Dr. Andrea Cullen is the CEO and co-founder of CAPSLOCK.
The UK continues to be an “employees market” for skilled workers, as the country continues experiencing a shortage of talent. This includes everything from civil engineers to chemical scientists. It’s not surprising that candidates would take time to consider offers in this market. In skilled fields, ‘cutting and running’ is also common. The candidate will abandon the hiring process in order to get a better salary, more benefits, or a flexible work schedule elsewhere.
Long hiring timelines can be a factor.
This problem, in my opinion, is more acute for roles with a long hiring and onboarding procedure. This is evident in the 4-5 month wait for a security clearance, which is typical for positions within financial services and government departments. In such cases, ‘cut and run’ can be common as touchpoints between candidates are reduced during this time. Due to the long hiring timelines, they often find other jobs before completing with their original employer.
It is frustrating for all those who are involved in the hiring process. They have spent countless hours trying to find the best person for their organization. Hiring skilled professionals from a small pool of talent takes time, resulting in wasted resources and costs. This also affects the existing staff, who will have to wait longer before they get this much-anticipated new colleague. This could negatively affect the morale of the team and their engagement, as well as cause operational disruptions.
A proactive approach for solving the ‘cut-and-run’ problem
Organisations can take steps to streamline their hiring process and retain talent. Organisations need to take a proactive approach and use the waiting period for training and onboarding in the recruitment process.
Technical skills can certainly be taught in the workplace, and HR works closely with the business to develop a programme that is tailored. Impact skills such as creative thinking and problem-solving are more difficult to learn. It makes sense that organisations should think outside the box to find candidates for difficult to fill roles, given the shortage of qualified workers. Consider hiring those who may not fit their definition of a “traditional candidate”. Hire managers should prioritize skills and experience above qualifications in order to attract those who have not taken the traditional route into a role or industry.
Employers could spend the months they wait for recruits to clear hurdles on a more productive basis by providing them with targeted training. Cyber security professionals can benefit from training on topics like risk management, threat analysis, business resilience, and cloud security. The future employees will feel valued and invested in even before they start the onboarding process. After they have completed the training, employers can put them in their positions, ready to start right away. They will show a positive return on investment from the very first day.
The shift in hiring, training and deployment
HR can adopt a proactive approach to reduce the risk of ‘cut-and-run’ hiring by establishing a better connection between hiring and deployment. Employers can retain candidates and improve their skills by offering targeted training to them during the hiring process. They will also be satisfied that the candidate is bringing in highly valued skills.
HR teams need to feel empowered to change the traditional recruitment process to hire the talent they need to grow their business.
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