their own new version of ‘normal’ is that of recruitment.
In the 2008/09 recession, I often spoke of staff (now often referenced as talent) having elephant-sized brains and memories. Let me explain. Once out of recession those staff would remain largely loyal if treated well but likely leave at the first opportunity if their memory of that period and the experiences they and their colleagues had were poor.
Earlier this year I was also pretty sure that despite Brexit, the downturn in the economy would create a pool of ‘talent’ as the UK slowly grew out of recession.
As it appears to transpire the mood in the market is very different despite us still not being clear of Covid. An extensive new Korn Ferry report finds that by 2030, more than 85 million jobs could go unfilled because there aren’t enough skilled people to take them. And job vacancies in the UK from the Office of National Statistics show that June to August 2021 hit an all-time high of 1,034,000, which is the first time vacancies have risen over 1 million since records began. This figure is now 249,000 above its pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic January to March 2020 level.
This unprecedented (now there is a word with greater meaning!) current level of vacancies and the predictions for the future are both having an impact on all areas of industry, from construction to retail, logistics to transportation. It’s definitely not just lorry drivers we are in short supply! I have a history of visiting occasional pubs and restaurants I confess, and I haven’t entered one in the past 2 months that hasn’t got a chalkboard listing their vacant roles and ‘apply at the bar’ type messages.
The war for talent has been mentioned many times in recent years, but now it really IS upon us.
Added to that, with new employment laws following Brexit, it’s expensive, complex, and not guaranteed to seek visas for non-UK resident labour. At the same point, most businesses need a fresh injection of external talent.
So, here are my thoughts on how to make the best of a bad situation:
1. Stop the Rot
Focus on the talent that you have and how you can ensure you can retain and develop them.
a) Are you paying equitably?
b) Do you need a retention scheme to ensure you aren’t impacted over the next 12 months? (Depending on your choice of industry information source it costs on average £11-18K to replace a member of staff and that doesn’t count loss in productivity…).
c) Do you recognise your team and their achievement as well as the value they bring each week, month, quarter?
d) Do you know why (5 defined whys not the face value given) that staff left your business? What are you putting in place to address each of these?
e) Consider an engagement survey that confidentially can give you an even greater appreciation of what needs to be fixed to retain your team.
2. A different approach for a candidate-driven market
The perfect candidate is not one single application away.
a) Consider the essential skills needed for the role?
b) Are you advertising in the right places?
c) What makes you attractive as an employer?
d) If you require a specific range of skills, have you looked directly at how those industry skills are affected by Covid and identified if there are transferable skills that could work with you?
e) Have you encouraged or incentivised your current staff to talk about your business and find friends and family looking for work?
F) Do you have a defined applicant – interview – offer process? If not, your competition will beat you to recruit that candidate who could be right for you. Plan the process in advance and even book time for interviews in your busy diary to ensure you give recruitment the focus it needs in this challenging candidate-driven jobs market.
3. Is your onboarding experience a positive one?
Too many employers don’t put any real tangible value into welcoming new starters into the business and giving them a positive and inclusive induction into their new role.
Here are some key areas where the experience can go from mediocre to memorable (for all the right reasons):
a) Have an induction process so that new staff quickly feel part of the team.
b) Include time with key members of management so they can start to develop relationships with those they will work most closely with.
c) Make sure their workspace has all they need to get started – sounds basic but it does make a (positive) difference.
d) Provide relevant information for them to reference and learn about the business.
e) Announce to the rest of the company and welcome them – so everyone knows who they are.
All too often the ‘recruitment’ process stops 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 to that onboarding process too.
If you don’t get these aspects right, you could be missing out on the best talent as there are just too many opportunities with those companies who do choose to invest in offering a great candidate experience.