The recruitment merry-go-round

By Josianne Avellino

Josianne is a Senior Manager at Misco Selection & Recruitment

The new recruit is late. After a weeks-long process of planning and promoting the vacancy announcement, of preparing CVs and sitting through interviews, you have finally found the team’s newest addition and agreed on the terms. But halfway into the morning, and after four unanswered calls, you start to suspect that the successful candidate might never show up after all.

Talent acquisition was never easy, but with a dynamic jobs market and radical changes in the employer-employee relationship, recruitment has grown into an ever-growing challenge.

The recruitment cycle has become unpredictable and, in addition, employers have to deal with demanding behaviour and attitudes by jobseekers.

It is becoming unbearably frequent for candidates to pop in and out of the selection process: skipping scheduled interviews without notification only to apply for another position some days later; or failing to return calls but then dropping a cryptic email in the middle of the night.

Employees, today, are clearly unimpressed by the degrees of separation between ranks of authority, and neither do contracts seem to hold any durability when they come up against the changing circumstances of their hectic lives.

The new crop of job seekers negotiates hard at the table and they are easily responsive to poaching with the aim of advancing rapidly through the ranks.

This does not mean that the current workforce is an assemblage of poor-quality workers.

On the contrary, many employees today bring a welcome freshness into the workplace: they value creativity and do not hold back from self-initiative, they are well-informed, demonstrate a passion for roles instead of mechanical task-management, and their ambition is contagious.

The current economic climate lends itself nicely to their mindset: an expanding economy and a low rate of unemployment square perfectly with candidates’ expectations of a quick rise through the ranks.

Young employees, especially, measure their professional growth in relation to an industry as a whole, tree-swinging their way from one company to another to elevate their positions rather than pursuing intra-organisational promotions.

Employers are responding by modifying their systems to attract and retain talent, channelling budgets and piling more pressure on the selection process. Companies may feel forced to consider revising their salary strategies to compete with others, even outside their sectors.

Investment in employer branding exercises is also becoming increasingly substantial as firms try to induce a sense of purpose and belonging into the workforce.

Another strategy that is catching up is the establishment of graduate programmes, allowing companies to form leaders and promoting a long view on enrolment.

Not all organisations have the resources to execute costly and sustained recruitment tactics, however, and at times the lop-sidedness causes smaller companies to slide out of the selection market altogether.

Not only do firms have to make an extra effort to appear on the job seeker’s radar but they also need to defend against the persistent threat of a discharge of talent lured by other inviting offers.

In this situation, HR managers are tempted to make a beeline for candidates active on LinkedIn or Facebook Jobs, jumping the steps in the middle.

The result is, often, that the selection pool remains pointlessly narrow and media platforms prove ineffective unless enough money is thrown at them.

Companies need expert partners to assist them with their talent acquisition needs and help maximise the resources at disposal.

Recruitment professionals not only cast a wider net for candidates but, more importantly, they have the experience to filter applicants out to significantly decrease churn later along the process.

Transferring key responsibilities to professionals relieves the HR function of time-consuming drills, allowing the department to focus on the crucial aspects of the process.

Moreover, recruitment specialists offer invaluable advice and perspective on industry trends that enable employers to advance their job propositions with confidence.

Recruitment professionals may have more leverage with candidates than individual companies.

Applicants think twice about interrupting a selection process or breaching agreements when they want to retain a reputation with recruiters.

From the candidate’s point-of-view, recruitment professionals represent a higher degree of trust, and employers recommended by them carry an implied seal of approval.

Reliable recruitment specialists seek to understand the vision, culture, and requirements of the employer and approach the market with a more complete candidate profile in mind.

Recruitment partners worthy of trust do not stop at the most qualified candidate but use their expertise to find a co-worker who can fulfil the company ethos.