“Talent scarcity” is the new buzz word when it comes to hiring, and it’s truer in 2022 more than ever.
When it comes to hiring, candidates meeting nearly 100% of the job requirements, and settling for nothing less can be utterly frustrating. The reality is you may be waiting quite a long time. My recommendation? Consider candidates with unique qualities (in addition to tangible industry skills) more so than waiting for someone who checks ALL the boxes before making a formal offer. Reasons for this strategy are outlined in an article I wrote last year about candidate qualifications versus their availability for hire, (Check it out here: The Most Qualified Candidate Is Not Always Your Best Candidate).
A year later, that strategy may in fact be more attractive given the amount of time, effort, and energy HR departments expend recruiting competent and available candidates.
So what now? Do you keep consistent and wait for the right person to apply? Do you engage a recruiting firm to assist in the process? Will your hiring manager be willing to wait a little longer for the “right fit”? All legit questions in a candidate-driven job market where the ideal candidate may have 1-2 other offers being considered.
Here are 3 solutions for overcoming the elusive perfect-candidate dilemma:
- Develop Candidate Relationships
This practice takes time, and time is not necessarily on your side when a job opening is–well, still open. Your HR team should be on the phone, sending emails and even a text or two to continue the communication bridge of establishing that all-important link to build credibility and confidence with the candidate pool.
Often, passive candidates become active candidates. If HR and Talent Acquisition team members are not systematically making targeted calls (emails, messages, texts) each week, start now. Relationships are a useful entry into developing trust and credibility.
- Contact an Experience Recruiting Agency
According to industry research, HR departments are now leaning on these recruiting firms to hire highly sought after talent more than ever.
You may be thinking: “Why use recruiting firms when I have a Talent Acquisition team in-house?’ These recruiting firms have individual career relationships built over many years. They can locate (through intelligence research and other very targeted resources) qualified candidates and how best to get them to respond. Here at PharmaOne Search we have a database of over 9300 subscribers that we communicate with quarterly to inform of new position openings and communicate industry trends.
- Use Market Analytics and Insights
So much of the pharma/biotech industry is rich in data. Data drives most strategy decisions. For the more experienced pharma HR departments, the analytics are being implemented as an effective sourcing tool, ranking applicants based on qualifications met to further qualify internal talent mobility.
The benefits are:
- time savings for HR
- increased productivity
- increased quality hires
- better utilizing existing talent databases
All sounds high tech, and it is! But not all HR depts. have accessibility to these AI-driven sourcing tools which is another reason to use a qualified recruiting agency that uses data tools, as well as relationships, to help find qualified individuals with both speed and accuracy.
Let PharmaOne Search make that a reality. Contact us today.
Make it Count!
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Steve Kane
PharmaOne Search, LLC
803.230.7484