Recruitment in Times of Skilled Labor Shortages – SMEs and Startups Need to Adapt
The situation is challenging: The negative impact of the skilled labor shortage has significantly worsened for Swiss SMEs compared to last year. According to the latest and most representative labor market study by AXA (June 2023), this issue is increasingly pressing.1It is now their biggest and most acute problem. Moreover, small and medium-sized enterprises do not expect the situation to improve anytime soon – and they are unfortunately correct. The number of people entering the workforce today is far from sufficient to replace those retiring, and this trend will persist for a long time.
The study provides fascinating insights into how SMEs evaluate new work time models (part-time, four-day week, etc.), continued employment of retirees, and the prioritization of mental health issues. While not part of the study, I believe a crucial aspect in addressing the skilled labor shortage is examining the infrastructure and resources currently used by SMEs for recruitment.
SMEs Need to Upgrade Their Recruitment Strategies
To better understand why I consider this important, I would like to reflect on a specific number from the study: 57 percent of the surveyed SMEs describe themselves as "somewhat traditional to traditional." This suggests that the infrastructures for searching and recruiting new employees in these companies might be outdated.
Companies are also "traditional" – meaning they are not sufficiently digital, not oriented towards important social media platforms, and not fully leveraging the employer branding potential of the company.
This is problematic for two interrelated reasons:
- As an SME, you generally have fewer immediately available resources compared to large companies or corporations to win the "War for Talent." If you want to hire a specific talent, you cannot easily increase the salary or accommodate their preferred working hours.
- As an SME, you also generally lack the infrastructural capabilities that large companies have to search for and hire for your open positions using dedicated resources and tools.
Let me state it clearly and unequivocally: In light of the skilled labor shortage and knowing that the upcoming generations entering the job market are fully digital, you don't stand a good chance of addressing your biggest challenge with "traditional" recruitment systems and resources. So, what should you do?
Invest in Visibility and Delegate Processes
The fact that working people (and this applies not only to the so-called Generation Z) nowadays prefer meaningful tasks in a good, healthy work environment over higher salaries gives you an important clue on where to strengthen and expand your company's arguments in its external presentation. First, you need to win the "War of Visibility." This means making sure your job postings on your own website, relevant channels, and important platforms are attractive, modern, informative, relatable, and user-friendly.
If you achieve this, you'll have much better chances of convincing talent of your company's merits through an excellent "Candidate Experience" — providing close and motivating support to the candidate from the first contact to the job interview.
There's good news for you: To gain a more advantageous position in the "War of Visibility" and ensure an excellent "Candidate Experience," you don't need to reinvent suitable infrastructure or hire specially trained professionals. You can delegate a significant portion of the tasks while still maintaining complete control over all processes. Fully automated systems on a state-of-the-art career page designed in your company's branding on your corporate website provide new talents with a positive and trust-building first impression of your company. External recruiting professionals handle the initial and in-depth contacts and (pre-)interviews until you, as the responsible person for the position, take over, starting from the actual job interview.
1https://www.axa.ch/content/dam/axa/medien/20230627-axa-2023-arbeitsmarktstudie.pdf
Doris Fink
Managing Director/Owner