Why should I work for you?

It's a familiar story in recent times within the automation sector: a solutions provider / 3PL / engineering consultancy / online retailer has experienced strong growth in the demand for their product / services since the start of the pandemic and sees huge opportunity to take market share but highlights that skills shortages could hamper those ambitions.?

How do you fix this problem?

The perfect solution doesn't exist; at least in the short-term and the answer is likely to involve at least some level of compromise. After 2 years of closed borders, there simply aren’t enough experienced candidates to match the demand. Increased global activity in the automation sector; particularly in intralogistics but also in manufacturing and a resurgent airports systems sector; suggests that even as borders do begin to re-open, there isn't a great pool of under-utilised talent that’s waiting to rush in to fill the void.?

Employers are giving greater consideration than ever to applicants from other sectors who have transferrable skills but with most industries experiencing similar challenges, options can be thin on the ground. When it comes to in-country, in-sector experience, someone is going to be left short-handed. How do you make sure that it isn't your company?

Recruitment professionals are renowned for claiming that you have to throw money at a recruitment problem and true to form - I'm going to start with this subject. If we start with the premise that the salary that people stay in a role for is likely to be different from salary that they move jobs for, it's easy to understand why it's challenging for employers to meet the market. Who wants to deal with the potential fall-out created from the new staff member being paid more than their currently employed peers?

Equally - we're working a in a market where there are more jobs than experienced candidates; one where people don't NEED to move. We've never seen such a big gap between what candidates say they are earning and what they'd need to be offered to move. The AFR reported on 4 Nov '21 https://bit.ly/3wga2Sr that 20-30% increases are not uncommon in some industries.

It's hard not to be cynical about the size of these reported increases but the trend is clear as employers take steps to retain their staff and candidates wait for the "right opportunity" which allows them to catch up on suppressed increases during the pandemic. This bridge is painful to cross - but it's hard to ignore.

But there is another solution;

Sell what makes you special. The better you can promote what – aside from the money – makes your job exciting, the less reliant you need to be on high salaries to attract staff and the greater your chances of retaining them.?

This sounds like a common-sense approach, but a surprisingly high proportion of employers find it hard to identify what is both exciting and unique about working for them; more specifically - what differentiates them from their direct competition for talent.

Consultants and human capital leaders will talk about “identifying your employee value proposition” but I find it easier just to ask the question “why, aside from money, would somebody leave one of your competitors to join yourselves instead?”. This, after all, is what prospective employees need to hear. Is that message clear?

If you find it hard to give a compelling answer you’re not alone but time and effort invested into answering this question will pay off better than anything else you can do. Engage as many relevant people as possible in the process. Ask your existing staff why they joined. Ask them what makes them stay. Ask yourself what keeps you engaged.

Ultimately, you’ll probably find that what many staff appreciate and are most engaged by are not the competitive salary, full order book and structured training program; these are likely to be available in most similar organisations. It’s likely to be the things that genuinely make you different.

Solve the question of “why I should work for you” and you won’t have to throw quite as much money at a recruitment problem.

Proactive Technical Recruitment. Global Automation and Robotics recruitment.