The Great Resignation has changed talent acquisition forever – here is how you deal with it

The Great Resignation has given the power back to the employees – and they are not giving it back any time soon. Gone are the days where you could convince possible candidates to join your team with a fancy ping pong table and cake on Fridays. And while those things are cool, in today’s labor market they simply won’t do. Considering them a benefit is worst case an insult – best case you just seem outdated.

In today’s job market that means you have to work harder than that to attract the talent you want and need for your organization. This means rethinking not only your hiring process, but also the way you compensate and appreciate your employees beyond a paycheck.

A good place to start is by understanding that in these extraordinary times you are competing for talent. That means, understand your opponent. Ask yourself questions such as “who is my competition?” “How do they attract talent?” and “How can I make sure my organization catch the attention of the best talents?” The key is to understand what you can do to make your organization stand out, and what you can offer that they simply won’t find anywhere else.

Another way to go about it is to understand exactly what kind of skills your team or organization is missing. The more specific the description you can come up with, the better. Once you have a solid idea of the talent you want to attract, research your local schools or universities to see if they are currently training or educating the type of employee you need. Participate in job fairs those schools offer and catch the attention of future employees before they even finish their education.

Forget the salary for a minute, and focus on the one thing people want to know these days – are you offering flexible work hours? One of the biggest reasons for the great resignation is that in the wake of the pandemic people refused to let work be the focal point of their life. People today simply reject the idea of slaving their day away in front of their desk. This means that offering a feasible work/life balance is now the main key to attracting top talent to your organization. If you are not yet offering flexible hours or the opportunity to work remotely, this might be one of the first things you should look at if you have difficulties attracting the right employee for your company.

One of the first things an interested applicant is going to do before handing in their well written applications is researching your organization. And one thing we know for sure is that people are adding more and more value to the culture of a potential new workplace, so make sure they see yours. Show your insanely attractive, fun, interesting, groundbreaking and front-running workplace culture by being present on social media. Let your posts be about who you are as an organization. You support green initiatives? Great, show how you recycle trash in the office. You appreciate a fun workplace? Post a clip of an intense game of ping pong. The possibilities are endless as long as you make sure to stay true to who you are.

We have all been there. Found an interesting job add, hit the ‘apply’ button only to have that take us through an application process so exhausting you would rather run a marathon. Twice. In the same day. A lot of organizations make the mistake of having people fill out an online resume accounting for all their experience and training only to have them upload a resume (which the candidate typically spend time customizing specifically to your job ad!) as well! This is a real drainer that often leaves the candidate with a less than favorable view on your recruitment process, and since first impressions matter why not start from the second the candidate hit the ‘apply’ button?

This means not only reviewing the online process that is usually the first step, but also making sure you have a strong career page on your website. This page should provide the candidate with all the information they need about what it is like working for your organization. This can not only inspire them to work even harder for the position you offer, but also weed out any potential bad hires that would not make a good fit for you company anyways.

If you have not yet experienced a wave of resignations, but fear that it might soon impact your organization as well, you should consider how you can retain your current employees. Ask your employees the difficult question “what does it take for you to stay?” or even scarier “what would it take for you to leave?” – and listen. Be willing to actually adapt to the needs of your employees, and keep in mind that it might be more cost efficient than hiring their replacement.

The Great Resignation is still raging and for organizations, it can be alarming. But know that navigating through it is not entirely unmanageable, as long as you too are willing to make the necessary changes.