In the current market, finding the right talent is not easy. At DSA Executive, we understand this and that is why we offer a range of recruitment services to ensure that you can find the right candidate, with the right method.
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If 2020 didn’t cause employers to rethink their staffing strategies, 2021 likely will. Whether a company’s focus is on building back or positioning for growth, many employers are busy re-aligning staffing and business goals. At DSA Executive, we have been observing the market and assessing the changes that 2020 brought. Now, we are looking to the future to ensure that our clients and candidates are ready.
The Availability Of Talent
There has been a lot of positive news about the economic rebuild, but we’ve also had some disappointing news about talent availability. What does all this mean for employers with open jobs?
For many large corporations, changing working patterns was easy and continuing to hire was an obvious choice, however many small-to-medium companies didn’t have this option
The 2021 employment market revealed a surprise — there have not been as many candidates for some businesses as they would have hoped.
Some people likely made important personal choices to stay home with school-aged children. The difficulty of filling positions and finding jobs could have an impact on businesses’ attempts to rebuild.
Small and medium sized companies face a lot of challenges in the current market- higher turnovers, losing potential candidates and recruiting challenges. So what can they offer to retain the best employees?
The Challenge Of Retaining Employees
In 2020, the Bureau of Labour Statistics found that the median tenure of employees aged 25 to 34 was just 2.8 years, although the median tenure overall was 4.1 years. In early 2021, LinkedIn research showed that many employees were “sheltering in job.” Others may have felt stuck or just grateful to have an income. I also heard employees express that they were nervous to step out into an uncertain economic climate even if they were dissatisfied with their job. In February 2021, though, research from the Achievers Workforce Institute (via SHRM) found that 52% of employed adults were looking for a new job.
No longer can employers expect employees to comfortably stay in their current jobs as they might have previously. Employee retention should be a focus right now for employers so they can avoid losing their best and brightest employees.
A more mobile work environment can be both a blessing and a curse for employers. It’s an opportunity to pick up a passive job seeker, but it’s also an opportunity for a competitive employer to pick up an employee you didn’t know would ever leave. Always be prepared — both to proactively protect the employees they need to retain and to hire a special talent that might not be available for long.
Finding The Right Fit
Employers should be looking for employees who will make a difference. Because many employees may no longer physically present in the workspace, employers should look for new ways to build culture. The work should be more intrinsically interesting and challenging to employees, or they may drift.
Employers should provide employees with an environment where they can enjoy supportive and positive relationships — and where good work is accomplished and recognised in individuals and the teams they belong to. I’ve found that interesting job content, as well as having allies in their corner and positive interpersonal interactions throughout the workday, can make a crucial difference to an employee’s sense of “fit.”
How can “fit” become part of your recruiting strategy? Highlight your employee community and make an introduction to the community part of your recruiting process. Create work environments in which employee boundaries and preferred working arrangements are acknowledged and accommodated. Most importantly, look at the key requirements for every job you are trying to fill and make sure the candidates you consider have those key requirements.
As a 2020 CareerBuilder survey (via PR Newswire) showed, flexibility in working hours and where employees work is now a major factor in the “fit-finding” process for many. While the move to virtual environments happened suddenly for many companies and caused varying levels of disruption, the shift back to more flexible work options could be driven by collaborations between employees and employers. Finding the right fit when it comes to working from home or in the office could become a significant part of the job-to-employee matching process.
Recruiting has always been about fit-finding, including getting clear about what type of work environment is the right fit for a candidate while making sure they have the right skills and mindset to deliver on the employer’s expectations.
Forbes
Sarah Bennett, August 2021