Did you know the Centre for Economic Research calculated $160 billion to be the total cost of the skills gap to US companies per year? It doesn’t stop there either. The gap is growing as it becomes harder and harder for Human Resources departments to find the talent they need that have the essential knowledge, skills and abilities to fill their vacant positions.
The question always circles back: how do we find the right talent for our organization?
To do this, you need to re-define your talent acquisition strategy. What worked then (online job boards, newspaper ads, costly recruiters) won’t always work now. At Intellidig, we have worked with hundreds of companies to help them find the required talent for difficult to fill roles. We have narrowed down three essential steps to re-defining your talent acquisition strategy that will help you find the right candidates for the job.
Determine the Gaps in Your Current and Future Workforce
Workforce planning requires research and hard data. It circles back to the skills gap. Ask yourself, where can we improve as an organization? What skills are our existing employees lacking and can we train them, or do we need to find external candidates to fill these roles?
It is vital to look at this step as not only short-term solution, but something that will impact your business in the future. If you are only planning for today, you are already behind in your talent acquisition strategy.
A few tools to help assess the current gaps in your workforce can include 360 degree reviews, employee skill assessments and benchmarking performance. While none of these are quick fixes, the research and data you gain will be valuable in determining not only your skills gap, but other key areas of opportunity within your organization.
Define and Communicate Your Employment Brand
LinkedIn estimates that the cost-per-hires among businesses with strong employment brands is more than two times lower than companies with less of a solidified brand presence. What does this mean?
Developing your brand essential as you build-out your talent acquisition strategy. A solid employer brand is more likely to attract passive candidates to your organization. When people know who you are, what you stand for and your reputation as an employer within the workforce, your strong employment brand can draw them into your talent pool.
How do you determine if you have a strong employment brand? Recruiting.com has a great checklist that includes:
- The Self Assessment: why did you join the organization? What do you enjoy most about your company?
- The Employee Check: do you get employee referrals? What do employees tell their friends about working for your company?
- The Candidate Survey: do your prospective candidates mention anything that relates to your brand, such as culture or work environment in their interviews?
“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.” – Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon
What are your potential candidates saying about you?
Research Your Ideal Candidates
According to JIBE, passive candidates make up to an estimated 75% of global job candidates. What does this mean for you?
Your greatest opportunity lies within the ability to find the candidates who are already working and not actively seeking employment.
Consider the following:
- Who are my top competitors?
- Do my competitors have similar positions at their companies?
- What roles am I struggling to fill?
- What skills do my ideal candidate have?
Simply posting to an online job board is not enough. If you want to find the right people, you need to utilize the power of social media, primarily LinkedIn to help you find these candidates. Likely, they are already working in similar roles with similar companies and industries.
Learn more about attracting passive candidates here.
What’s Next?
At Intellidig we believe that the way things are currently being done is just not good enough.So, we redefined and pioneered a new way of helping our clients find the best talent and stay ahead of the competition.
Finding talent, the right talent, requires digging much deeper than what traditional recruitment methods involve. We identify, engage and attract the highest quality candidates through a very targeted and intricate Talent Acquisition approach, which provides you with a powerful competitive advantage.
Want to learn more about how research can help your talent acquisition strategy? Download our free guide: How Research Makes Hiring Better or give us a call at 1.866.620.5393 to book your complimentary consultation.