the hr game turned on its head

i have been thinking about this phenomenon for some time now. not that that means this will be a particularly mind blowing, life altering entry, probably quite the opposite - anyhoo...

with many of the preceding years of "candidate scarcity" and job security most players in the hr market were not in any way shape or form positioned for the current climate. a significant amount of hay baling under the shining economic sun was done and many fringe players were able to survive and some achieved moderate profit results. so there is plenty of fat about and plenty of them are now ready to deal. and anyways, i am still not convinced about this phrase "candidate scarcity" as it seems to me that good candidates are always going to be reasonably scarce. so has the game changed that much then?

sure you may think the method of navigating to the good candidates has altered. you may think that you do not have to engage 6 recruitment agencies and put up advertisements on every job board you can find. employer branding and micro career sites might not have the same level of importance to you but the fundamental tenet still remains - attracted and retaining the good candidate.

for mine this still requires an element of more of the same if not an increased focus. your brand still has to be strong, your employer value proposition has to be strong and your employee protection plan has to be strong.

if there are suddenly more candidates that we can select from, if we suddenly have lower staff turnover then we have to be more diligent than ever. our poor and moderate performers are going to hang on like their life depends on it. our top performers are going to require a greater attention to their career progress than ever. this is not a time to relax from an hr perspective. more candidates applying for a job (and seek's numbers today show about 40% more) does not mean it is easier to do your job. in many respects its harder because you have a greater workload and less resources (we know that hr is one of the first casualties of fiscal tightening) meaning you have to be smarter again than when we had too many jobs and not enough candidates.

so where does this leave us hr practitioners then? well, i think its a great time to really bed down some strong long term relationships with your suppliers. everyone is open to ideas. if its tough for you inside the corporate wall, you can be guaranteed its tough for the folks knocking on that wall too. so why not get strategic? draw up a wish list. what does your ideal supplier relationship structure look like? if you need some help or some stimulation as to what is available out there, again there are a few people around who can help you with the thinking process. and again, its a great time to engage an external consultant - remember, they are open to different commercial arrangements too. so once you have your wish list drawn up then act on it. get your specialist/niche recruiters lined up and working with you. demand a higher level of support from your technology providers. get that external consultant in to broaden your thinking on the topic and introduce new ideas and techniques and technology to the mix.

it doesn't have to cost you much. its time for you to be assertive. but you cant be assertive if you don't have your wish list. and you cant have your wish list if you don't fully appreciate whats on offer out there. so do your research, get on twitter, get on your relevant linkedin hr and recruitment groups, subscribe to the many forums, research entities (taleo's is particularly good and does not include too much harsh sales spin) and blogs out there that provide a wealth of information like your recruitment directory, michael spechts ramblings and your online recruitment blogs. not too mention the ones i recommend you follow on this blog.

there is so much out there. and for us hr people, the lovers of information to review, to file and come back to, it is a veritable nirvana.

so get started folks and don't let the naysayers inside the corporate walls drag you down, there has never been a better time to be in the hr game.

go well