Skills Acquisition – Whatever happened to the War for Talent?

In recent years, there have been plenty of column inches devoted to the “War for Talent”. It’s become something of a cliché and given the number of recent redundancies may appear incongruous. Despite the recession, the war rumbles on. Where professional roles are concerned, the UK has a growing skills gap that is projected to peak in 2020. Whilst the fall in GDP will slow the size of this gap – it is likely to be a problem for us all over the next decade – and especially as we come out of recession and return to growth.


What about the increased number of available candidates?

At the peak of the boom and thus the peak of resource demand, over 90% of candidates who registered with Sanderson were already in jobs. That figure is now less than 50%. Unfortunately this does not mean that the skills shortage problem has gone away – it only means that the number of active candidates has increased. Most of these active candidates will offer generic skills that you probably already have within your organisation. The problem is that highly skilled people, with niche experience are staying put as opposed to moving around the market.


Adverts = lots of response. But is the response any good?

Possibly yes… but probably no. An advertising led approach to candidate and skills acquisition will get you lots of CV’s, but the best talent (paralysed by perceived market instability) is staying where it is. As a result the skills you attract may not be aligned to your business objectives.

As a result, you really need to ensure that your recruitment partners are adding real value. They should work with you in a way that:

• Offers a real life view of the market – i.e. that passive candidates are not moving for either agency or direct attraction. The recession has changed people’s view of employment and you will need to take a more joined up strategy in order to tease out the real talent from the market by managing their views and opinions.

• Ensures it’s not about money – the real talent in the market place, and particularly highly / niche skilled candidates are not enticed solely by the money or the brand (especially as so many brands have become tarnished in the last 12 months). Every job has to be positioned correctly – in a way that reassures the candidate that it is right for them and worth moving for.

• Makes honesty the best policy – very few businesses can show consistent or aggressive growth and it is more likely you have had to cut back and reposition in order to grow again. Be honest, share the pain you have experienced and share your vision of the future. Good quality candidates will do their research anyway, honesty will build some trust.

Makes partnership the only way – your recruitment partner becomes your voice in the market and an extension of your own employment brand, ensuring you are marketed well to your chosen candidate market. This can only be done with a long-term commitment and strategy. If you get this right you can begin to drive both candidate sentiment and market perception – get it wrong and these elements will work against you.

Done correctly you will end up with a partnering arrangement with a business who will develop a network of top quality talent on your behalf. This not only delivers better results for you, it is also more fulfilling for the recruiter and will ensure you have a long term relationship to rely upon – especially as we move towards a decade of shortages in key highly skilled areas.



Contact me on Twitter @NickWalrond, or by email at Nick.Walrond@sandersonplc.com. Or simply leave a comment below.


"Carpet War" Image source: Flickr Creative Commons - (Photomish Dan)

"Open to Partnership" Image source: Flickr Creative Commons - (CQuarles)

Recruitment Process Efficiency - A lot more interesting than it sounds

As I discussed in last weeks blog, the recent masterclass I gave at a Lean Government event focused on cost efficiency and the development of a lean approach to resourcing.

I divided the masterclass into three topic areas, the first of which was ‘Process Efficiency’. Not a title to set the world on fire, I admit – but something which is a lot more interesting than it sounds – and if it’s not interesting it’s certainly worth knowing. Either way, it’s what I want to look at this week before moving on to ‘Skills Acquisition’ and ‘Blended Sourcing Models’ in future postings. As a whole I’m hoping that my practical approach will put you on a lean resourcing path.


A "One Stop Shop" is not necessarily Lean

In recent years a lot of businesses in both the public and private sectors have moved towards a one stop resourcing shop – this is either run by an in-house team or outsourced to an MSP (Managed Service Provider) or RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcer). As a solution this may work - BUT, and it’s a big but (hence the capitals) it will be geared towards a ‘high volume, low unit cost’ model which will has a major pitfall – it encourages a strictly transactional hiring relationship with the candidates you target. (i.e. need a person – go to market, need a person - go to market etc, etc, etc).

‘You may think that your unit price is competitive, and indeed it may be, but the person you get will not be delivering value for money.’

This means that your cost per hire remains low, but that when you need skilled professionals you’ll be recruiting resource that is below par. Without a proper relationship with the market and some real resourcing expertise this approach will just carry on carrying on. You may think that your unit price is competitive, and indeed it may be, but the person you get will not be delivering value for money.


My recommendation...

My recommendation is simple - form direct relationships with businesses that are already active in the candidate market – those that can deliver the skills you need for the future. You need to do this in advance of any resource requirements. It is critical to ensure that your chosen recruitment partner is then able to track both active and passive candidates (i.e. the good one that aren’t looking for work) to ensure you get someone who is well aligned to your strategic objectives.


...then focus on your non-permanent population

From a total cost cutting perspective, it is our experience that most businesses will achieve the best results by focusing on their professional non-permanent population – be they contractors, professional temps, consultant or interims. – it is likely that a large percentage of this resource is not controlled by any process – and whilst the direct hiring relationship increases the chance of getting the right individual, the lack of control will have led to over-spend and increased risk.

We regularly see situations where contractors have been hired directly by senior stakeholders, against their own budgets, at rates significantly over the market norm. In addition, it’s unlikely that contractors will be operating via robust terms of business, or indeed have undergone the correct level of compliance checking (see Baroness Scotland for further information).


25% savings are a reality

Targeting non-permanent resource in a coordinated and constructive way - ‘finding and replacing’ where appropriate - will (on average) deliver 25% cost savings. Most larger organisations spend in excess of £2m on professional non-permanent resource and should be able to show a minimum of £500k in savings.

Handled correctly, you will have a strong relationship with expert recruiters (in specialist areas) that will deliver the talent that you need whilst working within a framework that delivers value for money and manages risk.

How you get to this point is another topic all together, but as they say – if you’re interested ‘Ask me how’!

Contact me on Twitter @NickWalrond, or by email at Nick.Walrond@sandersonplc.com. Or simply leave a comment below.


"Lean" Image source: Flickr Creative Commons - (Zepfanman)
"Piggy savings bank" Image source: Flickr Creative Commons - (AlanCleaver)

Knowledge Based Recruitment - A Lean Approach

I know this subject has the potential to sound rather dry, but it is something I’m genuinely passionate about. It’s arguably the most important subject in our industry right now – combining a grown up approach to getting the right resource with the need to save money. The danger is to ramble on about theory without actually achieving anything.


Presenting a Masterclass

Last week I was asked to present a masterclass at a Lean Government event, focusing on cost efficiency and the development of a lean approach to resourcing and recruitment. The challenge was to ensure that the session was informative and left those attending with some practical measures to implement within their own organisations. At the same time, the subject needed to be covered in sufficient depth to do it justice.

After much deliberation, we decided to cover three key areas;

i) Process Efficiency,
ii) Skills Acquisition, and
iii) An Alternative Solution to Consultancies.

Getting the theory out of the way

I’m hoping to give you the same information via this and subsequent blogs, but wanted to set the whole thing up first. So, having said I’d stay away from theory – here’s the theory bit!

It’s just not possible to successfully make your resourcing process ‘leaner’ if you don’t have a relationship that you can rely upon with a recruitment partner (or partners).

What became apparent to me whilst putting the masterclass together was the importance of holding real business relationships in making resourcing leaner and more efficient. It’s just not possible to successfully make your resourcing process ‘leaner’ if you don’t have a relationship that you can rely upon with a recruitment partner (or partners).


Back to basics – a really simple example

Let me explain what I mean. If you need a highly skilled person to come into your business and assist you in delivering a specific objective (whatever your business and whatever the objective) it’s vital that your recruitment process will:

a) deliver someone who can do the job, and ;
b) Deliver someone who is aligned to your strategy - i.e. they share and buy into your vision and are willing to work with you to get there.

Accepting that this underpins the acquisition of critical skills the key question is then - how do you achieve this?


What won’t work...

...picking up the phone to a resourcing or recruitment supplier with whom you have had little or no contact in the past. They don’t know you, they don’t you’re your company and they won’t be aligned to your strategy. At best they’ll be able to provide you with a selection of the most available people who have the skills to do the job – but will they share your business vision?


What will work...

...picking up the phone today and building relationships with recruitment suppliers before you need critical resource. Share your business vision with them, your aims, your objectives and your wildest dreams if that’s what it takes. Then make sure that they are properly connected to the market and will want to share your vision with the best people they know. When the need for skilled resource does arise then your chance of getting someone who is genuinely aligned to your objectives will increase dramatically.


And Finally

It’s likely that you will end up forming a partnership with one or more recruiters. They will be happy to talk through potential requirements, give you a view on the market, or act as an expert sounding board. More importantly, they’ll be motivated to work with you and find you the right person.

Without this approach you’ll run the risk of ending up with a decidedly average solution – and in these ‘lean’ times of efficiency and business change we need to look beyond average.

So, my advice is simple. Develop a relationship of trust with a true recruitment consultant (i.e. a recruitment professional), who will understand your vision, represent you effectively in the market place and use their own relationships to find the best people – preferably before you need them.

Only when you’ve done this are you ready to look at your resourcing process in more detail.

Look out for some practical advice on what to do next in my blogs on ‘Process Efficiency’, ‘Skills Acquisition’, ‘An Alternative Solution to Consultancies’.


Tell us what you think in the comments below, or why not contact me on Twitter @NickWalrond.


"Boxes" Image source: Flickr Creative Commons – (Adam Pieniazek)
"Binoculars" Image source: Flickr Creative Commons - (Paul.Carroll)

Delivering More For Less

The chances are that you currently have to deliver your projects with less budget and less people, but with an increased expectation from your management team or shareholders. You’re not alone - the project world is currently beset by a need to deliver the same or more in less time and at less cost.


So what do you do?

1. Focus on what is essential - identify the specific deliverables within your project workstreams that will deliver what you want (i.e. what your sponsors want). These have to remain relevant and visible throughout the course of the project
2. Align what you are doing - identify the actions that you need to take to deliver what is essential and eliminate all other activity. There is often a long list of deliverables that can be taken out of the project without affecting the end result
3. Show demonstrable progress - make individuals accountable for each action and ensure that progress is clearly visible to everyone

Better resource at a reduced cost

These guidelines can also be applied to project resourcing to reduce cost whilst delivering better results. It’s likely that by identifying what must be delivered in order to meet expectations that you will be able to rationalize – for example removing expensive consultancy resource in favour of in-house skills or independent contractor expertise.

The open market can deliver a high level of skill and capability if you access it in the right way. By developing a strong relationship of trust with a knowledgeable recruiter you are likely to be able to access a higher level of skill and capacity than you are receiving from large consultancies (or in many cases in-house resource).


Resource that does what YOU want

Furthermore the workload of independent contractor expertise can be directly aligned to the actions you have identified by

a) implementing project milestones, and,
b) inserting deliverable and retention clauses into your contracts with these individuals - ensuring collective responsibility for the end goal and a higher level of engagement

This is not revolutionary as many organisations are now approaching their projects in this way - but it does require a certain amount of courage. You may initially be going against the grain to use resource in this way, but you can make the transition more easily with the right support structure and partnerships in place.

What does this mean for lean?
By applying lean principles it is possible to use the current “budget cut” climate as an opportunity to reinforce the objectives of a project and to eliminate wasteful or non-aligned activity. Projects always suffer a degree of scope creep, and over-governance - over time and they tend to gain sub-projects and multiple objectives. Now is the time to lighten the burden, slim down to a simpler set of actions, review your resourcing arrangements in favour of more cost effective skills, and get back on track.

“Delivery” Image source: Flickr Creative Commons (kamshots)