Half of businesses struggling to recruit despite high unemployment levels, according to global research from Alexander Mann Solutions
As businesses start to emerge from one of the deepest recessions in living memory, many organisations risk missing out on opportunities to grow their business due to recruitment challenges caused by a lack of flexibility and innovation.
According to Part Two of the Future Fit Recruitment Report, by Alexander Mann Solutions, many businesses are struggling with the realities of recruitment in the current economic climate.
Examining the opinions of senior HR decision makers from around the world, the global research project found that over half of companies surveyed (55 per cent) have experienced difficulty in recruiting in the last six months and that 70 per cent attribute these difficulties to a skills shortage in the candidate pool. This is a particular issue for companies in the UK (76 per cent) and less pronounced in Asia Pac (60 per cent).
At a time when unemployment is high and the candidate pool is larger than it has been for some time, these findings raise questions over whether organisations are failing to adapt their recruitment practices to current conditions.
Despite skills shortages being cited as a major obstacle in the hiring process, only 33 per cent of companies consider themselves as “good” or “excellent” when it comes to using innovative and creative approaches to secure new talent. At a time when top talent is very much in demand, this is a clear sign that organisations need to embrace innovative practices that go beyond their current recruitment processes if they are to successfully attract the skills they need to grow.
A lack of flexibility in organisations’ recruitment criteria could also be contributing to businesses’ recruitment challenges. While over half (53 per cent) of HR professionals surveyed consider that their organisation is “good” or “excellent” in terms of having flexibility in the recruitment process, one in five (17 per cent) of HR leaders polled recognised a lack of flexibility in the type of candidate sought.
In addition, 86 per cent revealed that their company has rigid skill requirements that candidates must meet, in terms of previous experience and education qualifications. These figures suggest that, in many businesses, strict recruitment briefs are potentially stifling the recruitment process and ruling out potential candidates as well as limiting innovation within the business.
With 60 per cent of organisations admitting to having purposefully tough selection processes to ensure only the most committed individuals progress (increasing to 73 per cent in the USA), and 64 per cent having minimum qualification requirements that all candidates must meet, there is a clear need for companies to examine whether their current recruitment process is getting the right people through the door or whether it is simply exacerbating the skills shortage issue.
