Recruitment is an essential element of any organisation, and yet it’s one of the first departments that gets overlooked in challenging business environments.
Due to Covid, many organisations have put the brakes on their recruitment functions, some have even disbanded recruiting teams altogether.
Add to this the fact that the candidate market is saturated right now, and you end up with an incredibly complex landscape in which to make the ‘right’ financial hire.
A saturated market makes it more difficult to find the best financial talent for your organisation, but not impossible.
Today, we’re looking at the risks of recruiting in the current market, and how you can make the ‘right’ hire from the large pool of candidates available.
The Candidate Market
As a result of the pandemic, there have been mass redundancies, which is the first reason for an increase of new candidates in the market.
The second is the uncertainty that the pandemic caused – a lot of candidates applying for roles right now are doing so speculatively, out of fears that their jobs aren’t safe. These two significant events have created a two-fold increase in candidates applying to vacancies, creating an overload of applicants for internal H.R. departments to deal with.
But as we are in probably the most business-critical time in a generation, businesses cannot afford to be making sub-standard hires now, especially for financial roles. Now is the perfect time to invest in employees who are going to be instrumental in your company’s success, and there is plenty of choices when it comes to candidates; the key is finding the best from the many available.
The Challenges of Hiring in a Post-Covid Market
The main barrier to hiring the best employees in a saturated market is the sheer volume of applicants. The Independent reported in August 2020 that 3,272 candidates applied for a single trainee accountancy vacancy, and similar things are happening in other sectors too.
H.R. departments don’t have the time to sort through this amount of applicants, but in not doing so, they could be overlooking the best talent – it’s a difficult situation.
What organisations must remember is that recruitment is always relevant, and shelving your recruitment process to hire further down the line when you perceive it will be easier can be damaging to your organisation.
But it can be just as damaging hiring the wrong person.
A recent Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) report found that the cost of a ‘bad’ hire for a role with a salary of £42,000 can cost £132,000 – three times as much as the salary itself.
This revenue is lost by:
- the re-advertising of the role
- the time spent recruiting and onboarding,
- the time that it takes for the new recruit to get up to speed in their position and start adding value (which can take months)
- other team members covering for the vacancy which damages their productivity
As you can see – it goes much deeper than most people initially realise.
How can businesses adapt their recruitment process to avoid the pitfalls of hiring in a saturated market?
Adjusting Your Recruitment Process
Adapting your recruitment process might feel like an enormous task, but making small changes can help you reduce the workload associated with recruiting your new finance professional. Consider the following:
- Revisit your roles – often, job adverts are too broad, which attracts a vast range of applicants when what you need is someone with very specific skills. Be more specific.
- Build a workforce for tomorrow – aim to hire someone with great experience who can pivot as your company grows. Soft skills such as team management, emotional intelligence and excellent communication skills are just as important as financial proficiency.
- Set a recruiting timetable and stick to it – don’t let your recruitment process take too long, as this will only prolong the amount of time your position remains vacant.
Despite the best efforts of H.R. managers, hiring in today’s candidate market is proving to be an arduous task. Finally, let me share the benefits of working with a recruiter to recruit for your next accounting vacancy.
Working with a Recruiter
The challenges which businesses are currently facing recruiting in our post-Covid candidate market can be eradicated by working with a specialist finance recruiter.
The main barrier that is stopping companies from working with a recruiter right now is that they believe that by reducing their spend on recruitment, they will save money. In reality, when you cut the cost of recruitment, you can end up spending more in the long run due to the challenges outlined here:
- The process is currently taking so much more time than usual due to the influx of candidates.
- The potential to hire the ‘wrong’ candidate is currently high.
- There is a pressing need to hire excellent candidates for your company in the current challenging business environment – top financial talent is a must.
As a specialist finance recruiter, we provide organisations with a shortlist of the best candidates and eliminate the challenges of recruiting in a saturated market.
If you are looking to reduce the overall spend on recruitment and guarantee that you are making the ‘right’ hire right now for your organisation, we can help.
Get in contact with us today by calling 01282 930930 or by clicking here.
Thanks,
Rachel
About Rebus Financial Recruitment
Rebus Financial Recruitment provides a specialist and focused recruitment service to its customers, which historically range from a wide variety of organisations including SME’s to large PLCs.
We strive to offer both the client and candidate a seamless recruitment experience. Using our expertise, we get to the heart of employer and employee needs; and, in doing so, we match the two perfectly. To find out more, get in contact with one of our team today, or you can call us on 01282 930930.
