Is it becoming harder to find employees who are engaged and loyal to your company? If you answered yes, you are not alone. 80% of employers say that it is difficult to attract talent. Businesses want employees with the skills and experience to do the job correctly, but 57% of employers say that those employees are the hardest to attract. Compromising on the quality of new hires comes at a high cost; 51% of employers experienced a loss of business due to the lack of the right people.
The UNIVERSUM Employment Branding Insights 2011 survey shows that 64% of the 632 companies included in the survey say that their key employees leave to pursue new professional opportunities. The top performers are looking for greater challenges and opportunities or more money. The high turnover rate requires companies to spend more time and resources looking for qualified potential employees then ever before. Many companies are turning to outside firms, like Hire Velocity, to help with the recruiting cycle. These resource process outsourcing (RPO) firms are able to find qualified, available, and interested candidates fast using the trained recruiters and specialized tools.
This has not always been the case. Past generations have typically had the mindset that they will stay at the same company for their entire career, moving up the ladder to better positions. Generation Y has a different mindset and companies can no longer rely on people to stay with an employer for their whole career. It is difficult for employers to keep their most talented employees while other opportunities open up for them. Generation Y is slowly dominating the workforce with 74% of employers looking to hire talent who have recently graduated from college or have 8 or less years of experience. This is making it difficult for senior professionals, people with more than 8 years of experience, to find work as only 18% of the employers surveyed are looking to hire them.
The future is not hopeless; employers agree that a long-term employer branding strategy leads to better recruiting results. Creating and implementing a long-term employer branding strategy will improve the company’s ability to attract and retain the right talent. The positive sign of this survey is that 82% of employers are now investing in talent attraction which excludes direct recruitment, but includes employer branding and communicators. Many of these employers believe that developing brand awareness and esteem are the solution to this growing problem.
