According to the 2020 Resourcing and Talent Planning Report from Omni and the CIPD, 73% of businesses that made efforts to recruit in the previous 12 months experienced difficulties, regardless of sector and size.
With securing new talent a growing challenge, it’s more important than ever for today’s businesses to have a well-structured and robust talent acquisition (TA) strategy. In this post, we explore some of the mistakes that prevent employers from attracting, hiring and retaining the talent they need to sustain and grow their organisations.
Too focused on the short-term.
While the priority for hiring managers is to fill open positions quickly, it can be detrimental to continue pushing people through a flawed process. Businesses must take a step back and learn from inefficiencies to make effective and long-lasting improvements.
Think about what you want to achieve. If you’re having issues with applicants dropping out at the interview stage, the answer isn’t to recruit more applicants in the hope that one will be the right fit. Instead, take the time to determine why that part of the process is failing and take steps to fix it. It could be that it’s taking too long, and a competitor has swooped in ahead of you. By getting to the root cause, you can revise processes and eliminate any problems for good.
Searches limited to active candidates.
A LinkedIn Talent Solutions report revealed that 70% of the global workforce is made up of passive talent, with the remaining 30% active job seekers. It also stated that 87% of both active and passive candidates are open to new job opportunities. These stats indicate that job postings alone are not the most effective way to engage top talent.
Working with a resourcing partner, like an RPO organisation, can significantly improve your candidate outreach. They have the right tools, connections and techniques to subtly and skillfully engage passive talent and promote opportunities within your business.
Inconsistent employer branding that’s impacting candidate experience.
Most businesses understand the value of developing an employer brand that communicates employee benefits and highlights the values and causes most pertinent to today’s candidates. However, even those with a strong employer brand on the surface can let themselves down by failing to consider the candidate experience from all angles.
For example, your careers website and social media channels may do a fantastic job selling you as an employer, but does this messaging remain consistent when engaging an external recruitment agency to support hiring? Do they adopt your tone of voice and echo it across all comms? If not, the candidate experience will be disjointed at best. At worst, it could switch applicants off your business for good.
It’s another area where a resourcing partner can help. An RPO provider will work behind your brand and become an extension of your business, adopting your messaging, values and approach. It means the candidate will remain engaged withyour brand throughout the process, making for a more consistent, streamlined and ultimately positive experience.
What elements of your TA strategy require attention?
Omni’s Resourcing Effectiveness Assessment is the ultimate health check for your organisation’s TA strategy. Take our mini REA assessment to identify your current strengths and development areas and receive a report on how you can hire more effectively in 2021. Complete Omni’s Resourcing Effectiveness Assessment now.
