In the last few months many commentators have highlighted the ongoing difficulties in the employment market in what many are describing as a ‘candidate’s market’. Shortages across certain sectors and the scarcity of strong candidates for many roles have left some wondering whether this is a sign of further shortages ahead.

Of course, some industries and roles are more exposed than others. What this does suggest though is that many companies need to rethink the way they recruit and retain talent. For some, quality candidates are getting harder to find and for others the challenge is keeping them engaged and committed to the company.

Finding candidates can be a challenge, but finding the right candidate for the right role is a much bigger one. So how do you improve your odds? Much has been written about psychometric testing (see Potential V2-05) yet one approach proving successful in addressing this need is the use of Assessment Centres in the recruitment process. Mention ‘Assessment Centre’ and most people immediately imagine hundreds of candidates and days on end of interviews, psychometric testing and outdoor activities. It may come as a surprise to some that Assessment Centres can be a cost effective option involving as few as 20 or so candidates for a target of three or four roles. In fact, we recently conducted an assessment centre involving 25 candidates for six roles over a three day period. Prior to this we ran one involving almost 100 candidates for 25 roles. Assessment Centres don’t have to be expensive, time consuming, large scale projects. In this newsletter we explain how to improve the quality of your selection decision in a cost effective way when hiring for multiple roles.

Securing quality staff is one thing, but keeping your competition at bay is another. A shortage in some industries and specific roles is driving an increase in staff poaching as companies compete with a diminishing pool of qualified candidates. The targets of this renewed attention are not always at the senior echelons within the company. Some organisations are suffering talent loss both vertically and laterally. Smart companies are addressing this through retention initiatives designed to create employee loyalty and commitment to the company. These initiatives are most effective when aimed at enhancing the capability and attitudes of leaders. Effective leadership has a direct impact on staff engagement and intention to stay. As often quoted, ‘people don’t leave companies, people leave managers’.

Our work in the area of developing Emotional Intelligence continues to have a direct impact on staff engagement and intention to stay. We recently began work with two large government organisations to develop the leadership skills needed for dealing with challenging staff issues. The leaders in these departments face emotion-charged situations on a daily basis and have struggled with staff retention and burn-out. These two programs incorporate our first-hand experience at developing the skills for understanding and managing the emotions that impact workplace performance.

Also this month we have commenced work with an Australian icon to assist their executives navigate the human side of change. We have designed a four day program that harnesses global best practice as well as internal company research describing effective change practices. This program is innovative in that it utilises the organisation’s in-house change model to build a change plan for an existing project. The program will be delivered in modular format with skill reinforcement provided through external coaching.

Talent Solutions continues to grow and this month sees a new consultant join the team. Dorienne Spennato has worked as a senior Human Resource Development specialist with over ten years experience in both the retail and corporate environment. Dorienne has a masters qualification in the field of social sciences as well as qualifications in training and development. We are all very excited to have Dorienne join our team in what is proving to be a very busy time for the company.