Tuesday 1st May 2008

Recruitment - Challenges and Solutions
Key Speaker: Nicola Turner

Welcome
The first Hub meeting of 2008 saw a return to the round table discussion format that has given The Hub its reputation for being the centre for all things HR, where HR executives have the opportunity to meet and discuss the current hot topics. This meeting proved to be no different with a fascinating and informative insight into how different recruitment issues are affecting our businesses.

The meeting was chaired by Nicola Turner who has a wealth of experience working within some of the West Midlands major companies and she steered the meeting through the many different discussion topics.

Don’t forget to regularly look at the Wright Solutions’ Website as we are continually adding more and more valuable content to the site including the latest Business Survival Guides which includes Nicola Turner’s own Guide ‘Creating the right HR Team’.

As always please remember that whilst Wright Solutions are sponsors of the Hub it is intended that it belongs to the HR community so do let us know if there are any particular subjects that you would like us to concentrate on at future events.

I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who attended and to those unable to attend this time round I look forward to welcoming you to our future Hub meetings.

Paul Wright
MD Wright Solutions

Introduction from Nicola Turner

The meeting started off with a general round table introduction and an opportunity for the attendees to give some insight to what they were hoping to get out of today’s meeting.

Thoughts from around the table highlighted current hot topics and possible discussion points including:

• Outsourcing of recruitment
• Using Third party partners to support recruitment
• Skills shortage within the West Midlands being a problem
• Driver recruitment – changing legislation
• Shortage of good quality candidates

Immigration

It was recognised that turnover of staff within the ‘low pay’ industry sectors continues to be high with an increasing number of  these jobs being filled by immigrant workers.

The influx of immigrant workers has made a big difference in the past few years to both the UK economy and how businesses recruit and manage their increasingly diverse workforces. Comment was passed on how we may be beginning to see a reversal of this trend with some immigrant workers starting to return home because they have become unhappy with their lot in the UK.

One of the big questions for the future will be ‘Where is the next tranche of immigrant workers coming from?’. The general consensus from those at the meeting is that this will mainly continue to be from the Eastern European Countries.

So what do UK businesses need to be doing to maximise the opportunity of immigrant workers?

• Ensure Recruitment Practices match a changing working environment
• Confirm that recruitment processes are robust
• Recognise the geographical and cultural issues surrounding future immigrant workers and incorporate them in to processes and procedures

To help with recruiting from other European countries businesses are already looking to:

• Improve local knowledge of the other countries.
• Employ local agencies or recruit Recruitment Officers with experience of managing local agencies

However, there still remain a number of problem areas associated with employing workers from non UK countries. One of the major ones being the widespread use of fake ID’s and qualifications such as driving licences.

HR departments are having to take stronger actions to safeguard against this problem especially as the quality of the fake documentation is continually improving.

Solutions could include better partnering with government authorities to help manage and control the checking of documentation. This could involve the country of origin embassy even before entry to the UK.

There appears to be a general feeling that local indigenous workforces are simply not interested in working for the low salaries associated with heavy work so recruitment strategies are better aimed at the immigrant population as outlined above. The effort required to attract the local indigenous workforce is not proportionate to the results that can be realistically achieved.  

Quantity or Quality

It was accepted that there is not a problem with the numbers of potential candidates, the problem is the quality of candidates.

At this time companies are not prepared to compromise on quality so it is important for the UK to focus on this Skills Shortage and Government, Educators and Business must address the issues raised by the 2006 Leitch Review.

It is seen as the responsibility of operations managers to manage the recruitment of new employees however many do not have the correct experience or knowledge to do this successfully, many see it as
an ‘Alan Sugar’ moment. The HR department could help to reduce costs associated with recruitment .

Education, Education, Education

HR is always involved in the recruitment process to some degree. Similarly the operational business itself will have involvement at some stage of the recruitment process.

How can the HR professional have confidence that good practice is being adhered to when the operational business takes over? What is a worry to many is that non HR managers may not have the correct experience or knowledge to recruit successfully or even legally.

There is a need for effective education within business on best practice for recruiting in order to avoid the embarrassing moment where the operational manager excercises their “right” to ask tough and potentially inappropriate questions at interview.

Managers need to be aware that recruitment needs a process and a strategy. It is not as simple as finding a candidate, interviewing, short listing and then employing.
                   
Businesses should try to understand why the vacancy has arisen, why did the previous person leave the job role, what factors influenced their decision. How can the company prevent the same circumstances happening again or even can they improve the job itself.

A business should understand what to expect from the interview process and how to maximise cost effectiveness of the recruitment process.

Be honest about who they are trying to find and build an initiative to achieve this.

There should be education for operational staff to improve the recruitment processes and to support this it was recommended that companies implement a “Full Circle” review:

• Review with leaving candidate what they like or dislike
• Review internal requirements
• Review during employment especially during recruitment phase
• Review when leaving

As much time should be spent in all of the above not just during the first stage of recruitment. At the moment too often it appears that big efforts are made to get the right candidate through the door only to have them abandoned alone once there. More effort should be made to understand the whole recruitment process.

It is important to remember that the recruitment process can have a wider impact than is easily recognised. For example long drawn out recruitment processes can give the wrong impression to the candidate as too often they start to worry about the wider business; “There must be something wrong with the business or role. This is taking too long”; “If they can’t make their mind up quickly how long do they take debating other operational issues?”.

Businesses need to remember too that disappointing one potential candidate can have a knock on effect as they pass on their impressions and opinions to others. A simple rule of thumb is to never forget that every candidate is a Potential Customer and they need to be treated like one.

Managing the Notice Period

Higher level candidates may be on +3 month notice periods and this can be a good time for existing employers to win them back, so new candidates should be encouraged to get involved with the new company and staff as early as possible even before their official start date.

Benefits to this approach would be that it is harder for the previous employer to persuade them to stay put; they would feel more a part of the new company quicker and therefore less likely to have second thoughts.

Outsourcing Recruitment - Right or wrong?

The group debated the pros and cons of the current trend towards outsourcing. The general consensus was that outsourcing works in certain circumstances but has its limitations.

For example below Branch Manager Level it was felt that outsourcing to a company that has a larger pool of applicants can work well and help improve the cost of hire.

However above this level where the quality and experience of the applicant is higher then a more targeted approach is necessary and this is where outsourcing stops becoming an efficient method.  
It was felt that outsourcing recruitment will put “a bum on a seat” but only a business led recruitment process can guarantee the right candidate starting and ultimately thriving in the role.

Measuring Recruitment

It was felt that there should be more measurement of recruitment costs, however trying to find processes to allow for this are difficult. For example just finding the data can be almost impossible with the many hidden costs such as staff time and number of interviews not being recorded.

How many companies know the true cost of recruitment to their business?
                   
It was agreed that small changes can make enormous savings when it comes to recruitment, removing one level of short listing can make a big impact of costs.
                   
There is the argument that many businesses do not bother to monitor these costs during the good times and that it is only during the downturn that focus is given to these issues.

Some potential cost savings include:

• 1st stage interviews conducted by a good Recruitment Consultancy that really understands your business.
• Only the 2nd stage interview by HR

Grow your own

Other options include building or growing your candidates from either within the organisation or by participating in initiatives such as graduate programmes or apprentice schemes

The downside can be that graduates from these schemes may not be happy with the position offered to them within the business, feeling that they are capable of better things.

Today’s generation are looking for bigger opportunities earlier in their careers and may feel over qualified for positions offered to them.

Whereas ‘2nd jobbers’ have a better idea of what to expect and are therefore happier to take on more realistic job opportunities, they may even be happy to take on lesser job roles compared to their experience and knowledge because they are changing their work outlook.

There are vast Generational differences with regards to careers and job options and this will affect the recruitment process and decision making by the employer.

Interviewers need to understand and recognise this difference when interviewing. The right candidate could be missed because the aspirations and perceptions of the interviewer are different to the candidates.

In conclusion

The work life balance is becoming more important to individuals, flexibility is also an important factor when considering employment. The traditional landscape for employment is changing from the ‘job for life’ to a series of career challenges where the individual can and does make wide sweeping changes to their careers with much more confidence. They are not afraid of short term employment programmes and are open to changing quite fundamental elements of their work and home life to accommodate these changes.

For the future businesses need to understand the changing personal criteria.

The ‘Job for life’ is not necessarily the primary reason for a candidate to join an organisation. Candidates may even want to change their career paths 3 or 4 times during their predicted work life span, which is understandable if we will all be working till our 75th birthday!

The ever changing population of Birmingham is causing its own problems especially moving into the future. We need to look at the skills required for the future and act today, partnering with school and education organisations.

We need to educate the companies to appreciate why candidates will want to work for them and it may not be the most obvious reasons.

There is still a lack of role models and this has to be addressed in the future.

Recruitment is changing and businesses need to be ready to understand these changes so they can recruit the right people to take their business forward.

What Next – The Wright Solution

We all agree that Recruitment is a tricky business. From finding the right candidate to pre-employment checks, recruitment can be a time consuming and unpredictable process. Whether you put people through their paces with competency based interviews or assessment centres, ability tests or personality questionnaires, there’s no guarantee they’ll work out!

Recruitment will always be a major part of the HR Professionals responsibility and you will want to know if:

• Your recruitment strategy aligns to your business needs and compliments other HR practices?  
• Your recruitment processes are slick and well respected, or seen as a hindrance to acquiring the right talent?
• The innovative advertising that you have developed to position your business as a cutting edge, forward thinking employer is matched by an innovative selection process. Or whether candidates are being left disappointed after attending outdated interviews conducted by traditionally minded operational managers?

Wright Solutions (in Partnership with Nicola Turner) have put together a highly effective and focused Recruitment Audit to give you confidence that your recruitment processes and procedures are as effective as they need to be.

Wright Solutions is a unique HR Solutions Provider with experience of providing support and guidance to a varied client base in a variety of industry sectors (Legal, Financial Services, Retail, Manufacturing, Public Sector, Transport and Distribution to name a few). With a dedicated Recruitment Division Wright Solutions are a uniquely placed Training Consultancy able to offer unprecedented external expertise, advice and guidance in recruitment best practice and will help you benchmark effectively against your competitors.

We can give you a valuable insight into your current recruitment practices by looking at the methods and systems you use, seeking the views of key people in your organisation and recommending areas for improvement.

Please contact Wright Solutions on 0121 687 4040 for a more detailed discussion on your unique commercial challenges and how we can support you with them