Thanks to the global pandemic we have all taken part in a huge global experiment (albeit forced) of working from home. There have been lots of lessons learnt, but one thing is for sure, as we now transition back to the office, most of us aren’t looking to resume full time, office hours. Equally our needs and expectations of work and our environment aren’t quite the same as they used to be. Recruitment trends are changing.
In fact of the 4,700 knowledge workers that Slack interviewed for their Future Forum, found the majority never want to go back to the old way of working. Only 12% wanted to return to full-time office work and 72% want a hybrid remote-office model moving forward.
So, we now have a new normal for how we work, but how we find new employees or employers is still very much the old normal i.e. recruitment agencies. With 45% of companies reporting that they have hard to fill vacancies CIPD spring 2022, companies need to look beyond traditional hiring practices to reach a broader pool of talent.
Traditional Hiring Methods Need to Change
Recruitment agencies have a role to play but can be the bane of both employer and employees life. And with circa 40,000 recruitment agencies in the UK there are inevitably varying experiences amongst each.
A survey by Silver Swan Recruitment found that more than a quarter of the businesses polled said lack of feedback was their top problem, whether they were looking for talent or looking to get hired.
Another big problem businesses had with recruitment agencies was either receiving no responses at all and poor communication, or the other extreme – too much communication and constantly being bothered by them. For job hunters, it was similar. It again came down to the two extremes, either being bombarded with irrelevant jobs or not being contacted about jobs they felt they would have been a good fit for.
The Lightbulb Moment
During my time working at a FinTech company, I experienced this first-hand. My responsibilities included recruitment of contract staff. Whenever we secured a new project, we would have an urgent spike in resourcing needs.
I would go to our preferred agency and see which contractors they had available. It always frustrated me that we were so reliant on their network and were unable to access a larger pool of talent and that’s not to mention the big cost associated with each hire.
I felt instinctively that there had to be a better way of doing things addressing time, quality and accessibility of potential hires.
After all, everyone else has moved on so why shouldn’t recruitment?
Recruit Like You’re Choosing a Date
Take the world of dating. It’s much easier to find the right person for you if you’ve got a wider choice and if you are actually making the decision.
Years ago there used to be dating agencies that those looking for love would sign up to. Then someone at the agency would decide who you were best matched to and give you a choice of potential partners.
But of course, as soon as the technology was there for apps to provide a database of potential partners for people to choose from rather than being told who they should date, dating agencies became a thing of the past.
So, if the world of dating has cut out the middleman, we think the same should happen in recruiting. And that’s why we started Talent Toute, a recruitment marketplace.
The New Way of Finding IT Candiates/Contractors
The way Talent Toute works is very simple. Candidates register with us by creating a profile. They input their skills as well as a fifty-word summary of what makes them special. Then as an employer, you create a company account, put in a what you are looking for: necessary skills, when you want them and for how long. You’ll then get a choice of potential candidates for you (not a recruitment agent!) to narrow down to a shortlist. Our candidate profiles are anonymous as we believe in providing a level playing field for all candidates to showcase their talents. Placing much more emphasis on their skills, capabilities and achievements.
Once you feel ready to engage with your chosen potential candidates, upgrade to one of our credit plans and invite candidates to connect directly with you. The candidate will see your invite along with a summary of the role. Once they agree a ‘connection’ takes place and the conversation starts. Within minutes you could be firming up interview plans.
Go On, Give it a Try!
We know what it’s like when you need new contractors in IT. When you need them, you need them now! And we realise when you’re up against it, the easiest thing to do is chuck the brief out to your usual preferred recruitment agencies. But easiest isn’t always best, and it’s certainly not cheapest. So why not try this. Visit https://talenttoute.com/ to register, when you’ve got a spare moment and then the next time you need someone, put your requirements into our app at the same time as you brief your recruitment agency and see which one you prefer.
We feel very confident you’re going to swipe right on us.