By Maurice Gilbert, Founder and CEO of Conselium
Whether or not they are aware of the fact, a company’s most valuable asset is its employees. The last decade has seen a number of difficulties thrust upon businesses from every direction, making the hiring of quality employees even more difficult than it typically is. However, with recent forecast for the economy in the coming year showing a great improvement, it appears that now is the time for companies to begin redoubling their efforts to ensure that they acquire the best possible talent while the time is ripe. To do this, employers will need to be aware of what to expect in the coming months as far as hiring practices are concerned, and to help in these efforts, executive search firms have put together this list of five of the top hiring trends which companies can expect to face.
First, while there has most certainly been a marked increase in hires in the last few months, a trend which is expected to increase throughout the year, the distribution of these opportunities has been widely uneven from region to region with some regions showing a much greater improvement than others. Companies looking to increase their hiring efforts will need to research this information further to ensure that they have a firm grasp of where they stand, and if the time is right for them to take such steps.
Second, while it has become a common trend in recent years for companies to seek the cheapest possible means to employ their personnel, a method which was considered bad practice even in the worst of times, as things begin to progressively improve, employers will soon find themselves unable to procure and retain quality employees if they are unwilling to invest in them. Ultimately, what needs to change in this situation is the way in which companies view their employees, not as replaceable tools but as valuable, long-term assets to be invested in for the future growth and health of the organization.
Next, as the growth of our digital reliance expands ever further into today’s business practices, more and more companies are beginning to make use of social media networking as a fundamental tool in their executive search and candidate sourcing procedures. As such, social media has opened up an entirely new and invaluable tool to employers in this capacity, allowing them to reach out to candidates that they might never have been able to otherwise. However, as attractive as these opportunities may be, companies should not come to rely solely on these methods, but must make use of other, more traditional tactics as well.
As an extension of the previous point, companies are coming to rely more heavily on internal referrals in their sourcing and hiring procedures. This technique is simple enough to make use of, and is both highly time and cost effective in its success. By requesting that their employees spread the word of any opening within the company and providing them with a well-designed job description, employers can effectively tap into their employees’ own personal networks with promises of referral fees for a mutually beneficial arrangement all around.
Finally, due to an easily understandable reluctance to begin hiring just as this relative lull in the economy has begun, many companies are looking to contract workers in order to ease back into the system. This has the added benefit of not only being a risk free, low cost means of taking on new employees, but, should certain individuals acquired through such means prove themselves valuable enough, companies can always offer to hire these individuals on properly
Published by Conselium Executive Search, the global leader in compliance search.
