Have you climbed the highest mountain and run through the fields looking for the ideal candidate you need to fill your vacancy but still haven’t found who you are looking for?
Well, it is likely that you could be singing that refrain for some time yet unless you take decisive action.
Recent figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) indicate that we currently have the highest recorded UK level of employment, the lowest jobless rate since 1975, the lowest ever unemployment rate for women, and the highest recorded UK level of job vacancies.
The figures are pretty impressive for a country currently under a Brexit cloud and demonstrate the resilience of the UK job market despite the volatile global economy.
However, a high level of vacancies coupled with such a high employment rate, make it a difficult task for employers to find and attract the right candidates to fill these roles. It means that the high calibre candidates on the market are in a stronger negotiating position with the potential employer and not on the market for long, if at all. Whichever way you look at it, elite employees are very hard to find.
The role professional recruiters play in this process is perhaps now more pivotal than it has ever been.
When you consider the lifetime cost of employing someone, you begin to realise how much of an investment an employer is making. You shouldn’t feel you have to find what you’re looking for alone – with any other type of investment of this size, expert specialist advice would be sought and the necessary time allocated to the decision-making process.
We can all be experts in our own roles, but try doing someone else’s job for a week – it’s tough and you can feel lost. However, when you are working alongside that person in your everyday job, you add real value to each other and success follows. The same should be applied to recruitment: the appointment of a specialist recruitment agency to work with you should result in real benefits and ensure that the chances of finding and developing the right employee are significantly increased.
Job boards and media advertising are open to anyone looking for candidates and are often a successful way to fill a position, but there are also the hidden ones – those who are not even aware that they are looking for a job, or at least, are not actively seeking.
High-quality candidates will not be searching for long, and many active candidates will not even read the agency listings or visit job boards.
A proactive approach from a recruitment consultant with a specialist and intimate knowledge of those within your industry who might be tempted to make a move could be the key-determining factor to find you the outstanding employees that meet and exceed your brief and will grow your business.
Why is it so difficult to secure the required high-quality and available talent?
Our findings have shown that companies are continually losing the best talent by taking too long with the recruitment process. When they hesitate, the best options slip by. Not having a structured recruitment process in the first place can be the cause of this hesitation.
Delaying initial interviewing just to ensure a sufficient number of candidates or reluctance to employ the very best candidates – who often command high salaries – may result in expensive mistakes. These delays can be incredibly damaging, especially when the window of availability of the very best candidates in the market is now even shorter and some do not even actively enter the job market.
Treat the process as you would any major contact pitch
When the offer stage is reached, it is also very important that it is pitched at an attractive level. Once accepted, the onus is on the employer to react quickly in providing the offer and contract in writing. Once in place, maintain frequent contact to engage the new candidate and fend off interest from any competition – treat them like a new product, protecting and benefitting from its USPs.
The process of securing the candidate and the reaction time should be viewed with the same care and attention as winning a contract for a product on a major building project. In fact, the whole process from start to completion should be considered with the same importance – after all, it is an investment in someone who will secure future product specifications.
So how do you access and secure the best talent in the current market for the building products sector?
Talk to us to discuss how we can help you in this process and find the professional advice and support to succeed.
At Pinnacle Consulting we understand the dynamics of the current recruitment market as well as the building and construction industry. We invest heavily in proactive search, networking, and headhunting, enabling us to provide our clients with access to the very best talent, from graduate and entry-level through to key executives at board or senior management level.
In addition to our search and attraction methods, we engage with potential candidates daily through our extensive in-house, online and social media networks as well as by pre-interviewing and assessing candidates throughout the country. We are ready from the second you call us.
T: 01480 405225
E: recruit@pinnacleconsulting.co.uk
We would much rather hear you singing It’s a Beautiful Day in a few weeks time rather than learning that you’re still looking…
