Tribe’s Head of People, Culture & Capability, Sandy Gibbs, gives her take on the HR industry for Q2 of 2020.
With varied levels of uncertainty right now, we are asked every day by our people and capability clients, “what’s the market doing?”.
Some elements can be a crystal ball, however there is one common denominator for those in the HR world, and yes, I’m sure you know it…
...there are a lot of candidates in the market – at all levels!
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good problem to have. In fact it can be fantastic but only if you manage and maximise this current market situation effectively.
From an applicant perspective, there is also a common thread right now more so than normal - “I never heard back”...
...and I’m talking right through to high level, senior candidates.
This can be a problem at the best of times, which is disappointing but true. What has become evident in the last few months however, is that businesses can not keep up with the volume of applications and candidates. In some cases, there are more than quadruple the norm.
Although this candidate-rich market is great on the surface, the repetitive messages prompt us to remind you of a few important considerations:
- The candidate experience – this is your brand! Right now, you might feel this is not so important, but when things are tough for individuals, they remember the people who didn’t have a care factor. The old rule of thumb – for every one disgruntled person, they tell an average of 15 others about a poor experience. Reflect on this – when you need to attract people in the future and want to be that employer of choice, how will your brand stack up?
- Managing volume – are you doing the process justice? Due to the current environment, we are frequently seeing responsibilities go back to line managers. Managing this volume while doing their own work could mean missing top potential due to poor screening methods, which can be costly. Ticking every skill box over soft skills or choosing a referred person might seem like a great way to skip trawling through volumes of applications, but how will that look later? A lot of time can be spent on bad hires as many of you will know, and ER issues are on a significant rise already. When they are business critical roles, it’s essential to get this right. Effective screening is where it counts
- The time delays spent ineffectively managing candidate applications will often result in that perfect person being missed. In specialist fields, this is usually to the competitor. Many hands make light work, so spread the load – making sure everyone is following the screening protocol. ‘Less is more’ in so many ways if you get this right!
- Is your ATS process working to its optimum potential while there are a lot of people on the market (be it electronic or manual)? Are you maximising the volume of potentials while being cognisant of your longer-term workforce plan or just thinking about now?
Food for thought. People matter – in every way. Utilise this market strategically.
