The make or break for any business in the next two decades will be the ability to attract, develop and retain talent. However, almost one in seven companies have reported talent shortages and difficulty hiring and a further 41% of employers are struggling to retain their staff.
So, what can organisations do to attract and retain top talent and drive long-term business success?
Improving the onboarding and candidate experience
There must be an emphasis on improving the overall employee experience and this starts with candidates. A bad candidate experience can have a negative effect on a company’s reputation, which can then deter future candidates from applying or impact their customer base. Indeed, 39% of jobseekershave stopped using a company’s product or service due to a negative candidate experience.
Initial talent acquisition is just the first step for Heads of Talent, but it certainly doesn’t end there. Heads of Talent should also be part of the start of the employee journey to ensure the organisation is delivering on the promises it made during the application stages. Employers must ensure their employees feel part of a community that supports them. There is too much focus on KPI’s and performance management, instead of looking at the employee’s overall development and how they can be supported to progress within the company. Recent research has shown that 49% of employeescite a lack of career progression as to why employers are failing to retain staff.Ultimately, if companies change their tactics and focus on improving employee experience, they will have higher chances of success in retaining their employees.
Cultivating a talent pool
A key issue that businesses should be focusing on is developing a talent pool.72% of employers are facing talent shortages, however many are still resisting to change their approach to recruitment.Every time a company posts a job role, it could receive hundreds of applicants which are then eventually narrowed down to one person. But what happens to the rest of the candidates who were unsuccessful?
That pool of applicants, who were most likely just as qualified but narrowly missed out, are deleted from systems. Fast forward a few months, that same role or a similar one,could be open again and companies will have to re-start their search from scratch. Recruitment teams that rely on this ‘post and pray’ method will find themselves at a disadvantage.
Instead of rejecting the rest of the candidates that applied for the initial role, they should be assigned to a talent pool where employers continue to engage consistently with those already vetted individuals. Why? They took the time to go through the application stages, demonstrating their interest and commitment to your company. Recruitment is already a time-consuming process so by building a talent pool, Talent Acquisition (TA) teams can save hours of finding, vetting and interviewing candidates and focus on other responsibilities.
Using technology to improve talent acquisition processes
As the market for top talent has become increasingly competitive, talent teams are under a lot of pressure to hire the right talent and fast. Once you post that job role and the applicants start to come in, it would take days maybe even weeks to sift through and screen every application. UtilisingArtificial Intelligence (AI) within anApplicant Tracking Systems (ATS) can significantly speed up the process. AI can easily identify and evaluate the relevant skills and experiences needed from candidates. Therefore, making the hiring process faster and more efficient.
Candidate ‘ghosting’ is a key issue that candidates face on a regular basis. Not providing candidates with updates regarding their applications not only has the potential to damage a company’s reputation but also prevents building a relationship for the future. AI can provide routine status updates directly to candidates and also provide company’s with live updates on a candidates profiles or job searches.
Continuous improvement is the answer. Amid the current talent war, employers need to utilise the technology at hand to hire talent and create better employee experience. Invest in building talent communities to fill the jobs of the future, not today. If you do not continually invest in the process of talent acquisition, then the only other option is to work harder.
Uma Rajagopal has been managing the posting of content for multiple platforms since 2021, including Global Banking & Finance Review, Asset Digest, Biz Dispatch, Blockchain Tribune, Business Express, Brands Journal, Companies Digest, Economy Standard, Entrepreneur Tribune, Finance Digest, Fintech Herald, Global Islamic Finance Magazine, International Releases, Online World News, Luxury Adviser, Palmbay Herald, Startup Observer, Technology Dispatch, Trading Herald, and Wealth Tribune. Her role ensures that content is published accurately and efficiently across these diverse publications.