Recruit beyond your comfort zone

Don’t let a talent shortage slow or limit your growth

Attracting and retaining skilled workers has rarely been more challenging than it is today. From North America and Europe to Asia, the Middle East and Africa, companies worldwide are reporting high talent shortages. And this trend is expected to continue.

Certain major industries are expected to be the first impacted: technology, finance and business services, media and telecommunications, and manufacturing. How can you avoid slowing or limiting your growth in this context? Olivier Desurmont, founder and CEO at Cooptalis invites HR departments worldwide to rethink the framework of their recruitment, practices and criteria.

The “talent crunch”

By 2030, more than 85 million jobs could go unfilled across many industries and continents. Why? Because there aren’t enough skilled people. Much of this shortage is based on demographics and low birth rates. In Japan, in many European countries such as Germany, Switzerland, France, and in Canada and the USA, most baby boomers will have left the workforce by 2030, but younger generations will not have had the time or training to fill most of the high-skilled jobs left behind. 

The talents revolution is already on its way

This major trend is already reshuffling the cards when it comes to the future of work – and in the symbiois between countries, sources and recruiters, and also between companies and talents. Work-life balance and societal impact are now at the top of career aspirations for potential employees.

The Great Resignation, which has been shaking America and Europe for several months, is a perfect illustration of this deep change in the relationship to work, and redefines its value.

The race for the most interesting job package is on. Companies are also competing with ever-cooler working environments and corporate culture: slides, ball pools, being allowed to bring your pet to the office, and other attractions. A growing demand that companies focus more on wellbeing and wellness at work is creating a new paradigm in recruitment.

Companies are aware that many workers looking for a new job are doing so because of a lack of work-life balance challenges. They make their career development a priority and want their employers to mentor them and help expand their skills, capabilities, and experience.

The employment landscape is changing a lot. Talent is already at the centre of it.

A necessary shift of mindset in most organisations

New short and medium-term solutions do exist – but they are not sufficient. To succeed in closing the talent gap, companies need to evolve their mindsets and consider new kinds of candidates and new ways of collaboration. This will require more agility and flexibility from organisations.

Now that remote working has grown in popularity, some companies are more open to recruiting employees remotely, even people they have only met in a video conference. Geographical flexibility through long-distance working is key. It allows companies to expand their pool of candidates on a national and international scale.

And it works!

Cooptalis has already been successfully supporting companies to integrate their remote talent. A client in Vietnam was in dire need of a sales manager, a customer success manager and account executives, but his search in Vietnam and the Asia-Pacific region was fruitless. Our talent mapping enabled us to identify several countries in eastern Europe as relevant areas, with many potential employees aligning with the client’s requirements for soft and hard skills, mastery of English and salary offered. We then proposed a headhunting solution focused on directly approaching potential employees so our experts could perform pre-qualification and evaluation tests. As a result, several candidates have been hired on a remote freelance contract from Romania.

To deal with this talent shortage, companies must also be open to new contractual forms of collaboration: increased use of part-time and freelance work and fixed-term contracts. Instead of long-term full-time engagement, consider freelances. Many workers are turning to freelancing in the USA and in Europe, especially for expert positions. Flexible contracts that allow a hire to carry out several assignments for several employers at once may also be a solution.

Facing all these challenges requires an openness to reorganising and embracing new forms of work, from any workplace, with talents coming from any country. Organisations will sometimes have to accept not being someone’s only employer, or learn how to collaborate with an employee who does not speak the company language. Organisations will also have to propose motivating and inspiring projects, both from a technological and societal point of view, if they want to have a chance to retain the interest of candidates. The game has already changed hands: the ball is in the employee’s court.

A new standard of HR data

This abrupt change in the relationship to work heralds the death of traditional job offers in favour of employer profiles. Potential workers will first want to know what your values are, or your commitment to ESG, for example, right now – they won’t want to be bored with stories of how you intend to change.

In this context of new forms of work, merely offering employment is no longer sufficient. That’s why, to meet companies’ and candidates’ expectations, the Cooptalis group has chosen to shake up the usual recruitment process with a new standard of HR data, thanks to an ethical, entirely anonymous and skills-based CV library.

Where most recruitment platforms publish candidates available by city, Cooptalis offers a different choice of truly international candidates, without any discrimination and based on new criteria. Thus, new talents who are open to remote work or can relocate as required, are directly identified. This focus on skills rather than pedigree or degree also contributes to the opening of new perspectives for candidates.

In the age where talent is king, the conditional connection between companies and talents at the discretion of the candidates is also a major asset that proves to be particularly attractive for rare talents not wishing to be unnecessarily disturbed.

To find out more please visit anywr.cooptalis.com.

By Oliver DESURMONT, Cooptalis’ CEO