Turning the talent drain into an opportunity

Recruitment in 2022 is harder work than usual!

Estimates vary as to what we can expect from the Great Resignation, one thing is clear that companies are losing talent and recruitment in 2022 is hard work. So what measures do businesses have available to them in order to stem the talent drain this year? There are a number of options open to businesses from talent retention to entry level recruitment.

Focus on talent retention

Many businesses have been turning their attention to talent retention as a way to encourage their best people to stay. That is not to say that there aren’t businesses out there who have been trying to keep their talent but with the numbers predicted to shift jobs over the next year, there are businesses that aren’t giving their staff what they want. Flexibility and work life balance are high on the agenda driven by a re-evaluation of priorities during the pandemic work from home shift.

Those businesses that refuse to offer flexibility - and by this we mean not just the ability to work one day a week from home. We mean either being fully remote with a meeting in person every month, or less, then retaining and attracting your best talent may become a challenge. Many tech giants have moved their operations to being fully remote, some of the largest global businesses have also shifted their thinking to allow their employees to have the freedom to choose where they want to work.

Identify what other skills you already have within the business

This isn’t just about succession planning, this is about identifying what skills you have across the business. You have already hired a number of qualified candidates and the solution to your talent problems may lie in the current workforce. Work with your line managers to identify those skills within teams. Employees can be given the option to mobilise and work on projects that are happening in other departments within the business. This might not be the solution for technical projects but it could work for other operational projects. Employ talent mobility in your business to fill some of the skills gaps.

Where there might be skills gaps but you have identified talented individuals, look at investing in a training schedule to upskill those employees that have talent and enable them to fulfil their potential. You can reach out to third parties to carry out training for particular skills.

Understand what the core transferable skills are for the role

Do you absolutely have to recruit someone with the exact same experience, or can you consider a candidate with the core transferable skills and train them to carry out all of the job relevant ones. Skills can be taught potential is either there, or it isn’t. When jobs are now outweighing unemployment numbers, there aren’t enough people to fill open roles. So seize the opportunity to look at how you recruit into the business and what skills you really need a candidate to possess.

Take a close look at your employer brand

The strength of your employer brand and the Glassdoor reviews that you have gathered are two elements that candidates will consider when they are wondering whether or not to join your business.

As part of your employer brand, you need to look at the EVP (employee value proposition) and understand how current employees feel about your business and what would make them recommend you to their family and friends. Think about ways you can convey the strength of your brand to your prospective candidates.

Sometimes huge businesses have reputations that tend to go against them. People have a view that they won’t be recruited because they didn’t attend a certain university or that the businesses don’t recruit more senior candidates. If this is your challenge, you might be better off working with a recruiter who can identify the best talent for your business.

Recruitment should also focus on entry-level candidates

The benefit of recruiting entry level candidates, such as school leavers with limited experience, is that they tend to be more loyal to a business and stay on for longer. When you are focussing on recruiting an entry level candidate, you should look at what skills test you can ask them to take that will identify a candidate's potential. In this instance you want to consider what their potential is, what transferable skills they might have already and what skills can be taught. Potential is there or it isn’t, skills can always be taught. This might help to fill the gaps in your workforce, although there is a time lag before your team will be up to speed. This works well in roles such as accountancy, purchase ledger and finance clerk roles. It can also work for legal roles.

Offer the best that you can to prospective employees

In order to compete in today’s highly competitive job market, you need to be offering your best candidates the best package that you can. In summary, in today’s candidate driven market, if you want to recruit well you need to be prepared to act quickly, be prepared to make decisions quickly and offer the best competitive salary that you can, along with other benefits.

In order to have the upper hand, at very least you need to be able to offer flexible working practises for your employees. Asking them to waste time on a commute to a central office location isn’t going to cut it any more, especially as there are other firms willing to give their employees freedom to work wherever they feel they do their best work.

We’ve covered what it is that is attracting candidates at the moment in our article here.

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If you are looking for support with your recruitment from entry level to senior roles, get in touch. We are the tech enabled recruitment agency powered by experts. Our specialist recruiters have a wealth of recruitment experience and are well versed and identifying the best matched talent to our clients. Find out about how we can work together and get in touch today.