What Does This Mean for Clients?
Let’s boil the situation down to its bare essentials. What does a talent shortage actually mean for a business using ERP systems when ERP talent is short?
The most obvious factor first: If you interview a potential key talent, but they accept an offer somewhere else before you make your decision, there’s a measurable direct cost – and one you could easily have avoided with a faster decision process.
Studies have shown that on average, not filling a key role for twelve months costs a business around four times that role’s expected salary. Filling the role with an inadequate talent is a little better, but not by much – and it incurs off boarding costs when you do take the decision to replace them.
Part of the reason for this is that any project they’d be involved with will stall. Even taking a few months more to find a candidate has this kind of measurable cost –and a worse one if the deadlines for those projects are missed as a result.
In the meantime, the staff already working for you will be stretched as they have to handle what they can of the role themselves. This isn’t made any easier when the role has specialist knowledge that isn’t really shared by the bulk of your team!
In general, staff members will be willing to pick up the slack like this for a short period of time, but the longer the post remains unfilled, the more the strain will show, and even the most loyal employee can be tempted to jump ship if they feel there’s too much for them to do. If not filling a role – or filling it with a substandard employee – means you lose other key team members, the problem is suddenly much bigger.
The Solution is Talent Attraction
So what do you do? Basic economics when demand outstrips supply means you need to compete with any other organisation looking to fill these roles. This isn’t just about the size of the salary, either – candidates seem frustrated with long interview cycles, and something as simple as taking too long to make a decision will see them choose to go elsewhere.
You should also be asking what kind of working arrangement they’ll want – there are plenty of great candidates who want to work remotely, but there are also others who prefer to work in an office. How flexible can you be?
I’d like to offer another option, though – make sure they know about their colleagues.
One of the biggest factors in whether someone enjoys a role is who they’re working alongside. These are the people you talk to every day (on Slack, Teams, or face to face, depending on how your business runs) and they’re the source of positive momentum, friendship, and support.
Feature some of your team on your social media or even have a potential future peer sit in on interviews. This gives both sides a chance to assess their fit with the team, and that can be a powerful attractor.
One last thing – and this may be the most important – is use a specialist recruiter with deep market experience. That can be the key to finding candidates – many of them just aren’t on job boards, and with demand being so high, they’re not on the market for all that long. A good recruiter will know they’re at a loose end.
Give me or my team a call and we’ll be happy to help you find your key candidate.
