How Employers Can Win The Battle For Talent

How Employers Can Win The Battle For Talent

Auckland, New Zealand - 23 August 2011 –

Current recruitment procedures are failing New Zealand businesses resulting in inadequate hires and a lack of high performers, according to a Hudson 20:20 Series white paper entitled Next Generation Recruitment: Battle Strategies for the Talent War.

The numbers paint a bleak picture for employers. Of every 10 employees four are not good hires, eight aren't engaged in their work and six are actively seeking new employment. Not only is the work force restless, but more than half of businesses report being under-resourced.

"The power in today's recruitment market has shifted to the candidate," says Roman Rogers, Executive General Manager, Hudson New Zealand.

"Candidates are becoming choosier about potential employers. While remuneration remains important, strong candidates are likely to attract multiple offers with similar levels of pay, so other factors such as opportunities for career development, work life balance and organisational culture come in to play.

The report highlights a number of strategies to help win the war for top talent. A crucial one is the development of formal criteria and tools to assess the attitudinal, motivational and cultural fit of a candidate.

While it is widely acknowledged that finding the right person for a particular team or business means more than finding someone with just the technical skills to do the job, many businesses have been slow to embrace this thinking and put it into practice.

The research found that the top three hiring tools or measures used are reference checking, resume screening and a background interview. These techniques measure the technical aptitude of an individual - what Hudson calls the 'know how' category - and are not an accurate indicator of high performance in a role.

The 'want to' category is the best predictor or performance, yet only a miniscule proportion (7%) of hiring managers usually assess this area. When formal procedures are in place, there is a 27% increase in the proportion of excellent performers recruited.

"At Hudson we have invested in looking at the science and methodology behind what makes a high performer and how to successfully select these candidates who will both perform and stay," says Rogers.

"We have recently launched the Hudson DifferenceTM Recruitment Methodology. This is a model that assesses a candidate's fit for a specific role based on their motivation, attitude, behaviours and cultural fit, essentially taking the risk out of recruitment. It encompasses the entire hiring procedure; from developing a highly targeted attraction strategy for active and passive candidates to selecting the right person for the organisation.

We've trialled the Hudson DifferenceTM with several of our key clients in New Zealand and the feedback has been excellent. It has helped the recruitment managers stand back and look objectively at how they assess both existing and potential employees, how they advertise themselves to active and passive candidates and how they can make our recruitment model work better for them.

"The best thing is how this talent rejuvenates and inspires the rest of their workforce. Success is breeding success. And that's the power of a good hire."

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