I'm going to share some thoughts from a retained recruiter and colleague of mine from the International Retained Search Associates, Ted Konnerth. Along with his superb golf game, Ted is a thoughtful guy and the leading recruiter in the electrical manufacturing and distribution industries. You can learn more about his company Egret Consulting here. I've done a bit of editing to apply these thoughts to the marketing/advertising industry.
Most people assume that with high unemployment, the availability of quality talent is as easy as posting an opening and waiting for the flow of hundreds of well-qualified applicants. Let’s disabuse you of that notion and begin by using facts:
1. Unemployment is 9.5% of the working population
2. Unemployment for those with a college degree is 4.8%
3. Baby boomers have begun to retire, with estimates of that pace predicted to quicken as the stock market and therefore retirement accounts return to levels prior to the Great Recession.
4. Emerging markets in the marketing industry are attracting experienced talent away from traditional employers, thereby depleting the available pool.
5. Levels of employee engagement are at record low levels, which will drive employers demand for more replacement talent*.
The majority of the unemployed are laborers; skilled or unskilled. Their plight is unlikely to dramatically improve going forward as many of their jobs have been shipped offshore. Additionally, the talent skills that the emerging companies need today require far more education than traditional laborers. College or technical school diploma-level attributes in IT, computer sciences, electronics and semi-conductors are in high demand.
The US already has a shortage of technology professionals, and the same is true as technology relates to the changing marketing methodology and expanding channels. We’ve seen the demand and wages increasing dramatically for online, mobile and social media marketing even in the past two years. Those who are expert in those new media areas, those who are leaders and/or innovators are scarce and not easily hired away from existing employers: relocation, signing bonuses, vacations, etc. are being offered to the premier players to try to attract them.
The war for talent issue has been moving forward for the past ten years. We were all forewarned this day was coming, but in the teeth of a deep recession it’s difficult to rationally increase hiring to prepare for the imminent shortage. Leading companies are already doing exactly that. Others are making a renewed effort to retain their own top performers and offering them professional training as part of a succession plan.
If there is a call to action, I would suggest three specific actions:
1. Enact retention strategies for your top talent immediately. Losing a key contributor is extremely costly, not just in the replacement costs, but in the lost down time to ramp up the replacement.
2. Implement succession plans for the top talent. A recent study found that less than 50% of corporations have a defined succession plan for their CEO’s (or any of their management team).
3. Create a recruitment plan that addresses three issues:a. Building a bench. Start a college recruitment program.
a. Building a bench. Start a college recruitment program.
b. Direct recruitment department. Focused on the college recruiting and the lower level positions that experience higher turnover rates, an internal recruitment organization can effectively meet these needs.
c. Sourcing partnership. For critical talent, that can only be identified through direct recruitment processes, identify a third party firm who can partner with your organization, acting as a pure recruitment organization and as a talent scout for opportunistic hires when ‘best athletes’ become available.
The next ten years will be exciting on so many levels: new technologies, new markets of growth and a melding of technology and devices into changing channels. There will be winners and losers in this battle as always, but for those who view the path to winning through attraction of qualified talent, the odds will be significantly higher.