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Now the best time in a generation to recruit
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Now the best time in a generation to recruit
Now is literally the best time in at least the last 25 years to be actively recruiting, says expert Dr John Sullivan.
A confluence of factors make this a "perfect storm" of opportunity if you implement a counter-cyclical hiring strategy focused on filling forecasted vacancies, such as those resulting from baby-boomer retirements, he says on ERE.net.
Senior managers can be convinced of this if recruiters use a corporate purchasing analogy, he says.
"Any manager who has participated in a significant volume of corporate purchasing negotiations realises that there are economic and competitive factors that make a particular period the `perfect time` to get the best deal," he says. "The `best deal` means a procurement opportunity where, with little effort, you are likely to get the best quality, the broadest selection, and at the lowest price."
Procuring high-quality talent at low cost and with minimal effort "would certainly make you a hero among senior managers with mounting volumes of work to be completed", he points out.
Sullivan acknowledges that because revenues are down, now "isn`t the perfect time to do large-scale hiring", but employers should conduct "surgical hiring" to selectively build the organisation by hiring a relatively small number of exceptionally talented individuals for key positions.
He says recruiters should start hiring now because:
Competitors are out of the market - "almost no one is in the talent market right now. Most firms have instituted a hiring and/or a budget freeze, which means the competition for talent is ridiculously low".
High-quality talent is available - in some downturns, only low-quality talent is laid off by corporations, Sullivan says, but in the current downturn, because of a large number of mergers, closures, and the complete elimination of some major firms, "the amount of extremely high-quality unemployed or underemployed talent available around the world is at an all-time high. Even currently employed top talent who have jobs haven`t been treated very well during the downturn, and a record number of over 60 per cent of these fully employed individuals are open to new opportunities".
Costs are low - the lack of competition and the down economy have forced the price of available talent in almost all positions back down to reasonable levels. New referral approaches and internet and social networking recruiting tools have also reduced the cost of recruiting talent, he notes. "Taken together they have dramatically decreased the cost of adding talent."
Talent is amenable - "the lack of available job opportunities has shifted the power away from talent and toward corporations to the point where top talent will consider job opportunities and options today that they would have rejected as little as two years ago".
The retirement wave is coming - falling share prices and their effect on superannuation have temporarily postponed the upcoming wave of retirements, Sullivan notes, but "these retirements will come eventually and if the economy turns around suddenly, firms may very soon be faced with a tidal wave of retirements".
Retention challenges are imminent - "if your organisation is among the many that have undergone layoffs, frozen hiring, reduced budgets, and maybe even cut salaries… the odds are that your current employees are overworked and stressed. This less-than-perfect treatment coupled with the fact that many of the `new generation` of employees have little-to-no loyalty to a single firm will result in a dramatic increase in turnover as soon as more external opportunities begin appearing."
There are benefits if you "begin looking early", Sullivan says.
"By hiring now you provide new hires with enough training and development time to be up-to-speed as new technologies come online. Hiring individuals before you need them also gives them a chance to adjust to your corporate culture. Hiring a surplus of talent will provide you with an opportunity to `release` employees or new hires who can`t meet productivity goals.
"A final advantage of beginning your recruiting search early is that even if you merely stretch out the time period over which you are actively looking for talent, you automatically increase the odds that one or more top individuals will become available during the extended search time."
Source:
http://www.recruiterdaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&stream=All&selkey=
A confluence of factors make this a "perfect storm" of opportunity if you implement a counter-cyclical hiring strategy focused on filling forecasted vacancies, such as those resulting from baby-boomer retirements, he says on ERE.net.
Senior managers can be convinced of this if recruiters use a corporate purchasing analogy, he says.
"Any manager who has participated in a significant volume of corporate purchasing negotiations realises that there are economic and competitive factors that make a particular period the `perfect time` to get the best deal," he says. "The `best deal` means a procurement opportunity where, with little effort, you are likely to get the best quality, the broadest selection, and at the lowest price."
Procuring high-quality talent at low cost and with minimal effort "would certainly make you a hero among senior managers with mounting volumes of work to be completed", he points out.
Sullivan acknowledges that because revenues are down, now "isn`t the perfect time to do large-scale hiring", but employers should conduct "surgical hiring" to selectively build the organisation by hiring a relatively small number of exceptionally talented individuals for key positions.
He says recruiters should start hiring now because:
Competitors are out of the market - "almost no one is in the talent market right now. Most firms have instituted a hiring and/or a budget freeze, which means the competition for talent is ridiculously low".
High-quality talent is available - in some downturns, only low-quality talent is laid off by corporations, Sullivan says, but in the current downturn, because of a large number of mergers, closures, and the complete elimination of some major firms, "the amount of extremely high-quality unemployed or underemployed talent available around the world is at an all-time high. Even currently employed top talent who have jobs haven`t been treated very well during the downturn, and a record number of over 60 per cent of these fully employed individuals are open to new opportunities".
Costs are low - the lack of competition and the down economy have forced the price of available talent in almost all positions back down to reasonable levels. New referral approaches and internet and social networking recruiting tools have also reduced the cost of recruiting talent, he notes. "Taken together they have dramatically decreased the cost of adding talent."
Talent is amenable - "the lack of available job opportunities has shifted the power away from talent and toward corporations to the point where top talent will consider job opportunities and options today that they would have rejected as little as two years ago".
The retirement wave is coming - falling share prices and their effect on superannuation have temporarily postponed the upcoming wave of retirements, Sullivan notes, but "these retirements will come eventually and if the economy turns around suddenly, firms may very soon be faced with a tidal wave of retirements".
Retention challenges are imminent - "if your organisation is among the many that have undergone layoffs, frozen hiring, reduced budgets, and maybe even cut salaries… the odds are that your current employees are overworked and stressed. This less-than-perfect treatment coupled with the fact that many of the `new generation` of employees have little-to-no loyalty to a single firm will result in a dramatic increase in turnover as soon as more external opportunities begin appearing."
There are benefits if you "begin looking early", Sullivan says.
"By hiring now you provide new hires with enough training and development time to be up-to-speed as new technologies come online. Hiring individuals before you need them also gives them a chance to adjust to your corporate culture. Hiring a surplus of talent will provide you with an opportunity to `release` employees or new hires who can`t meet productivity goals.
"A final advantage of beginning your recruiting search early is that even if you merely stretch out the time period over which you are actively looking for talent, you automatically increase the odds that one or more top individuals will become available during the extended search time."
Source:
http://www.recruiterdaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&stream=All&selkey=
