Recruitment

Elements of Enterneering^®/People/Recruitment

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The procurement of personnel is a critical task in every company. In many companies, this function is a bottleneck because staffing needs cannot be met on time and in line with the requirements. Entrepreneurs must know the current and future situations of the company as well as the personnel and labour market in which the company operates. It is important to identify the core elements that need to be implemented, how recruitment in the company should be organised, and what requirements and expectations should be set. Most importantly, it is crucial to understand the interaction between recruitment success and other essential elements of Enterneering^®. Companies that fail to embed recruitment in a contemporary business organisation and culture that is aligned with requirements will hardly achieve optimal success in recruiting, regardless of how well-staffed or equipped their recruitment team is. 
 

TRADITIONAL RECRUITMENT

For many decades, the recruitment processes in companies around the globe have been very similar to one another. Greatly simplified and put in chronological order, the process can be broken down as follows:

The recruitment process can become more straightforward and streamlined when the company has a strong reputation as an employer, and there is a surplus of job applicants for each vacancy (i.e. employer market and low turnover). In this case, other accompanying operational factors become less critical for recruitment success. Under these conditions, the management can focus on ensuring that the right people are appointed to the recruitment function and that this function is adequately resourced. It is also important to ensure that the individual demand drivers in the company know and adhere to their assignments and tasks in recruitment.
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RECRUITMENT UNDER PRESSURE

In many companies, the recruitment environment has changed dramatically over the past few years, leading to increased staff turnover, a decrease in the number and qualifications of applications and a decline in the company's reach and perception as a potential employer. What is the reason for this, and what do these companies need to understand, accept and change in order to be successful recruiters in the future?
 

DEMOGRAPHICS
One of the biggest drivers of recruitment changes in many companies is demographic change. Despite the predictions made decades ago, the global economy has not adequately prepared for it. According to current UN forecasts, the proportion of working people between the ages of 25 and 64 is decreasing significantly in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, China and East Asia. This trend is currently irreversible, and companies in these markets will have to deal with labour shortages, rising labour costs and sustained high levels of competitive pressures in the long term.
 

MINDSET
More and more people without any experience of the threat of unemployment, tight budgets or general existential fears are entering the workforce. The parents of these generations are proud and happy that their children are doing well, even better than them and their parents. These generations exhibit great curiosity, openness to the world and higher environmental and health awareness than the ones before them. They see high turn rates as an opportunity and exciting change, rather than as an unpleasant blip on their CVs. In addition to income, the most important criteria when choosing a job are the sense of purpose and the work-life balance it offers. Companies that fail to present offers that meet these requirements have poor chances of attracting this applicant group.
 

DIGITALISATION
The proportion of so-called digital natives is increasing. These are born to use the latest media and channels in the digital age and to tap the technological possibilities for themselves. Similarly, companies today have technologies and ways of interacting and producing that enable them to achieve very high rates of change, short cycles and extreme speeds of realisation. Outdated, slow or non-smart tools and processes in recruitment can inevitably create a widening gap between talented candidates and companies.
 

EDUCATION
​Education is the key to prosperity and progress, as well as the catalyst for change and advancement. The level of proficiency and competence among individuals in application processes has significantly increased in recent years and is expected to continue rising in many markets. As a result, job seekers have greater self-confidence and a sense of entitlement. Recruiters are increasingly faced with the request of providing precise information regarding the training opportunities available within their company, as well as describing the potential for individual development and personal contribution towards a higher sense of purpose or success. Recruiters who underestimate such questions and answer them inaccurately or inauthentically quickly run the risk of losing the potential candidates in the recruitment process.
 

It is therefore essential that entrepreneurs understand and accept the market environment in which their company operates and the external circumstances it must successfully deal with. If the company is one of those for which all the above-mentioned pressures are relevant in recruiting, a holistic approach is indispensable.

Enterneering^® describes one such holistic approach to running a successful business. It defines the essential elements that are available on the three levels of culture, people and organisation to develop a modern and sustainable company. Entrepreneurs who apply and successfully implement this approach in a suitable form for their company also create the conditions for effective, smart and sustainable recruiting. The Enterneering^® elements that are important for addressing and recruiting personnel include:

​SMART RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES

One of the most important lessons in markets 'under pressure' is that companies need to apply to good talent, and not the other way around. Even now, internalising this is difficult for many people in positions of responsibility. Before discussing respective job requirements, companies need to focus on their added values as an employer and make candidates aware of the benefits or overarching purpose of these values. They need to increase the reach of not just their job advertisements but also that of their corporate brand and promote it continuously. To stand out from competitors, they should prioritise individuality and speed in candidate management and deal with candidates in the same appreciative manner as with their customers. This will help them create a positive candidate experience.
 

DIGITAL RECRUITING STRATEGY
It is obvious that the digital age and the generations of digital natives have to be met with consistent digitalisation in recruitment, and that this approach should be combined with the pursuit of the best possible candidate experience. This sounds simple, but it is quite demanding. The goal here must be to use currently popular and reliable tools at the front-end to benefit the user in a way and to rely on radical automation and speed at the back-end. The process flow should have as few manual interruptions as possible that do not involve personal interaction, and the digital process should be implemented until completion, i.e. until after the work has successfully begun. In many companies, performance drops noticeably after the contract is signed, and onboarding quickly becomes a negative aspect of the candidate experience.
 

TALENT FIT STRATEGY
In smart and modern companies with well-educated and knowledge-thirsty people, it is no longer the actual professional skills but the so-called culture fit that plays a decisive role in many jobs. According to the motto that task-related knowledge and skills can be learned and trained, the focus is more on the soft factors when approaching candidates and deciding on appointments. Does a person fit in with the values and traditions of the company? Do they have the necessary sense of responsibility and motivation? Or do they bring the necessary resilience and possess the required degree of creativity and emotional intelligence?
 

SOCIAL CONTENT STRATEGY
Companies that aim to align their presence with the usage behaviour of their target group must collaborate with the world of content creators in social networks. If a company wants to increase its overall reach, it is not enough to post a job ad on one or more platforms just at the time of need. It is important to regularly publish engaging content that directs users to specific messages or successfully communicates them. Through these messages, it is crucial to present corporate values, report on the meaning and purpose of the company, provide insights into internal processes or projects and convey the working environment. A special form of social content is the event format of the company for external people. These can be digital formats but can also be in-house events.
 

EMPLOYER BRANDING STRATEGY
Employer branding is a much-described topic. In essence, it is about creating a specific impression on a particular target group, similar to sales and marketing. In doing so, many marketing concepts can be applied to employer branding. It is important to understand that this is a medium-to-long-term aspect.

If a company wants to create good employer branding, it must take measures and allocate resources for this ahead of time. This is often the first point where companies fail. Building a brand as an employer is just as demanding as building a corporate or product brand and requires just as much professionalism and stamina. Another point is the understanding that employer branding should not be confused with sales and marketing activities and thus, cannot be synchronised in a meaningful way, for example, to save costs or to bundle activities. It is a sophisticated topic that addresses an independent target group and conveys its messages. Another point many companies do not have on their radar is indirect image building. This is comparable to customer experience and product quality, which are reflected in reviews, forums or conversations in the private sphere. For example, comments or contributions from current or former employees also influence the formation of the employer brand.
 

GLOBAL JOBS STRATEGY
This approach experienced a significant global upsurge during the great Covid pandemic, from 2019 to 2022. Remote work suddenly became almost ubiquitous. It is questionable whether most companies were able to derive a sustainable further development of working environments from this for themselves, which also has a positive effect on success in recruitment. Observations have shown that companies whose corporate culture, talent management and company management did not consistently adapt to this form of working recalled their employees to their offices as the pendulum quickly swung back. Yet this form of work is a real alternative when staffing is under pressure, as it allows people to move or expand into labour markets that have the labour supply they need. Important in this context is to ensure sustainable implementation of the necessary and appropriate structures. In addition, there should be a dedicated assessment and selection of the required talent among the remote workers and their managers.
 

LOCATION EXPANSION STRATEGY
One of the possible alternatives for dealing with recruitment under pressure is the targeted expansion of the resource base in locations with better labour market conditions. This does not necessarily mean the classic relocation of a production site but the establishment of resource pools or service centres in emerging locations. In the UN trend cited above, Africa and India account for the largest share of global population growth, with rapid increases in the working population group. Location strategies are not new. Presumably, it is just the approach that matters when it is not ostensibly about cost reduction or proximity to the customer but simply about recruitment success.
 

RECRUITMENT IN ABUNDANCE

While, in many parts of the world, demographic change is causing many companies to desperately search for skilled workers, there are also countries or regions where there is a significant surplus of qualified workers compared to available job opportunities. The most prominent example of this is India, with its enormous labour potential. However, this situation is not synonymous with easy and low-effort recruitment. On the one hand, competition for the best talents exists here as well. And on the other hand, the best talents are drawn toward what they perceive to be the best employers. Therefore, the elements mentioned above remain relevant in this context as well. However, special challenges arise in maintaining the right balance between effectiveness and efficiency.
 

EFFECTIVENESS
If you fish in a vast and species-rich body of water, you need to have the right equipment and bait to get the catch you want. Similarly, companies need to exactly identify their recruitment needs and job requirements. Following this, a dedicated assessment scheme is very helpful in identifying the appropriate person. In this context, HR departments rely heavily on input from line departments.
 

EFFICIENCY
Appropriate tools and processes are needed to efficiently manage large numbers of applicants and countless process steps and interactions. At this point, recruiting must be equipped with a sufficient budget and the necessary resources, including IT and software. Automation, digitalisation and process orientation are the buzzwords of the day here. Poor efficiency increases the risk of compromising effectiveness. This means that the quality of the selection decision or onboarding is impaired if the recruitment process is poorly empowered, and as a result, the success rate of attracting the desired top talent suffers.
 

BALANCE
It is a challenge to consistently work on empowerment and professionalism in recruitment despite the perceived abundance of applicants. For example, many companies find it difficult to maintain certain standards of communication towards applicants or regarding the quality of the recruitment process. This is understandable in view of the market situation and yet, not particularly future-oriented. On the one hand, it is difficult for organisations to change their entrenched behaviour according to the situation. However, this may be necessary in the future. On the other hand, one should not underestimate the 'applicant experience' that applicants take back with them from the process and share with friends or on social media, thus achieving a large reach.

This is not an exhaustive exploration of the topic of recruitment; there are more in-depth approaches, methods and tools within the disciplines. It is important for entrepreneurs to gain a better understanding of the topic and apply it effectively to themselves and their companies. Furthermore, it should be emphasised that success in recruiting and retaining staff is inextricably linked to the culture and leadership of the company.
 

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