You are in : Human Resources > Recruitment & Selection

Skills Shortage

Strategic recruitment no longer a luxury – it’s a necessity!

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:56

Inez van Aswegen, general manager of Network IT Recruitment

South Africa is undoubtedly one of the ‘big losers’ in the global race for skills, and this problem is affecting all businesses competing in South Africa’s dynamic commerce environment.

The problem is only getting worse, as skilled candidates continue to move overseas for better job opportunities and career prospects. In fact, a survey conducted by FutureFact found that 40%* of South Africans, across all races, are considering leaving the country to take their skills somewhere else.

These are alarming statistics and further exacerbate the skills crisis locally.

The shortfall in demand vs. supply naturally illuminates the ‘softer’ issues affecting this crisis and it’s important for companies to understand and manage these as effectively as possible to stabilise this environment in some way.

The bottom line is that the skilled candidate is becoming more and more difficult to please today. These candidates know they are in high demand and as such, they understandably demand more – particularly regarding remuneration.

Consequently, market-related salaries are becoming undoubtedly skewed resulting in skilled professionals making massive salary demands, and because companies are short skilled, they feel they don’t have the luxury to say no.

Skilled candidates want all the perks companies have to offer and if a better offer happens to come along, job hopping becomes imminent, resulting in little loyalty - something that companies, operating in such a competitive environment desperately need.

While fair remuneration is certainly a given, imagine if every company realised the severity this skewed remuneration modeling is having on their business and as such, the economy?

Surely this is an area that needs to be addressed at a higher level? And more importantly questions should be asked – questions that enable corporations to get a clearer view of what a skilled candidate actually is and what this candidate is worth?

In a crisis, it seems inevitable that such questions are put aside to merely ‘fix’ an internal skills dilemma. But in my opinion, it’s merely ‘band aiding’ a much deeper problem.

Working with an industry expert to answer these questions is therefore a critical starting point. A recruitment partner should not merely be interested in placing candidates; it should be a strategic partner within your business.

It should help you to understand what you are actually looking for, and more importantly, what staffing solution will benefit the company in the long run.

Embracing the process of outsourced recruitment to develop a better perception of who the skilled candidate is, what the rest of the industry is ‘coughing up’ and what is driving candidate placement success, is crucial to long term success.

This of course is not the attitude of many businesses but again – just imagine if all SA employees operated off the same page? It would certainly dramatically limit the current play off’s (counter offering, testing the waters, moving for money, loyalty etc) that we are currently seeing within the skilled candidate arena.

Therefore, this is an attempt to raise this awareness and encourage businesses to adopt this attitude.

To answer the right questions and understand that the skilled candidate – as critical as they are to business – need to represent more than just over inflated salary package for the good of the industry and economic development. This brings me to my next point.

Culture fit, lifestyle and other environmental issues are aspects that are becoming more important for the skilled candidate, and are shaping and impacting their decisions around job offers and opportunities.

The irony is that while companies ‘throw’ large packages at skilled candidates in an attempt to gain their loyalty, what seems to be influencing candidate decisions more and more is recognition by employers of a candidates family priorities, flexi-time options and a real concern for the well being of a candidate.

In my opinion, companies are attempting to improve on these aspects but must be cautious if they cannot deliver.

Its one thing to say flexi-time and another when the candidate is not trusted enough to do the work at home or in their own time. It’s a fine balance – and one that has to be taken seriously.

Therefore, companies should be using a strategic recruitment partner to develop a better understanding of the skilled candidate, resulting in more tailored job offers that are not only attractable to the candidate in terms of his/her needs and wants, but also ensure that growth is facilitated, knowledge is transferred and perhaps even more loyalty maintained.

Showing the skilled candidate that the company not only cares about their area of expertise and what they can offer the organisation, but also about them as an individual, their needs and expectations, will go a long way to attract and ultimately retain skilled candidates.

This is a long road to travel. There are no quick fixes. But it’s critical that corporate SA understands that strategic recruitment is critical.

How long until the skilled pool of candidates that you keep moving around the industry will dry up? How long until you price your competitors out of the competing salary arena? And most importantly, how is all of this going to affect our economic skills development and transfer for a brighter future.

It concerns me – how about you?

* Skills shortage is SA's Achilles heel, Financial Mail 01 August 2008