Talent is an essential part of maintaining a successful organisation, yet right now, more than half of employers (52%) believe that competition for talent is even greater, compared to 41% and 20% in 2010 and 2009 respectively (Source: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Resourcing and Talent Planning Survey). So what are the top four pitfalls to avoid to overcome the competition for talent?
1) Designing a job role with the wrong specification
Acting quickly to respond to market changes often means that organisations overlook important details when seeking out new talent. The spec may cover core competency and skills, but overlook behaviour. This means that an organisation can end up with a candidate that looks great on paper, but does not match its values and culture of the organisation, leaving it with the potential risk of employee attrition and other problems.
The solution? Design the role around the core competency, behaviour and skills.
2) Limiting your candidate search to one approach
With just 10% of relevant candidates actively looking for a role, 90% of relevant candidates and within that, the talent, are within the passive job market (Source: Office of National Statistics). Yet many employers are reducing their opportunities to win real talent by limiting their recruitment approaches to just one or two familiar techniques. You could be focusing on placing an advert in an industry publication, but overlook the ideal candidate in the person working with you in your business.
The active market - these are the people who are actively seeking a new job.
The passive market - these are the people who aren’t looking for a new job, but who may, as the statistic above strongly suggests, be the candidate you need.
The solution? Build up and amplify your reach by using a range of approaches.
Combine the active approaches with the multi-channel way of connecting with ‘passive’ talent – the people who aren’t looking for a new job, but have the talent you need. The growth of the internet and the social media with forums like LinkedIn have significantly broadened the opportunity to build a more sustainable talent pipeline.
3) Using a flawed selection process
Not long ago, a research survey showed that poor recruitment and promotion decisions lead to lower morale (68%), reduced productivity (66%) lost customers (54%), higher training costs (51%) and higher recruiting costs (44%) (Right Management Survey 2006). Attrition through losing staff is also a significant drain on an organisation’s costs. The Aon Hewitt: 2011 Talent Survey has revealed that just 28% of organisations believe that they are very or extremely effective at hiring quality employees. So why does selection still continue to be one of the biggest pitfalls in creating a pipeline of talent?
Common mistakes in selecting staff are:
- Failing to prove or verify what is stated by the candidate in the application process.
- Failing to evaluate the necessary skills
- An inconsistent selection process.
The solution? Use a 360 degree approach to assess potential talent and cover all the important aspects consistently and thoroughly.
4) Overlooking the value of development
In a recent survey of more than 7,500 employees by Aon Consulting, nearly half (47%) of the 1,000 UK respondents were planning on looking for a new job before the end of the year.
Poor staff development is a major cause of staff attrition. Finding talent is just the start. For a truly long-lasting pipeline, in-house talent needs to be supported by ongoing development. Otherwise, it can create a significant drain for an organisation.
The solution? Use a consistent approach to track competency and invest in high quality development and training.
