by Christopher Van Mossevelde

In a recent study by McKinsey, companies that failed to act properly during the last two recessions lost market share and shareholder value. Companies that continued to hire or maintain their presence in the recruitment market emerged from the recession stronger, compared to those that were downsizing and couldn’t react quickly enough to a market recovery.Experts say that attrition rates have been kept artificially low due to the recession, but that they will increase very quickly as companies start recruiting again. As the world economy recovers, natural growth will occur, and inevitably the need for talent will climb. Employers will then face a two-fold challenge: employees will be targeted by competitors and recruitment costs will increase.

Taking the recession of 2001 as an example, the time span between the financial markets’ recovery and the job market upturn was 12 months. Currently, the stock markets have been climbing these last three months. This may leave limited time to prepare in the event of an economic recovery and what some see as the “war for talent”.

Previous experience shows that employer attractiveness is of huge strategic importance for talent supply, especially as soon as the world economy recovers. When the global economy begins to pick-up, employers will need to secure their talent pipeline.

Seven valid questions to secure your talent pipeline:

1. How attractive are you considering your recruitment targets?
2. How is your company perceived by your target group?
3. Where in the recruitment funnel do you lose ground?
4. How is your direct competition perceived?
5. How are you perceived by different genders?
6. How do your employees perceive your company and your competition?
7. Who will you target to replace the people that will leave your company?

For example, understanding what experienced hires or professionals want, will help you to attract, recruiting and retain talent. Getting the right people on the bus is a must. If you don’t know the answers to these questions, it’s probably time to find out.

“Employing the most talented people has to be the most important thing that you are asked to do. Do it better than the competition and you can conquer the world. Do it worse and the best you can ever hope for is a second place.” (Glyn House, Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development, 2007)

Universum is currently conducting a professional/experienced-hires survey (based on internal and external view). Should you want more info about this or on how to participate, please feel free to contact Michaela von Wendt at +358 9 6150 7472 or by e-mail. Email Prefix: Michaela.vonWendt  Complete email adress: Prefix@universum.se

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