RPO and Talent Management Blog by Ochre House | Ochre Talk

The risk and complexities of talent acquisition for SMEs

So here’s the thing; times are changing. Change is the new normal and whilst the bigger organisations can try to weather the storm through making workforce cuts, they don’t all make it. What then about the SME’s of the world?

Although we can be more susceptible to macro economic forces, we can also be more agile and adapt our organisation quickly to meet new market opportunities. More than ever then, finding the right people to be in the right place at the right time is key.

Across many countries, we now see higher unemployment however this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easier to find the right talent, especially as the 18 to 25 year old category bears the brunt of the unemployment. These are typically new graduates with little work experience or those who do not have the niche skillsets an organisation requires – in many instances, we’ve just looked to hire experienced staff so that they can hit the ground running.

Equally, when it comes to experienced hires, we need to compete against larger organisations with bigger employer brand and attraction budgets, not to mention increasingly mature candidate market places with shortages of key skills. This can lead to HR departments turning to their agency partners in order to attract new talent into their organisation. Whilst agencies do provide an excellent support mechanism, they are generally advertising their own organisation on job boards and in candidate conversations. The impact of this is that we have no brand presence in the market place and our message to market is obscured. This is amplified if we use three or four agencies at the same time for the same vacancy and inevitably a confused message is sent into the candidate market place.

Using agency partners to support recruitment is invaluable and especially important for very niche or hard to fill roles. However for most recruitment needs, this can be a very expensive option.

Well the good news is that there are lots of increasingly cost effective tools and techniques at anyone’s disposal now so it’s no longer the preserve of “Big Co”. Furthermore, not everyone wants to work for a well known brand or big company – career decisions are increasingly driven as much by location and work/life balance or culture as skills, experience or remuneration.

So what’s the answer?  Ochre House is holding a Think Tank on The Risk and Complexity of Talent Acquisition for SME’s where like minded HR network colleagues will meet and discuss these issues and other topics.

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