The Thought-Action Chasm

‘The Thought-Action Chasm’

For 2013 Frog Recruitment predict recruiting will intensify across many sectors. With continued recovery in the United States and Europe, and strengthening in APAC markets, companies large and small will be under pressure to add the right talent for what is needed now and what will be needed next year.

Recently Phil O’Reilly, Business NZ, mentioned in conversation that talent is the number one hot topic on the lips of business leaders in New Zealand.

Given this is the case; it does seem that a chasm exists between thought and action. According to Frog Recruitment’s Director, Jane Kennelly, whilst the topic of talent might be hot, employers they have spoken to openly have signalled a reluctance to commit to taking a proactive talent stance, preferring to adopt a wait-and-see attitude.

Kennelly states the inhibitors to taking a proactive talent stance include:

• Continued reluctance to add staff, even losing over-worked long-tenured employees and their organisational knowledge
• Limited workforce planning resulting in a highly transactional/crisis driven approach, often resulting in problematic and time consuming recruitment issues
• Reluctance to move from outmoded recruitment practises that cause high performance talent to opt out of recruitment relationships
• Assuming a large number of people available for work automatically means highly skilled talent is available; this type of marketplace results in highly skilled talent avoiding rather than engaging with recruitment change

Given the smart practise options available for contemporary recruitment approaches, Kennelly suggests taking a moment to consider the following:

• How have you defined ‘high performing talent’ and what is your strategy for attracting them to you?
• Your recruitment partner is a brand partner. Do they have a proactive strategy for attracting high performing talent who are ‘a match made in heaven’ for you, or do they just present you with recruitment options that are ‘the low hanging fruit’ currently available in the marketplace?
• Do you have a proactive succession strategy for essential roles?
• Is your recruitment partner giving you effective guidance on crafting your workforce? Are they presenting fresh ideas to augment your future-proofing initiatives?
• With your strategy in place, are you hiring for your future state as opposed to the current status quo?

If ever there was a time for the art of high performing talent acquisition to be at the forefront of creating distinctive businesses, it is now.

Resist the urge to simply talk about the challenges; rather, start the ball rolling by taking a helicopter view of your business with a view on the future, and begin the planning phase with a trusted recruitment partner at your side. Why? Because increased profitability and business success is sure to follow with the right people on your team.

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