Comment

By Simone Lockhart

 

Recent reports from Royal Bank of Scotland and KPMG have found we are currently facing an unprecedented increase in vacancies, with the availability of workers deteriorating rapidly. Businesses across the country are struggling to find people to fill roles and even more so, find the right person for their team.

Companies need to think differently about their recruitment models, and whether that be in-house or with an external consultancy, the process needs to be joined-up. The recruiter must intrinsically understand the needs of the business and company purpose in order to source and match the perfect candidates.

There are simply not enough qualified talent prospects who are actively looking for a job to match the current vacancies. This is creating an influx of aggressive recruitment approaches to attract the limited talent pool and companies are spending an incredible amount of resource on recruitment. We are in a candidate’s market and, as such, companies run the risk of panic filling positions, so we must think smartly about our approach.

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The traditional skills and experience checklists can be so restrictive – they have their place, but being so narrow-minded with a search can cause companies to miss out on candidates with alternative experience or skills that could enhance their portfolio.

Crucially, businesses must look at the bigger picture and ask themselves how effective is their recruitment process – does it align with current and future needs, is the culture of the business truly demonstrated throughout, are you accurately perceived in the industry?

Businesses will often use Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) for this, but the pandemic has changed the way that these models work. These processes need to be evaluated and improved to better align with the business, and thus reap better results.

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We have created a bespoke managed recruitment model, working within organisations that need HR or recruitment support. Created amidst one of the most challenging periods for the recruitment industry, we are pairing staff to clients as an extension of in-house HR teams to identify how organisations can attract, engage and select the most skilled and best fit candidates for roles.

The world is ever evolving and companies need to challenge their thinking. By continuing to use the tools and strategies of yesterday, you are perhaps unknowingly damaging your company's potential and dramatically reducing its capabilities by overlooking candidates that could be great for business. RPO could be the answer to unlocking potential for the future.

Simone Lockhart is the group commercial director of the Taranata Group.