Today more than ever, companies are faced with the challenge of having to change. Because the (working) world is turning faster and faster. Digitalisation, demographic and cultural change, changing customer requirements, disruptive innovations, ever faster market cycles – the pressure on companies to transform is growing. Companies of all sizes and sectors are in the midst of one of the most profound transformation processes since the end of industrialisation. And the pandemic has further accelerated the change, forcing many companies to digitise and modernise their business models, processes and infrastructure virtually on the fly.
To be sustainably successful in this scenario, you need the right people. Employees who support the change and proactively shape it. Who have the right mindset, the necessary skills and a high cultural fit.Because one thing is clear: if you don’t find the right people today, you won’t be able to lead your business into a successful digital future.
From a supplier market to a demand market
But these employees are becoming increasingly hard to find. The job market has long since turned from a supplier market to a demand market, where companies apply to the talents and not vice versa.Long gone are the days when companies could simply place an ad in the classifieds and then cherry-pick from the flood of applicants. In the IT sector, the “war for talent” has become particularly intense; after the digitalisation push triggered by the pandemic, companies are competing harder than ever for the urgently needed IT specialists.The lack of skilled labour has led to a shift in the balance of power, with far-reaching consequences for recruiting.
And we can see that the demand for skilled labour continues to increase: as we’re heading towards the end of the year, we have the lowest unemployment rate since the beginning of the pandemic.The number of job vacancies has increased by more than 40% as compared to the previous year.A look into the future shows that this is only the beginning: by 2035, the labour market in this country will be short by more than five million workers due to the gap created by the baby boomers alone.No matter where you ask, whether in large groups, medium-sized businesses, agencies, or start-ups:the topic of recruiting, finding and hiring talent, is at the top of the agenda.It is no longer a topic that only concerns HR, but the entire company.
At the same time, the last few months of the pandemic at the latest made it clear that the parameters in recruiting have changed decisively and permanently.At many places, remote work and hybrid models have established themselves as the new normal. Flexible working models are no longer considered nice-to-have, but a need-to-have. Collaborative and self-determined work is not only on the wish list, but a prerequisite. New leadership based on open communication and trust, is making its way into the boardroom, and New Pay is negotiating entirely new compensation models.
COVID suddenly made things possible that would have been unthinkable before. Admittedly, not all the changes are due to the virus; the underlying change in values has been taking place for years.But the pandemic acted like an accelerant. More than ever, companies are being forced to take a close look at their previous HR work and make decisive changes in order to remain attractive as an employer.To be able to recruit successfully now, companies have to adapt to these new requirements.And these adjustments affect all aspects of recruiting.
New Work needs New Hiring
In order to find talent they urgently need, companies can no longer resort to the tried and tested concepts and learned routines.These simply do not work anymore. What we need is a new understanding of recruiting – we need “New Hiring” that takes into account the principles of New Work and translates them into sustainable concepts, methods, and tools to find the right employees at the right time in the new world of work.In short: New Work needs New Hiring – from employer-branding to finding talent to the candidate’s experience.
Recruiting transforms from a corporate service to a strategic factor of success
As we can see,recruiting is becoming a strategic factor of success for the company, and thus a topic that affects the entire organisation. Gone are the days when recruiting was the sole responsibility of the HR department – in order to be successful, everyone has to pull together, from management to the operational level of recruiters and hiring managers. Managers plays a key role in New Hiring. Without their commitment, it will not work. Because we know that many talented people base their decision not only on the job and the company, but also on their future boss.The manager is the beacon of corporate culture: the more he or she gets involved in the recruitment process, enters into a professional dialogue with the talent to explain to them why this particular job suits them and why they have the right manager in front of them, the more successful the company will be when it comes to recruiting.The demands applicants place on what they consider to be their suitable employer also affect areas that go beyond HR’s purview of decision-making:office buildings, office equipment, home office regulations – so management has to be on board for these decisions as well.
Digital tools as a link to people
Digital tools also play a key role in New Hiring. They are needed to make recruiting processes fit for the digital future.Software, automation, and data enable us to become more efficient, which is crucial in a working world that is continuously speeding up. Algorithms and automated processes save us time and effort, which in turn we can then profitably invest in our core tasks.And they help us improve, because a look at the data tells us what is going well and what is not yet functioning within satisfactory parameters. Data let us see opportunities and facilitate continuous development and improvement in our HR work.
That being said, we need to keep one thing in mind: successful recruiting means more than just data and numbers. In order to find out which person really fits a task, the goals, and the working culture of the company, it is important to see them as an individual with individual needs, desires, and a unique life. Talents are more than just their CV.
New Hiring needs software solutions that focus on people as individuals and that let companies find the actually suitable talent on this basis. These are tools that provide information in a smart and innovative way and that enable companies to make decisions. Tools that make it possible for recruiters to conduct long-term talent management and to create a dialogue with talent even before a specific vacancy or change of jobs is being discussed.To build a network. What we need are digital solutions that are what they should be: a link to people.
Change will be an ongoing thing
One thing is clear: the coming year will not bring us certainty, fixed routines, or fixed timetables. Nobody knows how the pandemic will develop, and we can all only see to the nearest corner. 2022 is also an ongoing adaptation process, a review of previously gained experience, a testing of new approaches, and an exploration of possibilities – in recruiting just as in other corporate areas.
Let’s be open to change, embrace it, and contribute to shaping it. See opportunities instead of problems. And take everyone along on the ride: management, the executives, the colleagues from HR, and the talents. Let’s work out solutions together for the recruiting of today and tomorrow.Because New Work needs New Hiring.
