Businesses are doing well but most are struggling to hire good people to fill vacant positions.??
Let’s look at some of the reasons why the market is difficult and then we will look at what you, as a business, can do to attract the right candidate to join your organisation.
- Brexit.?Yes, I know.?Let’s blame Brexit for everything.?To be fair though, Brexit has reduced the available workforce.?Some EU citizens went home and lots fewer are now coming to our shores.
- Pandemic.?The pandemic changed how we work.?With the use of Zoom and Teams we now have meetings without traveling, interviews remotely and work from home a lot more than we used to.?And I mean a whole lot more.?Now imagine if you were thinking to change jobs because you had to work with some people that were irritating you.?Working from home solves that problem.?Maybe you wanted to work from home but never had the chance…until the pandemic struck.?Now it is the new normal.??Would you risk changing jobs and having to go back to commuting???Many people won’t change jobs because they can now work from home some, or all, of the time and it just suits them.??This will change in a year or two when people realise they need to leave their comfort zone to progress in their career but it is where we are right now.
- Cost of living crisis and looming recession.??Even if it is not looming and is less likely to happen, people think it might.?If you’ve been at your company maybe 6 years or more you might wait to see what happens.?Will you get redundancy???Or would you move to a new company only to find it is in a precarious position financially??People are less likely to change jobs if they think they will face financial uncertainty in the near future.
But you can still find good people if you are flexible in your search.?Let’s look at 3 things you can do to improve your chances of being the company that beats off the competition to land that excellent new employee.
- OK there are fewer available people in the pool.?This means you need to be patient to wait for the right person to apply or be contacted on your behalf.?We can’t stay with the “now culture” that came about in 2010 following the financial meltdown.?In 2010 the candidate pool was high and now it’s not.??BE PATIENT.
- Consider all options when hiring someone.?Can they work from home when they need to??Can you be flexible on hours??Maybe a later start time and 30 minutes lunch instead of one hour??Perhaps you will allow extra holiday than usual by allowing unpaid leave or altering other conditions to make it possible.??You could look into many possibilities to help attract people to the role.?You are in competition with lots of other potential new employers for this candidate.?Try to be the winner.?BE FLEXIBLE.
- Salary level is crucial now.?Long gone are the days when people will move jobs for equal or sometime lower salary just to get a great career move.?The cost-of-living crisis with gas, electricity and food prices increasing all the time.?Every day people are aware of this and every day they look at their salary and want more.?In the past if someone told me that the reason they want to move jobs was for more money I would need more reasons.?Why??Because of the counteroffer that will come when they resign.?Today looking for more money is likely to be heard on a regular basis.?This means that you, as a company, need to be aware that you have to offer a good increase on salary to hook this candidate.?I would also say that working with a good recruiter is also key.?Why??Because the recruiter finds out current salary and works with the candidate to understand what realistically they require to change jobs.?Also the recruiter is trusted to find financially strong companies that the candidate is prepared to move to, solving their worries about recession and redundancy.?OFFER VERY COMPETITIVE REMUNERATION.
I hope these suggestions work for you and wish you good luck in your searches. If you like the article then please share.
Comment below if you've had problems or if you agree or disagree with my thoughts.
