Hire Better: Rethink Your Strategy

By identifying the elements needed for effective hiring, we can understand the process steps, desired outcomes and timing considerations for filling a vacancy. In turn, this helps structure recruitment & selection processes to consistently make successful hires.

Tough Markets Impact on the War for Talent

For small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), efficient recruitment and selection processes are critical. Not only do they save time and resources, but they also ensure that the right talent is brought on board to drive the organisation's success. A recent survey by Indeed found that 3 out of 4 UK businesses think that hiring has become more difficult over the last five years. In an increasingly competitive market SMEs must be adept at attracting, evaluating, and securing top talent to remain viable and to grow.

• Skills Shortages: Many SMEs face challenges in sourcing skilled staff, with 68% struggling to find recruits with adequate skills. This shortage impacts productivity and competitiveness.
• Cost-effective Recruitment: Due to cost-of-living pressures, SMEs are adopting lower-cost recruitment methods, such as school-leaver employment schemes and apprenticeships.
• Upskilling Current Workforce: A significant number of SMEs are investing in upskilling their existing workforce to bridge skills gaps and enhance employee satisfaction.
• Graduate Recruitment Challenges: SMEs often face difficulties in graduate recruitment due to limited HR resources and inadequate recruitment processes

Challenges in the Labour Market

SMEs and charities often face considerable challenges in trying to attract talent:

  Budget & Resource constraints

  Lack of dedicated in-house HR team

  Financial competition from larger firms

  Limited brand recognition

Introducing: Talent Acquisition

Talent acquisition is a strategic approach to attracting, identifying, and onboarding top talent to meet your current and upcoming business needs. It involves seven key steps:

1. Map Out What You Need
2. Maximise Your Brand
3. Attract Top Talent (Recruitment)
4. Make Informed Choices (Selection)
5. Onboard For Impact
6. Use Tech For Better Hiring
7. Measure Your Success

Getting the strategy right lessens the impact of vacancies through forecasting hiring needs and having an agile process to fill roles quickly and effectively. To do this, we have to focus on what we can control and adopt a strategic approach to take advantage of our unique positions.

One size does not fit all

Planning and implementing your talent acquisition will differ from other organisations depending on several factors:

Your Industry will impact on the talent available to perform specialist roles and competition to employ top talent.

 Company Size will affect the number of responsibilities and duties held by roles across your organisation, and progression opportunities for new or existing staff.

 Brand Recognition will impact the appeal of the role you are trying to fill in the eyes of prospective candidates.

 Budget constraints will dictate how much you can spend on salaries, benefits, training and advertising

This blog post is part of our "Hire Better" series of resources aimed at helping SMEs and Non-Profits adopt a strategic approach to their recruitment & selection practices.