Optimal staffing – Mr. and Mrs. Almost Perfect often do it too fast Perfect tun’s oft auch
A few weeks ago, my agency handled an assignment to fill a crucial position at a biotech company. After an intensive search and the evaluation of 110 dossiers, only one candidate's dossier fully met all the requirements
Welcome to the 'new normal' of the labor market, where the search for perfectly matching talents can be extremely time-consuming. Addressing these challenges requires active and creative strategies. In today's recruitment landscape, those who succeed are the ones who approach job profiles with flexibility and implement modern processes for internal knowledge transfer and retention.
What do I mean by this?
Companies can more effectively tackle the skilled labor shortage and become more resilient and competitive by rethinking their staffing principles and embracing new, creative approaches. I'm not referring to how open positions are advertised but rather to exploring alternative ways to fill them if a perfectly fitting candidate cannot be found. In short: Does your company have the capability to support, coach, and train a potentially less qualified candidate with the help of long-standing employees or even retirees, so that the open position can be perfectly filled after some time? If so, it might be beneficial to pursue this strategy.
Leverage your abilities as a change manager
I understand: As an entrepreneur and/or a leader responsible for recruitment, you have been continuously dealing with change for quite some time. The highly dynamic development of digital technologies, the rapidly and constantly evolving needs of employees, economically unstable situations caused by pandemics and wars, and the swiftly emerging possibilities of artificial intelligence, among many other factors, make you a PermanentChange manager. And now, the skilled labor shortage is presenting new challenges in recruitment. In this context, I have both good and less good news for you. Starting with the less good news: The labor market shortage will persist for at least the next 20 years; this is a demographic reality. This means you will have to rethink recruitment strategies anyway, so you might as well start today. The good news is: You AND your employees can handle it! You've successfully navigated the initial waves of digitalization, implemented the necessary technologies, survived pandemic lockdowns, organized your teams for remote work, and re-integrated them back into the workplace post-lockdown.
That's a remarkable achievement! You and your employees are genuine change professionals, now well-versed in responding swiftly and effectively to new challenges.
My advice to you: Harness this energy and these skills, and start viewing change not as a phase but as a constant state. Form teams from various departments within your company and have them develop strategies on how to temporarily compensate for hard-to-fill positions. Cultivate a corporate culture of continuous, interdisciplinary knowledge transfer and collegial exchange. You will succeed in filling your positions more quickly (we are happy to assist you with this) if you have processes in place that allow both current and former employees to equip new colleagues with the necessary know-how until they perfectly fit the originally defined job profile.
The extremely positive side effect: By implementing such measures, you simultaneously foster a positive working environment characterized by collegial cooperation, which studies* show is the most important criterion for most employees. This becomes even more crucial in the context of the skilled labor shortage and the increasing complexity of recruitment requirements, as retaining your existing staff is equally important.
*https://www.ey.com/de_ch/news/2022-press-releases/04/karrierewege-schweizer-millennials-2022
Doris Fink
Managing Director/Owner
in Zurich, Switzerland.