Catching the candidates - Bond International Software Opinion

By Tim Richards, Managing Director, Bond International Software

Organisations across the UK, from the FTSE 100 company to the 150 employee business, are struggling to recruit and retain staff with the right skills and expertise. Indeed, according to the latest CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook survey 48% of employers anticipate recruitment difficulties this quarter.

Yet many of these companies are actively undermining their chances of attracting the right candidates by using poor, manual recruitment processes that are both time consuming and costly.

With increasing numbers of workers now coming to the UK from European Union member countries, organisations have a fantastic opportunity to boost employee expertise and bridge skills gaps. But that can only be achieved if they adopt tools and techniques that support an effective, proactive recruitment strategy.

While many companies increasingly place job vacancies on their web sites, simply dabbling with online recruitment is not enough. It is only by implementing a robust, end to end online recruitment strategy that encompasses excellent candidate attraction and streamlined recruitment processes, that organisations can drive down costs while improving the candidate experience and, hence, gain access to the best skills in the market, argues Tim Richards, managing director, Bond International Software.

Strong Economy
As the UK continues to enjoy a strong economy, there has been a significant rise in the number of organisations struggling to retain their staff over the past year and recruitment difficulties persist, according to a new report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

Key reasons for recruitment difficulties are lack of necessary specialist skills (65%), followed by higher pay expectations (46%) and insufficient experience (37%). Nicola Monson, author of the report, says: ìEmployers will continue to struggle to find suitable candidates and keep staff turnover under control if their approach to recruitment and retention fails to take account of both business and employee needs.î

In an environment where good candidates are likely to receive more than one job offer, the effectiveness and relevance of the recruitment process is becoming ever more critical in securing the right employees across the board.

Indeed, given the clear need to attract high calibre candidates, it is extraordinary that only 51% of FTSE 100 companies have adopted an end to end online recruitment solution. The recruitment processes need to be far more candidate-friendly, from initial job description to the provision of continuous, real time feedback on the application status.

Migrant Opportunity
This issue is becoming ever more pressing as companies recognise the value of overseas workers. The CIPD research also shows that recruiting from overseas, targeting migrant workers, training existing staff and better use of employer brand will help UK employers tackle these problems. However, while 75% say that recruiting from EU accession states has a positive impact, only 14% are currently targeting migrant workers in this way. A further one in ten (11%) are recruiting in foreign countries and bringing workers over to the UK.

So why are organisations unable to leverage this excellent skills pool effectively? Unfortunately, the majority of organisations of all sizes are still reliant on outdated recruitment processes that fail to maximise the speed and efficiency offered online. Simply pasting a few job descriptions on the corporate web site and offering an email CV facility is not enough.

If organisations are to actively hook the best candidates they need to evolve beyond spreadsheets of candidates and manual exchange of CVs. And they need to accept that the recruitment component of the corporate ERP solution is far too limited to support a proactive, seamless recruitment strategy.

Tailored Approach
Over one third (34%) of organisations cite recruitment costs as having the biggest impact on total employment costs this quarter, aside from employee wages, according to the recent CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook survey. The need, therefore, is to combine far more effective methods for attracting candidates with lower costs and greater efficiency.

For example by providing each line manager with portal based recruitment information, there is a single source of tasks ñ from CVs that need to be assessed to interviews required.

Furthermore, the end to end process can then provide candidates with self-service access to the status of the application; removing the need for telephone based enquiries and improving overall perception of the company. Should a candidate be unsuccessful in this application ñ or decide not to apply ñ the system will automatically notify in the event of a similar vacancy becoming available, creating a far more proactive recruitment strategy.

At the same time, by providing a centralised tool for job description and availability, companies also ensure the existing employee talent pool is aware of new opportunities, reducing agency fees and boosting career development prospects.

Broad Pool
By improving the efficiency of the recruitment process, organisations can drive down costs and, critically, release time to be spent of the essential candidate attraction process. For example, jobs can be automatically posted on job sites or with recruitment agencies as soon as they are listed, increasing overall exposure. Indeed, posting these jobs to agencies can be timed to reflect their tier 1, 2 or 3 status with the organisation.

And with increasing numbers of companies now recognising the value of overseas recruitment, the Internet is undoubtedly the most efficient and effective means of attracting these candidates. Yet today, online recruitment advertising comprises only 300 million of the total 1.1 billion spent, according to OnRec ñ a poor effort compared to the US, where online figures significantly outstrip offline recruitment advertising. Certainly those organisations that have actively embraced an end to end online recruitment solution are gaining benefits.

Personal Touch
Whilst it is theoretically possible to conduct the entire recruitment process online, the majority of organisations ñ and candidates ñ still prefer the personal touch, especially to ascertain cultural fit. But by combining excellent online candidate attraction with streamlined processes, organisations can transform the recruitment cost model whilst attracting skills from a broader internal and external mix. And, critically, such techniques can be applied irrespective of company size: it is as relevant to the 150 employee SMB as it is to the FTSE 100 organisation.

According to the latest CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook survey 48% of employers anticipate recruitment difficulties this quarter, higher than in the last two surveys. And while the balance of labour supply and demand is aided by increased immigration there is some uncertainty about the quality of labour currently available to employers.

With recruitment costs also a major concern, organisations simply cannot afford to rely on outdated means and methods of recruitment. There is a vast pool of highly experienced, highly talented individuals available ñ both internally and across the EU ñ from board level to clerical staff, isnít it time to put in place the tools and techniques to attract and recruit the top candidates?