By Betina Stage, Chief Advisor at CfL, August 2024
Denmark has experienced very low unemployment for several years. According to Statistics Denmark, our youth cohorts are declining until 2032, so the shortage of qualified labor is likely here to stay.
When CfL held the Clubhouse meeting on strategic and operational recruitment, we conducted a survey among the 130 participants. Eighty-five percent responded that it is difficult to find qualified labor. So what does your organization do if you belong to the majority?
I have gathered here 10 concrete recommendations for how you and your organization can work professionally with recruitment – from both a strategic and an operational perspective.
For many years, recruitment was a matter for the individual leader in collaboration with HR, but today recruitment has become a strategic core task that is the prerequisite for ensuring optimal performance, growth, and competitiveness.
Therefore, recruitment now forms part of companies’ risk management on a par with other strategic risks.
A professional recruitment effort, including strategic workforce planning, is also the foundation for ensuring the company’s ability to realize its strategy, which among other things requires that the right team and competencies are in place.
The job market has become more transparent. As employers are rated on, for example, Glassdoor, Jobindex, and LinkedIn, it has become normal for candidates to check references about their future employer and manager.
When employees leave the company – voluntarily or involuntarily – it must be done properly, as a lack of ethics, morality, and decency can quickly ruin a company’s ability to attract new employees.
Social media can in a short time both support and challenge your organization’s employer brand. It is therefore crucial that your employer branding is not left to chance, but is part of a long-term effort that, hopefully, results in earning a good reputation.
An important element in this is your employees’ communication, likes, and support for the company, its leaders, and colleagues on, for example, LinkedIn – and that is not to be taken for granted.
The relationship between employers and employees is becoming increasingly equal as younger generations enter the workforce. At the same time, it is becoming more and more difficult to find qualified labor.
Poor leadership and incompetent leaders can therefore be both a challenge and a cost when your organization tries to attract and retain employees. Ignoring leaders who fall short can be catastrophic for an organization.
Creating a good long-term match is not only about determining whether there is a good fit between the job and the employee’s skills or a good chemistry between the manager and the employee.
It is just as important to have insight into the employee’s career motives and, not least, whether there is a good match with the company’s career culture – including its strategy, organizational structure, and the way employees are evaluated and rewarded.
While most organizations routinely conduct an annual well-being survey, it is surprising that it is not as common to measure the culture, and especially the career culture.
If an employee cannot identify with the culture and career culture, the likelihood of them developing a sense of belonging is small, and thus the foundation for a good long-term match is missing.
How is the career culture measured? CfL is the only provider in Denmark of the DECISION DYNAMICS CAREER MODEL™, a recognized tool that measures both the individual candidate’s career motives and the company’s career culture. Read more about the tool here.
CfL is the sole provider in Denmark of the DECISION DYNAMICS CAREER MODEL™—a recognised tool that measures both the individual candidate’s career motives and the organisation’s career culture
For many years, it has been good practice to optimize each step in the customer journey. In recent years, the candidate and employee experience have become at least as important for attracting and retaining the right employees, which is the foundation for the organization to perform its core task.
Therefore, be mindful of how new and potential employees are met – both digitally and in person.
How do you communicate in writing with applicants? Do you give them the opportunity for a personal dialogue before they submit an application? Is it easy to be an applicant? Have you done away with the application that can be auto-generated in seconds, for example by using Jobbutler.ai? And have you optimized the candidate experience in your recruitment process, for example through the use of VR, where one can get a physical impression of the workplace?
Can you live up to expectations when the employee starts? Do you deliver on what you promise in relation to tasks, competence development, etc.? And do you say goodbye properly to all employees so that you create good ambassadors?
It is not enough to hope that attractive candidates will send in an application – that might never happen. If you choose to be proactive by reaching out to potential candidates – by having an internal talent attraction unit instead of using headhunters – it can save both time and money. Regardless of whether you choose to be proactive, the foundation for a successful recruitment process is always the preparation, including professional job and person profiles that clearly describe responsibilities, tasks, success criteria, as well as the requirements, desires, and expectations for the candidate and their potential.
There is a limit to how long you can keep a candidate interested. Therefore, you can take inspiration from professional headhunters who are often skilled at optimizing individual parts of the application process, creating equality, dialogue, and clear expectation management and timing in the recruitment process.
Besides the preparation, crucial elements of an effective recruitment process are speed and thoroughness. There are many opportunities to accelerate the recruitment process and add value, for example by using AI for creating job and person profiles as well as job advertisements. AI can also be used to scan job portals, social media platforms, and databases for potential candidates that match the requirements for a given position, and to screen applicants.
Furthermore, the interview process can be sped up by using video interviews, etc. Be aware of the measures that can support effective recruitment efforts, including using AI to analyze relevant data and future needs in relation to strategic workforce planning.
The moment when employees are often most motivated and excited about a new workplace is right after they have signed their employment contract.
We all know the excitement, anticipation, and joy that can come with a new job and new colleagues. Therefore, it is crucial to meet the incoming employee’s enthusiasm and expectations – for example by sending information or videos about the company, by keeping in regular contact with the employee, or by allowing the employee to meet their future colleagues – either physically or virtually.
When the employee starts, it is essential that there is a plan. The initial excitement can quickly give way to frustration and demotivation if the employee is not properly introduced to tasks, clients, and colleagues. Social onboarding – for example, through a mentor – is just as important, as it otherwise may take a long time to gain insight into the company’s culture and unwritten rules.
Professional offboarding is beneficial both for the departing employee and for the company. A proper farewell means that you can part ways as good friends, so that the employee continues to be a good ambassador.
It is also crucial for the company to understand why the employee is leaving, especially to assess whether there are general patterns that need to be addressed. Therefore, remember to conduct exit interviews and analyze the data so that you know why your employees are seeking new challenges.
Betina Stage has extensive experience in both strategic and operational HR as well as leadership and management development. She has worked with the recruitment of executives, managers, and specialists for more than 20 years and has previously held the position of HR Director.
At CfL, she focuses on developing, teaching, and coaching leaders. She also serves as the network leader for CfL’s HR networks for HR Directors, HR Managers, and HR Partners. In addition, she teaches on CfL’s open HR courses, including The HR Business Partner and Strategic and Operational Recruitment.
For the recruitment effort and retention, it is crucial that the workplace is a pleasant and inviting place to be. This applies both to the company’s physical environment and the mental workplace, including good relationships and high well-being.
If the workplace appears physically attractive and aesthetically pleasing, it becomes an attractive alternative to working from home. Furthermore, it is important to understand which employee benefits are most valued by your staff. Often, it is actually the free benefits, such as flexibility and the possibility of working from home, that are most appreciated – which can benefit both parties.
When we talk about the shortage of qualified labor, it is also important to remember that diversity also means age. If internal HR policies and processes are in need of a compliance check, you can download CfL’s free e-book on HR law here: Get HR Legal Advice Tailored to Your Challenges.
It is neither legal, ethical, nor economically sustainable to exclude employees over the age of 50, and it surprises me that companies do not voluntarily choose to report externally on employees’ ages on the same basis as other forms of diversity, as this can enhance the company’s reputation with its stakeholders, including potential new employees.
It does not help to believe that a single effort here and there will add up, because applicants quickly see through it. At the same time, social media are unforgiving, so a misstep such as diversity washing or poor handling of an applicant or a personnel matter can rapidly damage the company’s reputation and, consequently, its employer brand.
Therefore, it pays off to have proper ethics and morality and to ensure that there is consistency between what you say and what you do. One element of this decency is an awareness of biases and, for example, the use of blind recruitment, where candidates’ gender, age, etc. are not visible. This builds trust and credibility, which are crucial for both the company’s employees and stakeholders.