Tough times ahead for TA?

I read with interest the recently published quarterly recruitment outlook from the British Chambers of Commerce which saw the proportion of firms struggling to recruit staff reach new record levels with over 79% reporting difficulties filling roles.

Based on our own FIRM Talent Acquisition annual survey, I feel that the number could be significantly higher than this as over 72% are expecting their levels of recruitment to increase in 2022 with 31% expecting them to increase by more than 25% in comparison to last year.

Furthermore, having asked – “What would you say is the biggest recruitment challenge you are facing”, 90% of respondents cited their single biggest challenge as being ‘scarcity of talent/ skills shortages”

Participants expressed concerns over counter offers, joining bonuses (one person reported a call centre operative on a 25K salary was offered a 9K joining bonus) and inflated wages (which appear to be particularly rife in the legal sector). Also, candidates interviewing for roles but then refusing to move was another issue highlighted. One recruiter was on her third offer for the same role in as many weeks so was having a particularly challenging time (tech sector!)

I thought I would check if this was the case with my LinkedIn recruiter network, so popped a poll on LinkedIn which you can see below shows 90% are finding the market either incredibly challenging or the toughest they have experienced.

You can find the full post here as the comments themselves are also insightful.

But what does this mean for TA? Well looking at the strategic priorities for 2022, one stand-out for me was the move of succession planning into fourth place for the first time in the history of the eleven years of the survey. My feeling is that people are turning to their internal talent pools to compensate for external talent challenges; so perhaps we will see the average ratio of 70% external hires to 30% internal hires start to change for organisations this year.

We have also seen an increase in the number of people enquiring about training on succession planning and training for hiring managers around inclusive recruitment and candidate experience, which may signal an attempt by organisations to mitigate against the risks they face.

It appears 2022 is going to provide its own unique challenges and an extremely competitive environment for recruiters to navigate.

We believe it is going to be the year where only those brave and bold enough to really underline their points of difference will win. Our top tips for recruiter success are:

·??????ED&I cannot be a side project – it must be central to what you offer

·??????Do not settle for a mediocre EVP, it must shine bright to attract your future stars

·??????Move from “bear with us” to "delighting" candidates when it comes to your processes

·??????And of course, don’t forget your internal talent population!

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

To access the full report please click here