Have you been unable to find the perfect candidate for a role? Then it may be time to reassess your hiring model and investigate avenues that you may not have considered.
The reality of recruitment is that hiring is no longer just a matter of posting a job with your requirements and hoping to have a stream of applicants; it now often requires compromise or alternative solutions to source the best fit.
Here are some tips to help you think outside the box and reassess your hiring model.
1. Alter Expectations
In the current climate where the talent pool is tight, the perfect candidate is becoming more and more elusive. But does that mean there isn’t someone perfect for the job? Not at all!
Adjusting your hiring requirements for hard-to-fill roles is a simple solution. This could be altering the education and certification requirements or the expected years of experience.
Perhaps you wanted the candidate to be proficient in a niche software tool. Could this be taught in-house? Maybe you wanted someone with 15 years of experience, but there is a candidate who has all the right soft skills with only eight years’ experience. Although they don’t meet your initial requirements, these applicants are certainly worth considering.
Compromising on credentials does not necessarily mean lowering your expectations but rather shifting them to allow more suitable candidates to apply.
2. Focus on Internal Development
In a bid to mitigate skills shortages and fill roles quickly, many employers are now investing in their internal development and training programs more than ever. This proves advantageous for employee retention while saving time and resources on scouting new talent.
Did you know that the right candidate could sometimes be right under your nose? For example, you may have a senior accountant looking to shift direction and go into a business development role or a risk advisor that may do very well as a claims manager for your insurance portfolio.
While building and expanding your team is crucial for any growing business, it’s important to identify talent within your ranks and create opportunities for growth and promotion. So, be sure to advertise roles internally and approach staff that may be keen on new career opportunities.
Internal development is an effective means of filling positions and enables businesses to leverage, mobilise, adapt, and compete.
By upskilling current staff, you may only have to hire for junior or mid-level roles, which are often quicker to recruit than management or c-suite positions.
With a focus on training, promotion and internal development of current staff, companies can upskill high-potential candidates to deliver the strategic, value-add work they need to drive the business forward.
3. Be Flexible
With increasingly competitive hiring conditions in the financial services sector, the demand for a specific skillset can’t always wait for the right candidate to be found or upskilled.
In this case, employing contract professionals to fill skills shortages and provide support in the short term is a popular solution implemented by wealth management and financial service industry leaders around Australia.
A flexible labour market, particularly contract workers, allows companies to stay on target with strategic objectives, quickly fill skills gaps and trial new roles before committing to a permanent hire.
Part-time, contract and casual positions are all options that might be worth considering if you want to find the perfect person.
4. Look Abroad
As the economy begins to recover from the pandemic, many CFOs are struggling to hire the required financial management skills in the Australian market.
A large proportion of business leaders around Australia are now resorting to international talent to substitute skilled labour shortages in the Australian talent pool.
We continue to see a trend in recruiting international IT and financial services talent, with some employers looking to offer and implement robust offshoring and relocation packages.
Alternatively, embracing a remote workforce is also proving to be a key strategy in acquiring both international and Australian professionals seeking flexibility.
A good hiring model will ensure you find the best talent for the role while retaining staff and preventing skills shortages. Call the team at Godfrey Group today on 02 8004 9350, and let us ease the burden of the hiring process.
