Demographic changes, international competition and the lack of qualified personnel have complicated the labor market. In brief, the result is the war for talents. And the solution? Turning into innovative recruitment methods – be open minded to social recruiting! It is not only essential, but crucial to have great managerial talents, because in today’s competitive knowledge-based world, the caliber of a company’s talent determines success in the marketplace.
Unfortunately, the human resource department often has difficulties to attract the right ones and especially to retain them. The graph below represents preventable errors in the search for talents. Do not only look for employees with particular abilities, but with capacities for further development. Traditional job search on the internet or via printed media does not reach the right ones, but those who visited the job accidentally. Moreover do not hesitate with your hiring processes and decisions, because you will lose top candidates (Goldberg, 2010; ingeniam.de, 2009).
What does ‘war for talents’ mean?
The term will continue to reshape the workplace in the decades ahead. The slogan is a critical driver of corporate performance thus stands for the growing recruiting efforts of companies. Academics (Youndt et al., 1996) found out that businesses using the most effective recruitment sources have a better annual profit and annual growth, which leads to the company’s success.
Why is this silent battlefield so important and do companies really know that they are in the middle of a war for talents?
How will your company keep professionals for more than few months and bind them to your business? This is the point where the majority gives the same answer: money! Well, yes money does matter but there are evidences (Chambers et al., 1998) showing that wealth and reward are not the most effective motivational factor. Components that drive satisfaction are the opportunity for further development, because people have already realized that continuous learning is the only real security in the job market. Executives tend to be more interested in flexibility, geographic location and corporate identity. Also the market position and the firm’s reputation are very important issues in regard to company’s attractiveness.
If your company wants to start in the right direction, a creation of true team environment as well as an improvement of individuals’ lives is essential. Where a respectful treatment is natural, coming to work will be more than simply making money. In other words, it will be working together to achieve common goals.
It is to mention, that the war for talents is creating a new business reality, in which we are actually living. If you are now asking yourself what has changed it is just easier to perceive the fact, that in the new business reality companies are searching people, compared to the situation where it was the other way round a few years ago. In addition, in the past, employees were loyal and there was a high job security, however, nowadays people are mobile and their commitment is short term. Moreover machines and assets were definitely the competitive advantage, though, today talented people provide competitiveness. Due to the fact, that in our society people do not accept the standard package they are offered, but demand more, it is necessary to represent the firm as unique to get the top talents. De facto, it has to be given attention to the strength of employer branding. This phenomenal strategy is used by companies to convey the organization as a ‘great place to work’ in view of the image, the location, the payment and the quality of the products.
As the major focus is on recruiting, it is astonishingly that it is nowadays more like marketing and selling. In former times, recruiting was like purchasing, picking the best one of all candidates.
So what has led to such societal changes and to the war for talents?
One major reason for this imbalance of supply and demand is that there is an increasing competition in which organizations no longer compete with regional companies but have to face international competition. Especially the rise of some strong economic powers like China or Brazil has exacerbated the competition, as these countries are looking to recruit the best talents among international markets. Second, the demographic factors indicate that the number of available employees is declining according to the decreasing birth rate. Last but not least, the growing economy in the so-called peripheral states. Young professionals leave the European market to gain experiences abroad. The same occurs the other way round, hence companies try to seek the best talents.
But where?
With the new technological trend, several organizations making use of e-recruitment, also called online recruitment for reducing recruitment costs, to broadening the selection pool but also to shorten the time to hire. It is self-evident that the growing medium of communication is social media, isn’t it? Social media is more – it is a branch of online recruitment besides very popular among the younger generation.
If your company wants to win the war for talents it is essential to be present at the right channel. Choose the right medium, join the virtual circles and get in touch with potential applicants. In opposite of a job portal, which principally operates regional and offers paid services for recruiters, social media is global in nature and also free for the basic user. Mostly, recruiters are looking for the right appointment in social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or also Xing.
In conclusion, social media is gaining popularity amongst recruiters as the war for talents does influence companies’ future. Do not hesitate, start searching, finding and evaluating your talents! Along these lines, good luck!
