Labor Market Shortages Top List of Challenges
In our most recent poll on the recruitment challenges faced by organizations today, TalentRISE finds that, by a significant margin, 40% of respondents cite “too few qualified candidates” as their top challenge. The next most cited issues are “recruiting inefficiencies” (14%) and “retention” (11%).
“It’s not a surprise that businesses are finding the external market for talent so challenging given that the just-released May unemployment rate, at 4.3 percent, continues to trend at historic lows,” said Rick Gray, TalentRISE chief executive officer. “What’s far more interesting is that the other top challenges cited by respondents point to internal recruitment and retention challenges that are well within most companies’ realm of control and largely fixable.”
According to Gray, “The take-away is that while the supply of qualified talent is dwindling due to external forces, businesses can – and should – improve critical internal recruitment processes for advantage. The recruitment function, for instance, needs to run like a well-oiled machine to promote the employment brand, and identify and attract the best candidates. If your recruitment process isn’t, at a minimum, at least as effective as that of your competition, the best candidates will be snapped up elsewhere. But even with a top-notch recruitment process, getting retention right is critical or you’ll risk a revolving door scenario where great talent is leaving as quickly as you can hire more.”
As far as solutions, Gray is seeing a definite uptick in companies that are deciding to outsource recruitment. “After doing an internal assessment of how they can manage recruitment in-house”, continued Gray, “More businesses are coming to the conclusion that outsourcing recruitment can generate better candidates by using the latest tools and technologies and by focusing more effort on communicating the company’s brand. Businesses are also recognizing that they can be more effective by focusing on core HR strategies while leaving recruitment to recruiting experts. By implementing effective onboarding and coaching programs, companies are also increasing the odds of retaining their best people”.
Nearly 70 senior HR and recruitment professionals across multiple industries responded to the live web poll. See the chart below for the complete poll results:
About the Author
Rick, the CEO of TalentRISE, is charged with executing TalentRISE's business plan and leading the development and implementation of its longer-term growth strategy.