Resourcing and Talent Planning

Four Factors that affect an Organisations approach to attracting talent and recruitment and selection

1. Skills Shortages
2. Costs / budgets
3. Lengthy recruitment and selection process
4. Economic Climate

Skills shortages
This is a strong factor for an organisation at the moment when trying to attract and recruit talent into a business. The unemployment rate in 2012 has grown significantly; however, even though quantity of applications has increased when recruiting, the quality has decreased. I feel this is based largely around the current economic climate. A lot of ‘skilled and talented’ individuals appear to be staying in their current roles for job security, which is causing a huge skills gap for employers who are recruiting.

1.‘CIPD Press Release’- This year, three-quarters (75%) of organisations experienced recruitment difficulties. As in previous years, the main reason for these recruitment difficulties is a lack of necessary specialist or technical skills.

Costs / Budgets
One focus for certain organisations this year has been around budgets and cutting costs where possible. One area where budgets have dramatically tightened is recruitment. This has caused a review of specific methods that are used to attract talent into the business at as minimal cost as possible. It is important to research the ‘best’ method of attracting the ‘right’ individuals to the position; if this is not done correctly it could cause a cost implication due to unsuitable applications being received, and vacancies not being filled. The use of agencies to source talent has reduced dramatically due to the cost impact this has on the business. In order to save costs of recruiting the focus now seems to be on developing talent in-house rather than attracting external talent into the business. This may also, however, have a cost implication to an organisation as, in order to retain and develop existing talent, a review of the company benefits may need to take place to make this more attractive for the individuals, in particular for the more senior level positions.

2. ‘CIPD Press Release’ – Limited budgets mean organisations and HR departments have to think creatively – doing more for less is not so easy. However by developing internal talent pipelines employees can benefit from increased opportunities, development and progression and the employer can fulfill the skills requirement for the job.’

Lengthy Recruitment and Selection Process
Having a well structured recruitment and selection process is imperative in attracting and retaining ‘strong talent’ into an organisation. Areas to think about when creating this process may be methods of recruitment, how to attract individuals to the business, structure of the interview process and selection criteria. However, if this process is too lengthy and drawn out it can go in the opposite direction, as individuals may drop out of the recruitment process.

Economic Climate
The current economic climate has had a large impact on organisations budgets which has meant that, for some businesses, recruitment freezes have come into place. This has caused businesses to focus more on developing talent in-house and moving individuals into roles rather than sourcing external people. In some cases roles have been reviewed and, where possible, two positions have been amalgamated into one position with larger responsibilities and higher expectations.

3. (Annual Survey Report 2012) – 47% of organizations report that the economic climate has had a negative impact on their organizations resourcing budgets for 2012-13

The organisational benefits of attracting and retaining a diverse workforce

Having a diverse workforce can have a large impact for Organisations. A diverse workforce can be anything from personal characteristics i.e. background, culture, personality, etc to protected characteristics i.e. ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, disability, etc. Below are three benefits of attracting and retaining a diverse workforce:

1, By employing people from different backgrounds, ages, or people with disabilities shows external people / suppliers that you are an organisation who promotes a friendly, multicultural environment who appreciates and understands the needs of their employees. This can increase business performance as companies would more than likely want to work with organisations who promote this rather than companies who don’t. Companies may also get more out of their employees as they would feel valued as individuals and respect their colleagues.

2, Having a diverse workforce would very much benefit multinational organisations as it would help businesses understand the diverse area they are operating in. In the current climate businesses need to be able to understand the needs and demands of the diverse customers they are today working with. Having a diverse workforce can definitely help with this as you will have people with different types of experiences to be able to adapt to the needs of the customer.

3. The cost of turnover can also be less with an organisation who promotes a diverse workforce. People who are valued and happy in their jobs will be less likely to want to leave or have time off absent from work.

Three methods of recruitment

Corporate Website
A lot of larger organisations use their own website to advertise positions. As long as the website is attractive then this is also a good way to advertise the business and promote the benefits. It is more cost effective than advertising through job boards as it costs nothing.

Job Centres
This is an effective way for manufacturing companies to advertise for their production vacancies. Generally people who are looking for manufacturing work may not have access to the internet to look on-line. This is also a cost effective way of advertising as it doesn’t cost any money.

Recruitment agencies
A recruitment agency is a business that works together with an organisation, understanding the needs for their vacancies and source the best candidates for positions within the organisation. Agencies vary from industrial i.e. for manufacturing companies, to specialist i.e. Finance Directors.

Although there is a cost implication in using recruitment agencies for advertising, for the more senior vacancies in an organisation this could be the most effective way. By using a Specialist agency who are aware of the needs and culture of the business, you are more likely to receive quality, suitable applicants for the vacancy.

Three methods of selection

Assessment centres
An assessment centre is a group interview where role plays and group assessments are used to decide on the best candidates for the positions.

This method of selection would be effective for a business who have a number of the same vacancies they are recruiting for. Assessment centres are a good way to assess people’s behaviours and performance through working in a team.

Competency based interviewing
This can be the more popular way of selecting candidates for a particular role. Rather than general questions, competency questions are standard questions that probe individuals to give examples and outcomes of their own experiences to help the interviewer in gaining more of an understanding of their skill levels.

Psychometric testing
Using Psychometric testing can be a beneficial way of selecting candidates as it gives a full profile report which can help determine an individuals behaviours, skills, etc. However, this can also be an expensive method of selection.