https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-news/pages/recruiting-gets-harder-in-2016.aspx
By Roy MaurerJun
20, 2016
|
More than two-thirds of surveyed
organizations hiring full-time staff indicate they are having a difficult
time recruiting for job openings, according to a research report released today by the Society for Human
Resource Management (SHRM).
That number is up from what it was in 2013,
when half of responding organizations reported having recruiting difficulties
for full-time positions.
SHRM surveyed more than 3,300 HR professionals
in February 2016 from various industries and company sizes.
Respondents in the health and social
assistance (81 percent) and manufacturing (75 percent) sectors reported the
highest levels of recruiting difficulty.
These results echo similar findings from the SHRM Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE)
recruiting difficulty index, which has shown a rise in the challenge HR
professionals report in finding candidates.
Talent Churn Muddies the Waters
Lower unemployment and more job openings, as
shown by data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics over the past year, may
indicate that more people are seeking out new job opportunities, but this churn
also is making it more difficult for organizations to fill open positions.
“According to HR professionals, it’s getting
harder to find people for the jobs they are trying to fill and the top reasons
are a low number of applicants, lack of needed work experience among those that
do apply, competition from other employers and a lack of technical skills among
job applicants,” said Jennifer Schramm, SHRM-SCP, manager of workforce trends
at SHRM.
“Another factor that many HR professionals
noted was that their local markets were simply not producing enough qualified
candidates. This factor alone could be behind many of the reasons HR
professionals think it is a more difficult recruiting environment.”
The survey found significant differences
between industries. For example, HR professionals in construction, mining,
energy, finance, insurance, real estate, health and social assistance,
high-tech, and manufacturing were more likely to report that their local labor
market was not producing enough work-ready job candidates compared with respondents
from other industries. Respondents in the accommodation, food services and
retail sectors were more likely than those in other industries to say
candidates lacked workplace soft skills such as problem-solving, interpersonal
skills, communication, teamwork and leadership.
HR professionals in the education and
government fields were more likely than those in other industries to say job
candidates did not have the needed credentials or certifications for the roles
they were applying for.
Not surprisingly, vacancies for jobs requiring
high and in-demand skills are among the most difficult to fill. According to
the HR professionals surveyed, the most difficult-to-recruit-for job categories
were high-skilled medical professionals, scientists and mathematicians, skilled
tradespeople, engineers and architects, IT/computer specialists, executives,
and high-skilled technicians.
Key Skills Lacking Among Job Applicants
More than half (59 percent) of HR
professionals reported some level of basic skills deficit among job applicants,
and 84 percent reported applied skills shortages in job applicants over the
last year.
The most common basic skills deficits
employers encountered were:
- Writing in English (30 percent).
- Basic computer skills (30 percent).
- Speaking English (18 percent).
- Reading comprehension (17 percent).
- Mathematics (14 percent).
Notably, all industries reported writing in
English and basic computer skills as the top two basic skills shortages. The
most commonly reported missing applied skills were:
- Critical thinking and problem-solving (45 percent).
- Professionalism and work ethic (43 percent).
- Leadership (35 percent).
- Written communications (29 percent).
- Teamwork and collaboration (28 percent).
A higher percentage of HR professionals in the
accommodation, food services, retail, finance, real estate, and health and
social assistance sectors reported applicants lacking professionalism and work
ethic when compared with other industries.
“Many HR professionals are reporting a lack of
technical skills as a key reason behind the challenges they are having finding
candidates for open jobs,” Schramm said. “Some of the reasons that positions
require new skills, according to the HR professionals surveyed, are changing
technology, growth of the organization, changing customer and client
expectations, and the development of new products and services.”
While technology tends to be a driver of these
changes, the most common types of new skills required for the full-time jobs HR
professionals said they needed to fill in the last year were actually workplace
or soft skills such as interpersonal skills, teamwork and leadership, Schramm
said.
Training and Hiring Internally Most Effective
Solution
Skills shortages are putting renewed emphasis
on training. Although most organizations (70 percent) are ramping up social
media engagement to find passive job candidates, build employer brand and
advertise open positions, the approach HR professionals consider most effective
is to train existing employees to take on hard-to-fill roles, with the largest
organizations leading the way in this area.
Almost half (48 percent) of respondents said
training existing employees to take on hard-to-fill positions was an effective
recruiting strategy. This was followed by using social media and recruitment
agencies (both 47 percent), expanding advertising efforts (44 percent), and
improving the compensation packages being offered to job candidates (42
percent).
Although training is seen as valuable, nearly
one-third (31 percent) of employers are operating without a training budget.
“HR professionals are very close to the talent
market, and they are able to see it change and evolve in a way that few others
can,” Schramm said. “So they must make the business case for greater
investments in training and development based on this in-depth knowledge. To do
this, they will often have to show the financial return on investments in
training through improved outcomes in recruiting, retention and job
performance.”
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