Recruiting post-pandemic... a bigger problem than you thought it'd be.

Job markets have changed, as have a broad range of working environments; the most obvious and significant being remote working.?Add in some salary hikes for an eclectic mix of skills, from HGV Drivers to Software Developers with purpose of cash attracting or just keeping them in role; then there’s the wave of career changers retraining and discovering new jobs in different sectors… life has changed for many!

What does that mean for those of us in Talent Acquisition who everyday must find, attract, and hire talent for our organisation's??

Mostly, it simply means different issues on our old recruitment challenges bulked out by some new problems, so we need to understand and create new solutions – and we will.?We may like an occasional moan about how tough it is to find people but we will look for them, we will find them, and we will hire them (no apology for the Taken tone).

I’ve personally been one of the lucky who found a new role in a growing business regardless of the mayhem, but unfortunately many companies have struggled and losses have been significant leading to cost cutting and headcount reductions just to survive, with some of the quickest exited being recruiters. Most recruiters get it – that reality that if there’s no hiring then why have ‘hirers’?

That previous speedy exit however makes the current surge of interest in recruiter skills more significant than just needing TA capability to fix things.

TA are now on the most wanted list with an increased value as businesses scramble to recover amidst an employment market still not fully understood. ?Leaving many orgs with a problem bigger than anticipated.

I have a thought to leave you with, to ponder and plan upon...

In your strategy and measures of success through the next 12-18 months be sure to scrutinise your hiring costs, look closely at the difficult to calculate losses from not being able to hire across all the gaps you have, get the less obvious impact costs under the microscope – morale, with no hires meaning more work and stress for those taking up the slack, sales lost as nobody’s in post selling, product launch delays as developers or manufacturing is behind, big spikes in your rec agency costs… just examples and the list needs to be uniquely yours as well as being brutally honest in its measure - add it all up against the cost of what holding onto your recruiters would have been through the 12-18 months you lost them for.

Caveat : The question above is not for all and not fair to some – I understand many businesses will have had no funds to be able to retain headcount, and so the choice to keep your people was simply not there.?The question is for those orgs who may have had it as an option but didn’t take it, and may now be feeling retention could have been the better path. For those that now have the biggest, most costly issues as they try to scramble back and fight each other for recruitment talent, and of course the backlash of not having them in place to remedy wider skills shortages.

My views are entirely my own and not associated in any way to my relationships with industry organisations or my employers.