Putting the War for Talent on the agenda at RCSA’s recent roundtable

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented recruiters a number of pressing challenges. One of the key changes has been the change from recruiting now being dominated by candidates – the war for talent is back. Recently, the Australian based Volcanic team of Caroline Tamas, Rod Ko and Jason Crimmins lead an RCSA organised digital roundtable discussion on Wednesday, 21st July where Rod Ko outlined how recruiters can not only compete in the war for talent, but win it. A frequent talking point was the evident talent shortages and how recruiters can be imaginative in attracting passive candidates. It was evident from our audience that now more than ever a talent shortage is really impacting the recruitment process.

The principles behind the push and pull factors, which eventually leads to an applicant coming on the market and applying for a new position were all debated with energy with the present recruiters. Candidates, recruiters and hiring managers now find themselves in a quandary. Global economies are now reawakening and with that comes a desire from hiring firms to engage recruiters to hire the staff they need to achieve their objectives, goals and ambitions. When lockdown came in March 2020, projects were put on hold everywhere. Sadly, redundancies were also made and it became a nightmare scenario for clients, candidates and the entire recruitment industry. Now with jobs aplenty in every territory, candidates are holding the ace cards. Do they stay where they are and manage their situation? What comes with that could be factors they need to consider, for example, push factors including a poor company culture or poor leadership. Equally, to quench their career thirst they may want to earn more, climb the ladder and advance their careers. Acting as pull factors these will also be considerations.

A recruitment consultant’s ability to gauge the push or pull factors is critical to understanding the reasons why an applicant has applied and also critical to the success of the placement. And this is where recruiters compete in the war for talent.

From the on-the-day discussions, it’s clear that the recruitment industry has never been more relevant. However, in order to stay applicable, a recruitment agency needs to ensure they have a multi-faceted approach to the attraction, conversion and, ultimately, retention of market leading talent for their respective clients.

As a recruitment business you need to think of your recruitment website as a key candidate attraction tool. A well-performing website should be considered as the additional – digital – head that’s always working for you 24/7. It’s true to say with a great website that’s integrated with back-office systems comes better efficiencies, a happier workforce and outstanding ROI. As we discovered, global economies are accelerating hard but budgets could still be under scrutiny. Do job boards really provide the analysis and effectiveness for their continued expenditure? The war for talent is there for recruiters to win and retaining control is one very effective tool in your armoury.

To find out more on how Volcanic can assist your recruitment business in winning the war on talent feel free call or book your free demonstration