Recruitment has changed. Like it or not, the days of old-school recruitment have been and gone. Back then, the skills and techniques required to source permanent candidates were completely different to those required to source non-permanent candidates. It was clear as black and white. Not anymore. Nowadays a more holistic approach is being made to recruitment; permanent recruitment and non-permanent recruitment has simply become... recruitment.
Four or five years ago, an organisation outsourcing both non-permanent and permanent recruitment together was something relatively unheard of. Completely different approaches were taken to non-permanent and permanent recruitment, due to the difference in sourcing tools, candidate attributes, screening techniques and that all important factor: cost.
So what’s changed?
To answer that question we must understand the changing nature of today’s workforce. The current Generation Z will have a very different working life to that of their parents. This generation has been schooled to pass exams, with league tables, it seems, more important to schools than the employability of school leavers.
A recent study by the Young Enterprise charity has shown that a growing number of British students do not graduate from school with adequate or basic skills to join the workforce. Researchers found that thousands of young people arrived at interviews without the “vital employability skills” required by employers such as having a suitable grasp of English, being punctual and having a general “can do” attitude. Generation Z lack the people, business and communication skills of some earlier generations.
No longer are people looking for a job for life. Young people expect to move around a lot in their careers and this has created a much more fluid workforce, where flexible and part-time working is encouraged. In 2011, the number of people in part-time work reached its highest level since the Office of National Statistics began its employment records in 1992, with eight million people working less than full-time hours; that’s 27% of all of those in employment.
Many organisations are finding that retention rates are falling amongst permanent employees and that they are increasing numbers of non-permanent, flexible and part-time staff.
To satisfy the flexible working requirements of Generation Z, the mindset towards permanent positions is moving ever closer to that of non-permanent work. This is understandable as employees often move on after a far shorter period of time and so the process for sourcing permanent candidates has had to adapt; and so have the hiring managers in terms of their expectations of a new, permanent hire.
Holistic talent management is about effective resource planning. How can organisations work out which skills they need? Do they want non-permanent or permanent candidates or indeed are they interchangeable? Move up a level and is it a person they want at all or would a consultancy or project arrangement be more beneficial and should this be achieved locally or remotely? Is there a middle ground? The solution can be found by asking the right questions to identify the exact requirements of the organisation and by properly understanding the strategy, culture and values of the company.
It is no longer as easy as simply selecting between non-permanent and permanent resource. Bringing talent and skills into your business is of critical importance. Organisations need to partner with an expert who understands the various resource types and the channels and mechanisms through which skills can be acquired: effective resource planning based on business objectives.
It’s not about non-permanent or permanent recruitment anymore; it is about finding talent and skills which contribute to the bottom line whether it be permanent, non-permanent, part-time, flexible working, on or off shore, temporary or interim, time and material or milestone consultancy to name but a few. Finding the best solution to deliver your business objectives is what’s important, not how you get there.
Written by Simon Blockley
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