#AskARecruiter: What’s the Biggest Challenge Facing Talent Acquisition?
This year, we asked some of the top names in talent acquisition what they consider to be the biggest challenge facing our industry. Here’s what the experts had to say:
- Acknowledging change
- Moving beyond transitional recruiting
- Recruiting for new jobs
At Yello’s 2019 STRIVE conference, speaker Stacey Wetterer, Director of Management Programs at Cintas, said, “If you are 100% sure you’ve found the right candidate, you’ll be right 75% of the time.”
Her comment makes you wonder—if you’re making the wrong hiring decision 25% of the time, how much is it costing your company (in both hard and soft dollars)? And why are we making costly mistakes for every one out of four candidates recruited?
Today, the talent industry is being disrupted by new generations entering the workforce, technological advances that dramatically impact how we live and work, and changing demands—from the customers our businesses serve to the employees we hire.
Let’s look at three of the biggest talent acquisition challenges addressed by the experts at STRIVE 2019:
1. Acknowledging Change
“The only constant is change and we all hate change. Some more than others. We have to find a way to embrace change, get motivated by it and harness it rather than fear it. It’s like losing weight. We all know how to lose weight (eat the right foods, eat at the right times, eat the right amounts, exercise, drink plenty of water, get eight hours of sleep, etc.), yet many of us don’t (myself included). So we know change is coming and will continue to come. The question is: how will we react?”
William Tincup, President at RecruitingDaily
With today’s labor shortages and skills gaps, employers are not only racing to hire the best and the brightest, but also trying to define the future of work. To contend with rapid (and often uncertain) change, employers are turning to recruitment operations for the answer. By implementing centralized, streamlined recruitment operations, recruiters can help their companies prepare for the future of work by anticipating industry trends, combating global talent shortages and identifying how other external forces may affect the company.
2. Moving Beyond Transitional Recruiting
“Recruiting is not set up to succeed in the new world of talent. We are still asking recruiters to think transactionally: put the butt in the seat. The future is about building relationships. The future is about seeing and leveraging the entire company to find and grow talent. The future is connecting recruiting closer to the business and leadership and less to HR. The future is asking recruiters not to burn through more applications in an hour, but to do the things that actually attract those amazing talents.”
James Ellis, Consultant, Author, Podcaster, Speaker
Today, it’s not about filling a position just to fill it; it’s about cultivating relationships and creating an outstanding candidate experience. Recruiters can address these challenges by implementing a robust candidate relationship management (CRM) strategy. Recruitment CRM makes candidate engagement more personal and direct, which is becoming increasingly important to younger generations. And by leveraging technology, recruiters can build stronger candidate relationships at scale, powering talent pipeline growth.
“As we turn that lens toward candidate-centered design, we have a huge opportunity to improve outcomes for companies and candidates.”
Adam Godson, Senior Vice President, Global Technology Solutions at Cielo
3. Recruiting for New Jobs & Careers
“Employers’ need for analytics and technology specialists has grown faster than the talent pool, making the “talent war” very real!”
Lauren Santimauro, Campus Recruiting Manager at A.T. Kearney
The future of work is here. From remote positions to the gig economy, the way we work has changed dramatically over the past several years. According to Deloitte, in the next decade, 47% of today’s jobs will disappear. Further, 58% of employees think they’ll have a new career in the next five years.
Shannon Gaydos, a senior global talent strategist at Boeing and founder of The 2050 Project, has commented that school curriculums aren’t keeping pace with technology, leaving an entire generation unprepared for work. For example, Gaydos notes that 65% of students in primary school today will end up in jobs that don’t yet exist, effectively disrupting the traditional model of college to career.
Prepare for the future of work by implementing recruitment operations functions that track industry trends, lifelong learning strategies, and data to analyze and optimize recruitment processes.
Taking the Next Steps
Ready to recruit your next generation of leaders? Candidates have their pick of employment choices, Gen Z has entered the workforce and there’s more competition than ever on campus. Join us at STRIVE 2020 to explore strategies to address these challenges and much more.
