“It’s so hard to find the right person!”

“Having found the right person and having successfully integrated her into the team and now seeing her flourish, I then worry about retaining her!”

People management has always been a key ingredient to any business’ success, yet it is also one of the trickiest aspects to get right. The post pandemic era has only made the task even more challenging. Whether it be attracting the right candidates, securing them, keeping them happy, balancing the WFH culture or gauging remuneration packages, there are so many spokes to this important wheel!

We are developing a series of topical tips to try to cover as many sub-topics on this as possible, including:

Part 1 – Finding the talent – the recruitment process.

Part 2 – Employment contract, induction, training.

Part 3 – What does the current generation expect, including benefits.

Part 4 – Retention, motivation and incentivisation.

Part 1 – Finding the talent – the recruitment process

For part 1, we have invited guest author, Adam Sommerville of Barnes Roffe Recruitment, to present his current views on finding the right candidate and the recruitment process. The following is Adam’s initial overview:

As with most industries, the recruitment market has been through a very turbulent time during the Covid-19 pandemic. From March 2020 through to the end of that year, most businesses had put any recruitment plans on hold, with the focus on keeping their business trading rather than investing in future talent.

With the successful rollout of the vaccine programme and the feeling of renewed optimism that the world may be getting back to some kind of “normal”, the recruitment market has exploded back to life. In fact, we have seen vacancies at their highest levels for over a decade! This also means that good candidates have several options to consider, and it is quite common for a strong candidate to choose between multiple job offers. Something that certainly wasn’t the case 12 months ago.

How can your business ensure that you can compete when recruiting in this new, competitive market?

• Try to make the process as time efficient as possible. I’m not suggesting that recruitment processes should be rushed but rather than spreading the whole recruitment process over a 4–6-week period, you are less likely to have good candidates withdraw from the process if a 2 interview process is spread over a maximum of 2 weeks. In fact, we know several clients who have started doing stage one interviews where a candidate can meet all of the decision makers on the same day.
• A new flexible working culture. The recent unprecedented times have really shifted a candidate’s priorities when looking for a job. One of the first questions we receive after briefing a candidate on a vacancy is “do I have an opportunity for flexible working?”. With some companies still working from home 5 days a week until at least the end of this year, the majority have returned with 3 days in the office and 2 days from home. Something to consider when attracting talent.
• This new “WFH” culture, if adopted, could open an employer to a significantly wider talent pool than before. The option to recruit candidates wherever they are in the country, rather than just those within a commutable distance can potentially uncover a high-calibre candidate that would have previously been discounted purely because of location. Again, something that a number of our clients have embraced and had success with.
• Salary/remuneration. With lots of movement in the job market, employees are regularly getting counter offered by their current employer to try to retain them. Salaries are steadily creeping up and you may need to increase salary levels slightly to stay competitive.

Adam Sommerville is MD of Barnes Roffe Recruitment Limited (“BRR”), a new recruitment joint venture of Barnes Roffe Chartered Accountants. BRR’s Consultants possess over 50 years’ combined recruitment experience gained within Accountancy/Finance/Banking. Since its soft launch in the fourth quarter of 2021, BRR has assisted many BR clients with their finance and commercial vacancies, including roles in finance, sales, administration, operations and governance.

Adam and his team, together with your BR contact partner are more than happy to speak with you about this important topic.

Adam Sommerville can be contacted on 07986 968 647 or adam.sommerville@barnesrofferecruitment.com

Barnes Roffe Recruitment www.barnesrofferecruitment.com