YOUR REGION: United States

Tag: Hiring Managers

Hiring delays hamper business performance

Delays due to difficulties in finding quality candidates

According to 58% of HR managers, delays in hiring are negatively affecting business performance.

In Talent Work’s survey of 400 HR leaders, it was found that recruitment is taking double the time to hire talent when compared to 2019. Twenty-one percent of respondents agree that it is taking three times as long.

Twenty-eight percent of respondents agree that the delays are due to difficulties in finding quality candidates.

When looking at 2022 priorities, employer branding was noted as the key priority for HR in 2022. Thirty-one percent plan to relaunch or develop their employer brand, while a further 20% have already done this. Only 12% of respondents said they didn’t have time to focus on their employer brand.

Other priorities were employee retention at 21% and changing processes to allow speedy hire at 20%.

Twenty-nine percent of respondents believe that brand awareness impacts their hiring ability, and 42% don’t believe they have a strong awareness as an employer or don’t measure their brand awareness.

Neil Purcell, CEO, and founder of Talent Works, said: “These statistics clearly show that 2019 thinking isn’t going to work in the 2022 employment market, which is the most competitive we’ve ever seen. Companies need to get strategic about how they can speed up hiring to accelerate business performance, and as the research indicates, effective Employer Branding is the most widely recognised way of doing this. It’s great to see that companies are beginning to think differently in such an oversubscribed market, but over one in ten companies surveyed were still unaware of the Employer Brand concept, which shows that there is still work to do.”

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Candidate communication crucial as war for talent continues

Skills shortage remains a concern in the market

According to background screening and identity services firm, Sterling, candidate communication needs to move up the priority list as the war for talent rages on.

With the latest labour market data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS),revealing a continued increase in vacancy numbers across the UK and concerns around talent shortages rife, the expert Sterling called on employers and HR teams to prioritise high quality and regular candidate communication.

In a recent Sterling Live discussion, experts discussed how the war for talent can often be won through simply communicating to candidates consistently, from the first engagement right through their first days on the job.

Tom Stokes, Director at Sterling EMEA, explained: “The skills shortage has been a concern for some time now and while there is certainly a need to broaden talent pools, far too often, potential new recruits are exiting hiring processes, due to the process itself. When we consider how tough it is to recruit at the moment, once an offer has been accepted it’s understandable that some hiring teams or managers may breathe a sigh of relief. However, candidates are increasingly disappearing in that crucial timeframe between the offer and the first day, and this is quite often due to a lack of communication.

“Employers need to remember that for an individual, a career move is a life changing event and after the excitement of getting the job offer, they can face a lengthy notice period where they are juggling their current role alongside the administration that comes with a new job, including employment screening checks.

“Communication is key during this time. Candidates need to know what to expect after the job offer is made, otherwise, they can feel lost or alienated, which leaves them open to being lured away by other businesses. Starting a new job and going through an employment screening process can be daunting for anyone. Celebrate your new hire and maintain the excitement of the job offer. The more they are communicated with and the more engaged they feel, the lower the chances of them being enticed elsewhere.”

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78% of jobseekers won’t apply if no salary shown in job ad

Salary secrecy culture is detrimental to hiring

New research commissioned by Reed.co.uk, one of the UK’s leading jobs and careers sites, has revealed that that 78% of jobseekers are less likely to apply for a job vacancy that does not display a salary.

Amid labour shortages and a cost of living crisis, a culture of salary secrecy is limiting hiring managers’ ability to secure the best talent. The research revealed that 22% of jobseekers will only apply for jobs with a listed salary, with recruiters admitting that they still either don’t include the salary, or only sometimes include it, on nearly half of all job ads.

Money talks, but employers remain silent

With more than 42% of companies currently finding it more difficult than usual to generate applications, the research indicates that there is a clear need for businesses to update their salary transparency protocols.

With jobseekers stating that salary is the number one reason to apply for a job, almost two-thirds (62%) of hiring managers believe a lack of salary transparency on job ads has no negative impact on applications, and less than half (46%) of employers have a salary transparency policy. There seems to be a disconnect between hirers and candidates despite data from Reed.co.uk showing that ads that display salaries receive 27% more applications than those that don’t.

Furthermore, almost half (48%) of all jobseekers say the absence of a salary on a job advert negatively impacts their perception of the hiring company with a quarter (26%) reporting that the word “competitive” in a salary description is likely to put them off applying for the role.

Transparency enables greater diversity

Improving salary transparency could contribute towards solving the nation’s hiring challenges, as well as widening the candidate pool for employers.

A high proportion of hiring managers found that providing salary details delivered more applications (42%), greater relevancy of applications (38%), and saved time in the recruitment process (35%).

More than a quarter (27%) also said showing salary generated more applications from diverse candidates. This is supported by data from the study which found that women (81%), disabled (81%), LGBTQ+ (81%), and black people (87%) were much less likely to apply for a role without a salary being shown, compared to the national average (78%).

Simon Wingate, Managing Director of Reed.co.uk made comment: “You wouldn’t shop in a supermarket that doesn’t list its prices, so why should we expect people to sift through job ads that don’t advertise salary? From our research, it’s clear that jobseekers want to apply for roles at businesses that are open about what they pay.”

“Not only will [revealing pay] generate more applications, you’ll likely improve relevancy and save time in the process. You’ll also be able to attract from a wider talent pool and avoid any negative impact to your employer brand. Businesses need to be more open to salary transparency or risk losing out on the best candidates.”

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Number of earners exceed pre-pandemic levels

London reports lowest job vacancies with highest number of unemployed

The ONS’s most recently published labour market figures show that vacancy numbers have reached another record high with the number of payroll employees up by 207,000 having surpassed pre-pandemic levels. This is 122,000 higher than levels seen before the pandemic hit in February.

The UK’s employment rate increased by 0.5 percentage points last quarter to 75.3%, while the unemployment rate was down 0.4 percentage points to 4.5%.

The ONS stated that the number of job vacancies increased by 318,000, with all industry sectors above or equal to the levels seen between January to March last year, before the first lockdown.

Record vacancies may not be good news

According to analysis of job listings by Adzuna, people looking for work may not be in the right areas to fill them, with different regions facing different employment challenges. London is by far the worst place for workers to be in if looking for employment, with more people looking for work than jobs advertised. The capital city had 13.4% of over 16 unemployed or furloughed which was the highest in the country. Vacancies were 104% of what they were pre-pandemic, but this was the smallest growth nationally.

The opposite is true in Northern Ireland, where vacancies grew 154%, the second steepest in the country, but there are comparatively fewer people looking for work.

This location phenomenon could result in continuing crisis for businesses battling to find staff as the economy grows.

Pay increases on the rise but not enough to secure candidates

Growth in average total pay (including bonuses) was 7.2% and regular pay (excluding bonuses) was 6% among employees for the three months June to August 2021.

Darren Morgan, Director of Economic Statistics at the ONS commented: “The jobs market has continued to recover from the effects of the coronavirus. The latest earnings continue to show growth on the year, even after taking inflation into account. However, the figures are still being affected by special factors that make it hard to read underlying trends.”

Matthew Percival, Programme Director for Skills and Inclusion at the Confederation of British Industry, said: “Companies have found hiring difficult this autumn and the official data is beginning to tell the same story, with the number of people on payroll exceeding pre-COVID highs and record vacancies.

Responding to the ONS earnings and employment figures, Matt Weston, UK Managing Director of global recruitment firm Robert Half, said:

“We’re currently seeing demand above and beyond pre-pandemic levels, and despite the so-called ‘Great Resignation’ creating a tsunami of turnover, we are still experiencing a saturated market where the demand for skilled talent outstrips the supply. The competition is evident with the increase in median monthly pay showing the strength of candidates’ influence when agreeing terms with a new employer.”

Photo courtesy of Canva.com

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Bias still thriving in over half of firms

New study finds that only 46% of businesses invest in anti-bias training for hiring managers 

A new report by global emerging talent and reskill provider, mthree, reveals that 54% do not use deliberately neutral job descriptions, and only 37% anonymise CVs by removing all potentially identifying information such as name, age, and educational history.

Less than a third (31%) said that they request diverse shortlists from recruiters and 9% of those surveyed do not currently have any anti-bias hiring practices in place at all. Of those that do, 88% have noticed some improvement and 49% said there has been a significant improvement.

“It’s really disappointing to see that so many businesses are still not using some of the most tried and tested anti-bias hiring practices,” said Becs Roycroft, senior director at mthree. “Lots of businesses are struggling with a lack of diversity, particularly on their tech teams, and implementing even just one of these tactics could make a real difference. In order to see the biggest difference, businesses should look to tackle bias at all stages of the recruitment process.

“If chosen carefully, recruitment consultancies and other talent partners can be an invaluable tool in the quest for diversity, as they should have their own comprehensive strategies in place to ensure inclusivity. Businesses must ensure that those responsible for recruitment are able to recognise their own unconscious biases, and given the tools to approach the process as objectively as possible, to ensure candidates do not face prejudice at the interview stage.”

Photo courtesy of Canva.com

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