Recruiters must change hiring methods if they want to tackle the continuing skills shortage within the industry, says executive search specialists Joseph Executive. This comes after news of a significant drop in applications for board-level jobs, despite a growth in job postings over the past year.
Data from job search website CV-Library has found that applicants have become far more selective in their searches, with June marking a near 12 month low in applications. The 16.9% drop has contradicted an increase in vacancies of 14.4% over the past year, leading to a deficit of over 27%.
Paul Coleclough, CEO of Joseph Executive, believes that executive search firms need to take a more proactive approach to hiring managerial candidates or else businesses will continually struggle to fill board-level roles. He said:
“The market has changed significantly over the past few years and as a result businesses are relying more on hiring external management instead of developing talent from within their organisations. Although this provides them with access to a greater pool of talent, it seems that the potential applicants are needing more to be convinced.
“Last year an employer could expect to receive an average of 20 applications for any board level vacancy – now it’s less than 15. Considering there are more jobs to fill this year, that’s a worrying trend and will either mean that key business-critical assignments will go unfilled or employers will simply settle for hiring someone who may not be the right fit which of course, would create issues further down the line.
“What’s needed is a more pro-active approach to the recruitment of senior and executive staff. Posting vacancies online is a good start, but with websites such as LinkedIn constantly gaining popularity, the onus is on the employer to look out for the best talent themselves.
“Applicants are savvy and won’t be interested in a run of the mill job description. If you can wow them with a personalised pitch, it’ll show that you’ve gone the extra mile – and often they will too.”
Joseph Executive is a managerial and C-Level executive search firm, providing executive recruitment requirements for private sector organisations across a diverse range of sectors, including Life Sciences, Professional Services, IT/Software and Management Consulting.