- Lack of Candidates with Leadership Skills Top Reason for Talent Shortage
- Talent Acquisition Professionals Urged to See Talent as a Key Business Asset
- Quality of Hire and Competition for Talent Two Top Issues that Keep Recruiters Up at Night
A new global study by the Futurestep division of Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) finds that Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) talent acquisition professionals are increasingly focusing on the longer-term success of new hires instead of simply measuring the efforts of the hiring process itself.
In Part Three of Talent Forecast, Futurestep’s global survey of more than 1,100 hiring professionals, EMEA respondents said that while time-to-hire is the top priority metric (63 percent), it is followed closely by the longer-term metrics of new hire retention (51 percent) and job performance up to 18 months after being hired (42 percent). A trend consistent with other global regions.
“Traditionally, the job of a talent acquisition professional ended when a position was filled,” said Richard Shea, Managing Director, Search, EMEA Korn Ferry Futurestep. “But in today’s competitive marketplace, the focus has shifted to finding, hiring and retaining workers who are not only effective in their roles today, but who can also be the leaders of tomorrow.”
In the survey, EMEA talent acquisition professionals cited a lack of candidates who can move up the leadership pipeline (27 percent) as the top reason for today’s talent shortages. This was closely followed by competition from other sectors (24 percent), which differed from other regions where sophistication of skills required for sector/niche roles was second or joint-second.
“Tackling the leadership pipeline shortage requires that organizations do a more effective job of leadership assessments, development, and succession planning for specific positions,” said Shea. “Talent acquisition professionals need to take a strategic view and think of talent as a business asset that should be developed in a systematic manner to provide a foundation for superior organizational performance.”
According to Shea, some organizations are implementing new reward structures to incentivize talent acquisition professionals to think longer term.
“We’ve seen members of the talent acquisition team receive bonuses based on the performance of candidates they brought into the organization – particularly for sales positions and other jobs where performance can be easily quantified,” said Shea. “While this is not a common practice, it very likely may become more popular as organizations seek to reward the recruitment of high performers.”
According to the survey and as observed across the globe, quality of hire and competition for talent are the two most significant issues that keep EMEA talent acquisition professionals up at night.
“Non-stop advances in technology and rapidly changing business strategies have led to the creation of jobs that didn’t even exist a few years ago,” said Shea. “In addition, there are demands for new skill sets in virtually every job and profession. Hiring and retaining workers who are agile and who can adapt to the fast pace of change is critical for staying ahead of the competition curve.”