Strategic Planning: Talent Shortages

Your organization is facing recruitment challenges whether you know it or not. The rise of recruitment challenges is a result of many factors, rapid economic expansion, higher demand of talent for digital transformation due to digitalization, pent-up demand for delayed projects due to the pandemic, and labor shortages. The last few years have made it difficult for all businesses to retain and acquire new and top talent.

In October 2021, American Airlines cancelled more than 1700 flights due to staff shortages. Labor shortages are becoming more and more common amongst businesses due to the lack of skilled recruiters and the inability to provide higher compensation to retain skilled employees.  Knowing how to guide your leaderships team to recruit and retain top talent will fuel your organization’s growth. Read below for a few strategies that can easily be applied to common problems your company may be facing.

Develop a strong recruitment strategy

Developing a solid recruitment strategy helps your company filter candidates according to your hiring needs and ensures that your organization can continue to maintain its commitment to provide equal opportunities for all your employees. The key is to focus on the three B’s strategies. Buy, Build, and Borrow. Let’s dive deep into each of them:

Buy strategy involves hiring an individual as an employee that brings in outside skills and experience into the organization. An advantage of using this recruiting strategy is that you bring in things from a new perspective into your business. However, top talent comes with a price due to high demand. You need to be prepared to compete with other employers by offering benefits or competitive wages if you want to keep top talent.

Build strategy focuses on building the talent within your organization. Great for use of organizational resources, building talent can save your budget instead of using it to buy talent. Benefits of building your current talent is that it keeps employee engagement high. You want your employees to feel valued and investing in them will help them see that value. Building talent takes time. Ensure that your organization knows what it needs from your employees to succeed. If you’re feeling the pinch and don’t know the path to success, seek a business coach to help steer you in the right direction.

Borrow strategy focuses on hiring freelancers, contractors, consultants, or even part-time/seasonal employees. Most businesses require specialized skills to achieve specific goals. One of the biggest advantages of using the borrow strategy in your organization is that you maximize and properly use your resources while you keep your current employees engaged.

Every organization needs to include some level of buy, build, and borrow into their recruitment strategy. Overall, your hiring team needs to know how to notify employees on their duties and responsibilities in order to fulfill the roles you’re trying to fill in for your business to succeed.

Create an enticing onboarding program

If your team is struggling with finding the right pieces to the hiring puzzle, start with nurturing talent that promotes strong leadership and encourages employees to stay in your organization. The application process is the first critical point you have with your future workers, so ensuring your leadership team is aligned with your companies’ goals before they start requesting applications is an integral step. With the company goals established, and the right skill set defined for each candidate, your team will be ready to attract the right team member. Making this process as smooth, quick, and painless as possible, sends a message of efficiency and straightforwardness to your management team and potential talent.

Ensuring your employees have a positive, engaging onboarding experience is just as important as making sure the application process goes well. If the duration of time your employees are staying with your organization are getting shorter and shorter, it’s time for your management team to revisit your recruiting strategy and realign it with your vision and company goals. The key is to get your employees accustomed to their new work environment, quickly. The onboarding process is your first impression with a new employee. You want to put your best foot forward and get them productive as fast as you can.

Nurture existing talent

By now, your management team should know how to retain and nurture talent. But times are always changing, and the new generation of employees are looking for different things. Ensuring your recruiting team is on the forefront of benefits can make or break a hire. One thing that’s overlooked but easy to provide is professional development opportunities for employers and employees. Keep your them updated, and make sure they’re fully aware of the different certifications, training, and education programs available to them. To encourage your team to take advantage of additional education programs, many organizations offer partial or complete tuition reimbursement and/or time off work to complete courses and schooling. Providing your organization with continual access to professional development opportunities will create an environment where education and learning are valued. Is your management team doing this right? If you aren’t sure, a seasoned hiring coach is recommended at this point. A fresh outside perspective is always valuable.

Invest in coaching

One of the biggest ways to find and retain top talent is by having a strong recruitment team. But that’s now the end of it. Investing in their continued development is critical to maintaining a cutting-edge team. Although continuous learning is critical for your company to develop the talent you are short of, it’s also a two-way street. Employees need to know that unless they partake in growing professionally, they may become outdated. Working with a business or recruitment coach can really benefit your organization. A coach will work hand in hand with you to discover your business’ strengths and weaknesses and develop a strategy that will get you to where you want to be and achieve your goals.

Conclusion

Identifying future potential, driving a culture of proactive learning, and providing training programs will be critical to the success of your organization. With many businesses wanting to scale, and recoup post-pandemic revenue, recruiters and employees must have the awareness and willingness to take action, which means executives need to be aware of their internal management teams. Seek help from a business coach or partake in training programs. Whether it’s based on buy, build, borrow, or additional strategies, knowing what works for your organization will help you develop a recruitment strategy for success. Developing an enticing onboarding program will encourage your employees to perform better at work, as well as build their trust.

A great leader is someone who inspires others to be leaders.  Nurture your existing talent pool to maximize the productivity and engagement of your employees. Happy work culture equals productivity and success. If you don’t know where to start, you can take this free Business Coach Assessment to discover the areas of your business that need improvement.

Contact me for a consultation.