Recently we talked about how Australia is running out of talent. The skills shortage means recruiters are having to rethink their talent acquisition if they want to fill their vacant roles.
In this article, we will discuss why now is the time to revamp your talent acquisition process and what you need to be offering candidates to entice them to your jobs.
The only thing recruiters in Australia can seem to talk about right now is the skills shortage. Closed borders due to the global pandemic have stopped the flow of skilled immigrants into the country and every industry is feeling the impact – especially tech.
According to Which-50, 159,000 more skilled workers are needed to close Australia's digital skills gap. The shallower pool of candidates and high demand for workers means every business is fighting tooth and nail to attract suitable new employees for their tech positions.
The pandemic has accelerated the skills shortage problem in Australia. Before the pandemic, there were already calls to uplift Australian workers' digital skills. Now that there is no immigration to fill the gap, it has become apparent that Australia is facing a skills crisis.
While there is an obvious struggle to find skilled workers and fill your roles, it is not impossible. There are many talented tech workers in Australia and some of them are actively looking for new opportunities.
With so many other businesses also looking to snatch up the same top talent, you need to find a way to make your business stand out.
What do job seekers in Australia want right now? Well, the biggest thing is stability. The uncertainty of the times means that very small start-ups will be struggling to recruit. There is more potential for instability here and this will discourage many candidates.
However, a business that is scaling and has a lot of money behind it will find it easier to attract talent. There is more demand from candidates to join companies that are growing and have a clear and stable future ahead.
As a recruiter, you need to be aware of this and highlight it to candidates as you actively recruit them. Make it clear in your job descriptions and with any other initial contact you have with the candidate that your business is stable.
This transparency from the beginning will help you attract higher-quality candidates. Showing candidates from the beginning that the job you are offering has a stable future will help put them at ease from the beginning of the recruitment process.
Your hiring strategy from five years ago will not work in today's market. Too much has changed. Now is the time to revamp your strategy and a big part of your focus needs to be decreasing your time to hire.
There is a high risk that when you find a great candidate they will get snapped up by a competitor. As such, you need to revamp your talent acquisition process and have that candidate ready to sign contacts in a matter of days.
The obvious concern that you have is that you don't want to be hiring flippantly. You have to work with a process that allows you to still be rigorous and ensure you are getting a great candidate, but also get them into their new role as quickly as possible.
Recruiters and HR Managers need to be able to sit down with stakeholders. Plan together how they can have more involvement and time partnered with you in the talent acquisition process.
When you see someone who you think is going to be great, you want to have everything set up to get into the process quickly. In addition, you need to think about creating a seamless experience for the candidate. While you want to be quick, you don’t want things to feel rushed and you need to make sure the ethics and regulations are in place.
The recruitment landscape is changing and your strategy needs to change with it. Money is important and salaries are rising due to the skills shortage but higher pay is not the only thing that will land you top talent.
You need to be thinking about what job seekers in the tech industry really want. One of the biggest things right now is stability. Show them that your company offers that. And then get them through your hiring process fast, before someone else snatches them up.
Despite being in business for over two decades, Phocas’ product launch cadence is still very much like a hot new startup. Engineers get to learn something new every day while exploring new tech stacks while working to fix a lot of ‘world’s first’ problems and assessing the latest technology available to improve existing products and create new ones.
Whether you’re looking to switch roles, advance in your career, or just looking for a change of pace - this article is for you.
You don’t need to look further than the news to know that there’s a lot of pressure on employees in tech… Burnout, the great resignation, tech valuations… It’s a lot. And showing your team some love can make a big difference at times like these.