What employers can do in a dry job market?

We are a small cosmetics company in dire need of chemists. We can’t seem to attract applicants as major companies have cornered the job market. Even graduating students would want to work for multinationals that offer not only lucrative pay but sophisticated training programs. How do we compete with them? — Little Lamb.

You don’t compete with them in that same traditional space. Rather, you’ve got to create your context like marketers do with the Blue Ocean Strategy. That means creating untapped job markets with little or no competition where the “pie” is made bigger rather than fought over.

Your best approach is to make your competitors irrelevant in your quest for chemists. Focus on what your competitors are ignoring rather than fighting with them in their own game, which you may not be able to afford anyway.

But first things first. I suggest that you examine your current value as an organization. Why are you having difficulty hiring chemists? Do an honest-to-goodness self-evaluation. You may find out that money is not everything.

SELF-EVALUATION
To evaluate your organization, you can do many things with the help of an external management consultant, preferably those outside of your industry. Topping my list are the following programs, which you can do one after another, in the following sequence:

One is SWOT analysis. This is about understanding the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. You can do this in a two- to three-day weekend get-away with top management and lieutenants to participate in strategic planning, and corporate visioning, and to revisit the vision, mission, and value statements.

Two, recruitment analytics. How well do you understand the job applicants’ acceptance rate and their time-to-hire situations? In real terms, how many candidates would accept a job offer? Sometimes, it’s surprising that a low acceptance rate may point to issues like the candidate’s poor experience during the recruitment process, among other reasons.

Three, employee morale survey. This is an annual, structured tool used by organizations to measure the general mood and satisfaction level of their employees. It helps employers understand how people feel about their work, management, team dynamics, and culture. That’s how sophisticated applicants would want to gauge the emotional well-being of their current employees.

Four, employer branding. This refers to the reputation and image a company projects as an employer — both to current employees and to potential job candidates. It’s essentially how your company is perceived as a place to work and what makes it attractive or unattractive to job seekers. It answers one simple question — “Why would anyone want to work there?”

Five, competitor benchmarking. The goal is to identify gaps, discover best practices, and find opportunities for improvement to stay competitive in your industry. This is difficult to do, especially if you have nothing to offer in exchange for comparing your company’s performance, strategies, products, or practices against competitors.

OTHER OPTIONS
Are you sure you know what you’re doing? Be skeptical about your current policies and practices to discover what you’ve been ignoring or missing out. To do that, answer the following questions:

One is job requirements. What are the imperative skills of the job? What skills are optional? How about years of work experience? Would 10 years of experience be needed or optional? Why can’t five years of experience suffice? How about applicants from other industries?

Two, sourcing platforms. How well do you know of potential candidates outside of the job market? How about those people active in professional groups? What are the upsides and downsides of hiring highly visible candidates in industry associations? How effective are referral bonuses for current workers?

Three, pay and perks package. How competitive are your compensation policies when compared to those in the industry? How low is low in absolute terms? Can you offset this with strong non-monetary benefits like flexibility, independence, mission-driven work, and faster career growth? How about giving them a performance bonus and stock option plan?

Four, training and upskilling. Can you hire for the candidates’ potential, rather than their current skill and experience? How about establishing a management development program to train junior hires in exchange for their three-year employment? Can you do this program with a reputable educational institution?

Five, specialized recruiters. Can you outsource the hiring process to trustworthy manpower agencies that can reach out to hidden talent? How sophisticated are these agencies in processing job applicants to avoid mismatch? What are the reasons why it’s better to subcontract the hiring process to these agencies?

Six, management consultants. How about hiring special subcontractors to do the job? Are you willing to hire retired chemists, either as project workers or short-term consultants? How about exploring the idea of hiring subcontractors or external vendors with the same talent and skill?

Surely, you can attract talent with below-market pay, but only if you’re exceptional in other areas that matter to candidates. In other words, what’s your value proposition beyond money?

Bring Rey Elbo’s branded leadership program called Superior Subordinate Supervision to your organization. For details, e-mail elbonomics@gmail.com or DM him on Facebook, LinkedIn, X, or via https://reyelbo.com