November 16th, 2016
Recruitment represents an important and indispensable process for any company. Albeit technology evolved during the last years and became a useful tool for recruiters, there are always some challenges that all human resources representatives have to face during their career.
In this article, we chose to share with you the most common recruitment challenges that we observed major companies are dealing with:
Small number of job applicants
The volume of candidates that apply to a job-opening can vary, depending on who is the employer. If one of the most demanded companies posts a new career opportunity on a job portal or on its own website, the chances to have a significant number of applicants is higher. They don’t need to make special communication efforts in order to attract candidates, because people are coming for the brand. The company just needs to maintain the actual image of the brand in order to keep being a top-of-mind company in candidates’ choice.
But for a small company or a brand that is not well-known in the marketplace, additional efforts are needed, such as: using Social Media Campaigns in order to reach the suited audience, participate at different employer branding events, present arguments regarding why you are a competitive company in the marketplace and why candidates should choose you instead of others, by giving appealing information such as benefits packages etc.
If you are a company interested in investing more in its employer brand, take a look at those 5 methods that will help you develop your employer brand.
A company brand means reputation, the main element that inspires trust. If you can get the candidate listening, you can start building trust by offering to each applicant the best experience. Probably, understanding how to deliver trust represents the biggest challenge for a recruiter.
The difference between generations
Nowadays, Gen Y, known as Millennials, represents the largest generation in the workforce. Each generation has its own characteristics, attitudes and perceptions towards work. By knowing the differences between them, companies should start adapting their communication strategy. Getting in the mind of talent is very important, because by understanding their way of thinking, you will gain insights about how to engage with them.
For example, Millennials have different workplace environment needs than Gen X or Baby Boomers. They are used to work with innovative technologies, always looking to thrive, they are „more purpose-driven” as Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder of room sharing website Airbnb says and they need more flexibility. Here you can find a useful source that reveals the differences between Gen-X and the Millennials.
Long & slow hiring processes
Another observation is that sometimes we focus more on employer demand, instead of candidate needs. Even if a complex hiring process is necessary in order to know better your candidates and test their skills, a feedback offered in time can make the difference. There are a lot of chances that you are not the only employer your candidates are waiting an answer from. So, it is important to be aware that by giving a late response to a candidate, he can always choose to go to another company that already accepted him in their team. Our advice is that improving efficiency during recruitment processes can avoid this problem.
The skill shortage
We noticed that many recruiters are having numerous vacancies caused by skill shortage, especially in fields of technology, engineering or science. Even if the IT industry represents the second most productive industry in Romania, the lack of workforce started to widen. The main reason is given by the number of graduates in technical field that is at half as it was supposed to be. Because we are confronting with a candidate-driven market, most of the recruiters are going for the same candidates.
Moreover, the skill gap is widening also because the job descriptions aren’t giving sufficient information. As a company, it is necessary to pay attention when writing job descriptions in order to make sure that candidates will understand what skills are needed for that position and what will be their responsibilities. A recent OECD report reveals that, in average, over 40% of European workers think that their skill levels don’t match with what is required for their job.
Employees are quitting their jobs
Retaining highest-performing employees is as important as looking for new talent. There are so many reasons why employees are quitting their job, most of them being under the control of the employer.
One of the causes that generates lack of loyalty may be represented by a sign of neglect. Listening to your employees’ ideas and concerns will make them understand that you care about their problems and you will always think about solutions for making them feel content with their job. Moreover, a boring job that is never challenging or the financial dissatisfaction are also elements that make candidates change their job.
So, why don’t you make an extra effort in order to retain the employees that you already hired instead of spending more money on recruiting new talent?
Nowadays, suited candidates are hard to find, so because of that, recruiters must be proactive and go above and beyond in order to reach them. If you want to understand the perceptions and expectations of candidates and find out what are the main criteria they focus on when choosing an employer, download the HR Survival KIT, the whitepaper that include all the workforce information you need to know.
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