Game changers in recruiting and the workforce in 2012 and beyond — Part 3

Posted by: Matt Rivera

In this series, we’ve already covered how technology will affect workforce management and how people will work in the future. In this final installment, we look at the need to find, recruit, and keep qualified and talented people in your organization.

This is the last excerpt from our newest e-book, “Three Game-Changing Trends in Recruiting and Workforce Management.”

Game Changer #3: The Need for New Skills and Legacy Skills

In the future, it will become increasingly harder to cost-effectively find and retain workers with cutting-edge skills as well as those with legacy or more common skills.

Many of the issues here are the same challenges as today. However, they will be more the norm than an exception, especially during peak seasons or growth periods. These issues include:

• Risk. Much like the dot-com boom of the late 90s, competition for workers might be fierce in some areas, leading to lax compliance and higher wage costs. In addition, as independent contractor legislation increases, and enforcement becomes more common, companies will need to stay abreast of changes and closely monitor both employee and non-employee groups.
• Recruiting. When recruiting across a diverse range of skill sets, a diverse set of strategies will be required, making it difficult to provide coverage, scalability, and consistency. In addition, there will be short-term as well as long-term needs, requiring different types of employees, such as temporary workers, independent contractors, and consultants.

The challenges this trend will bring mean that tomorrow’s HR department will no longer be able to rely on internal resources for all areas of staffing and retention. With a variety of positions, work engagements, and lead times, a variety of resources will be needed to recruit effectively.

The following are a few of the areas to look at as you create a comprehensive workforce strategy for the future:

Take inventory of your skill needs. The first step is to understand which skills your company currently has or needs. This is an inventory, not of job titles (like programmer or analyst), but of actual skills (such as .net, Java, or structural engineering) that your company needs, along with the type of engagement (ongoing, staff, project staff, support staff, etc.).

Evaluate your recruiting reach and effectiveness. For the areas where you do have coverage, evaluate the effectiveness by looking at things like how many referrals you get in those areas. Also look at the length of effort (only reactive, seasonal, or ongoing) in specific areas.  Only a sustained effort, especially in hard-to-find skill areas, will give you predictable results.

This concludes our discussion about the recruiting and workforce management game changers we’ll experience in 2012. For a more in-depth examination of these trends and additional recommendations for responding to them, download our e-book now.