The truth about your Talent Shortage - Myth or scapegoat?

When it comes to the infamous idea of the ‘talent shortage’, there’s usually two camps of folks;

1 - the believers who have themselves struggled to find and keep top talent and,

2 - the doubters who see this so called shortage as the result of aged/ineffective recruitment efforts. Where do you see yourself?

It’s not quite that black and white but there’s some truth to both of these beliefs. Whatever side of the fence you sit on, there’s no denying that the status and flow of talent plagues the life of many a recruiter.

We could be here all day arguing as to whether this drought if fact or fiction but it wouldn’t solve diddly squat. Instead it’s time that recruiters take a good hard look at what might actually be the culprit of their individual talent problems. And that’s what we’re here to do.

Fact or fiction - What’s the shortage chat all about?

Before we get to the practicalities of this whole shibang, let’s touch on the myth and scapegoat status of this perceived talent trouble. Recruiter’s today have a tonne of active talent pools at their fingertips. That’s a fact. Any inability to tap into those is the work of insufficient efforts, tools or knowledge. This is what gives this so-called shortage its myth label, and consequently recruiter’s their scapegoat excuse.

Of course finding, recruiting and retaining top talent is tough. Recruiters are constantly playing strategy and tool catch up and candidates are well and truly becoming more empowered in their search. But this most certainly can’t be tied up with a perceived shortage.

Let’s move on from labels and reasoning and get to the nitty gritty of what you can do about your very own talent troubles. What can you do to tackle your shortage problems? How do you move past the industry-wide illusion you’ve blamed your hiccups on and take control? Well, here’s a few pointers.

• Take it back to business basics.

If you’re having troubles with your talent attraction, you need to get back to proper basics. Get your ducks in order and reapproach everything that you stand for and want to achieve as an employer/company. What’s your culture about, do you have one? Are there any career development opps in place? How are you perceived by current employees and the big bad world? It’s about working from the ground up with no denial or excuses. The problem, more than likely, rests with you and that puts you in a wonderful position. Reassess what makes you, well you, and involve everyone in defining a new way forward.

• Put your Employer Brand on a pedestal.

This is what it all comes down to really. So many neglect their EB and it really is the difference between top talent and no talent. Everything hangs on this brand - how you communicate, what you communicate, your culture, your USP and your reputation. Take some time out to redesign your entire EB, chances are that’s the thing holding you back.

• Get a competitor talent strategy on the go.

This is war. Your competitors will have a great pot of qualified, passionate talent but times change and opportunities arise. Make sure you’re capable of luring them over to your side. Make a strategy for poaching your competitor’s talent, they’re fair game. Use the likes of LinkedIn and dedicated talent pool networking to reach out and engage with talent. Make sure you do your research first, ensure you’re offering them something they don’t already have or your run the risk of severing future communication ties by wasting their time. Be bold and brave, it’s time for a change in attitude.

• Measure your efforts.

How can you know what works and doesn’t if you don’t measure your efforts? Whether it’s current employee happiness, effective recruitment tools or quality of hire, be on top of what’s happening on all recruitment levels. This is the only way to improve and adapt. If you stand still for too long you’ll become irrelevant and that’s talent attraction death.

• Hire in magnificent managers.

We all know that employees work for great managers. Even more than a company itself, a manager has the power to engage, build loyalty and become the driving force for a career. If you can have a flurry of great leaders all working under the same ethos in place, you’ll have an army of happy talent too.

• Put culture first.

Today’s talent aren’t attracted by paycheck. They want a great workplace environment that’s built on values and real connections to their employees. If you fail to create and promote a winning culture you offer nothing on a long-term basis. Give talent something to invest in and adopt as their own. It allows them to play a bigger part and make a real mark on something.

Make this culture the posterboy of your talent attraction strategy.

• Build a Grade A recruitment arsenal.

It’s all too easy to get lazy and overly reliant on the same old recruitment resources and approaches. You need to shake things up and keep your collections of tools and techniques updated and unique to your talent goals. Don’t be afraid to experiment with new tools and platforms, not everything needs to have permanent place in your strategy. Be where your talent are and adopt their communication preferences as your own.

It’s pretty dangerous to pin all your talent problems on a perceived ‘shortage’ issue, it’s a classic burying your head in the sand move. Today’s recruiters and talent need to stay on their toes and constantly re-examine what’s expected of them and why. Instead of focusing on notions of ‘shortages’ or scapegoat excuses, be more selfish and stay focused on your own unique efforts.

Want to read more stuff like this? Then come and join just over 8,000 subscribers who get tips on improving recruitment, technology, sales, customer service and of course all things LogicMelon.