HR trends and what they mean: Hiring headaches

The latest data from Indeed has found that 58% of employers in France, Canada, Germany, the United States, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom believe that hiring is increasingly challenging. But what seems to be the issue? Digging deeper, there’s a bit of a paradoxical response — employers say their biggest challenge is finding quality applicants, while job seekers say it's having access to quality roles. 

We see two factors at play here. The first is a misalignment of talent pools, making it harder for quality applicants to find quality roles. The second is a need for organisations to hire for skills. If employers want to find the best candidates, they need to address both factors by expanding their scope while refreshing their processes.

In our Workforce Pulse, Phil Blaydes, Chair at Talentful, espoused the benefits of taking a more skills-first approach to hiring:

“Sourcing for skills provides a greater platform to increase diversity and broadens your ability to hire top talent in more competitive landscapes… [organisations should consider] pivoting hiring requirements to source inherent abilities like EQ, motivation, grit, and other transferable skill sets gained across a lifetime of varying roles.”

Moving forward, organisations need to consider how they plan on expanding and managing their talent pools — and deciding whether to do either. As part of that, we’d recommend some of the following: 

• Broaden your search criteria: Expand your talent pool by considering candidates with diverse backgrounds and transferable skills. You may also want to consider ‘career returners’ (those returning from a career break of some kind) or employees from completely different industries. 

• Utilise diverse channels: Explore various platforms and networks, including social media and industry-specific job boards, to reach a broader audience and tap into hidden or passive talent pools. This style of proactive recruitment can find candidates before they even consider applying. 

• Leverage technology: Implement AI-driven tools to streamline the recruitment process, helping to identify candidates with the right skills and potential, rather than just traditional qualifications. You may also want to revisit your hiring process and if it’s evaluating candidates in the right ways.

• Personio Masterclass: Four things every Talent Acquisition lead needs to know

• Why is everyone talking about…passive talent pools?

• 11 recruiting KPIs your hiring team needs to track

That's all for this week's edition of Personio Pulse: This Week in HR. Check back next week as we continue to dissect the latest trends impacting the ways we work. 

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