Quality of Hire is a concern for organisations worldwide. Many companies are falling behind their competition because they settle for employees who are simply “good enough.” The reasons for this vary from company to company, but the following are some very common themes:
Unrealistic Expectations of Internal Capacity
Internal HR/Talent Acquisition teams often lack the necessary skills, experience, capacity or scalability to deal with sudden hiring spikes. This has led to an over-reliance on agencies, a situation we see frequently in the Middle East and Africa.
87% of companies say their team of recruiters is not skilled.
70% of in-house solutions fail to source all hires required.
Agency Dependency
While agencies serve a purpose in all markets, their biggest shortfall is their focus on sourcing candidates who are actively looking for jobs. In a search for quick wins, finding the candidate who is the best cultural and technical fit becomes less important, particularly when competing against other agencies.
Agencies have a tendency to submit large volumes of CVs to hiring managers without properly screening candidates in the hope that one might meet the requirements. This approach erodes the hiring manager’s confidence that the right candidate is out there. As a result, they settle for less, thinking "someone is better than no one."
Failure to Reach Passive Candidates
Active candidates account for a mere 10% of potential available candidates in the marketplace. Organisations are restricting themselves – and their ability to hit and exceed targets – by focusing entirely on the performance capabilities of this 10%. There is an untapped pool of passive talent waiting to be reached with the right combination of tools and methodologies.
63% of organisations experience difficulty recruiting staff.
68% of organisations struggle to find the quality hires they need.
The cost of a poor hire is huge. Not just in terms of salary, but also in business impact, lost revenue and the time spent during the recruitment process and while managing poor performance. To improve candidate quality, you must ensure that sourcing strategies are all-inclusive and not limited to databases of people who applied for a job yesterday.
41% of HR professionals said the cost of a bad hire is easily more than a year’s salary.
17% of time spent by managers is managing poor performance (equivalent to one day per week).
The right talent acquisition partner will create a custom team for your organisation that includes specialists in sourcing, engagement, screening, assessment and onboarding. By compartmentalizing the recruitment process and providing experts in each function, talent acquisition partners are able to optimize candidate quality, experience and retention rates. If you do not have the resources, expertise or time to go it alone, consider finding a partner who can help.
Post contributed by Tom Bolton, Solutions Manager. Connect with him on LinkedIn.