It’s no secret that 2020 was a big career turning point for many who experienced their biggest job insecurity in a long time, in addition to major shifts in the way we work like the rise of remote and flexible work. But being able to ditch the daily commute wasn’t the only change brought by Covid-19.
As a HR professional, you might have noticed the latest phenomenon affecting our job market: when the number of open jobs surpassed 1 million in August, an increasingly high number of people started leaving their jobs for reasons including – but not limited to – unsatisfactory working conditions, Covid-19 related fears and a new sense of enlightenment on the real meaning of work after going through a global pandemic.
Although the numbers vary between industries, the now commonly called Great-Resignation shows the desire for better work-life balance is here to stay, as are the new expectations job seekers have of employers.
While large companies might have the internal resources to cope with new trends and demands of the post-2020 job market, the already complex roles of small to one-person HR teams have become even more challenging in terms of talent acquisition and retention. If that’s the case for you, you might be facing difficulty with the following:
As a specialist HR recruitment agency, we’re very aware of the recruitment struggles many HR professionals face. Lots of our recent conversations made apparent the importance of a recruitment strategy that optimises talent acquisition and staff retention. Here’s our specialist advice:
What level of experience do you require? How essential is industry experience? Are there any concrete IT skills they’ll need, or essential responsibilities they’ll carry? In the case of HR recruitment: what CSR goals and D&I initiatives will they be actively supporting? These will help build an optimal candidate profile but remember to think outside the box and look for transferable skills. The more flexible you can be in your requirements the more this will help increase the pool of candidates available to you.
Amid this “Great Resignation”, your company culture and onboarding process can make all the difference in a candidate’s decision-making post job offer. Make sure to keep your company values and personality consistent at all stages of your recruitment process: from advertising to interviews. What’s more, a successful onboarding experience can improve employee retention by 82% – so make sure to collaborate with the relevant departments to have one in place from day one.
Depending on your industry and corporate brand, you might be able to look beyond LinkedIn and the generic job advertising websites. Don’t be afraid to add creativity to your recruitment strategy, especially when targeting younger generations; Tiktok and Instagram Reels are quite often underrated tools to get your company’s opportunities in front of the right audience.
Outsourcing your recruitment to a specialist local recruitment agency is an invaluable way of speeding up your recruitment process. Not only do they dedicate 100% of their time to recruitment, but by having access to a pool of local active and passive candidates they will be able to find candidates you might not as easily have access to.
At Sitka, we recruit qualified human resources candidates with the experience and ethos to manage people well. With first-hand experience of managing HR in-house, we know exactly what most HR professionals face daily when recruiting.
Get in touch with us today to chat about your recruitment needs!
Everything about Sitka’s approach is a breath of fresh air. I have worked with Sitka on both the candidate side and recruiter side and I have never had a better relationship with an agency. I trust them implicitly to provide a service that is above and beyond what you would expect a recruitment agency to do and I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again.
In all honesty I don’t think there was anything Sitka could have done differently. It was a time when we were struggling to get any applicants for various reasons. To find someone as good as we did is testament to the hard work Karen put in. We would never have found that candidate if we hadn’t used an agency like Sitka and Karen.
The recruitment process was excellent. Karen provided me with updates on a regular basis and the level of communication at all points was handled very well. The whole recruitment process was handled extremely efficiently from start to finish.
The experience of working with Sitka has been fantastic. They provide an excellent service with a professional and friendly approach. Karen kept me informed every step of the way, even sending through interview technique tips.
The experience of working with Sitka was really enjoyable. It was like talking to a friend who knew all the answers to my future career.
The process was thorough and very individual – time was spent finding out about the culture and style of the organisation and the exec team. Sitka worked with the candidates well to find the best fit for both employer and candidate. There was a sense of strong relationship building to ensure that this happened.