Why it’s such a challenge to recruit the best talent

Employers everywhere are finding it difficult to get the best talent.

With the UK’s unemployment rate at 3.7% amid a record number of job vacancies, many positions simply aren’t even getting filled as employers across many industries face a skills gap.

Let’s examine further why recruiters face such difficulty and explore a possible solution for businesses.

The talent shortage

We are experiencing a considerably volatile job market as many employers face high turnover rates.

A high turnover of jobs means a less-skilled workforce. As people switch jobs, they need to be onboarded and upskilled – a timely and expensive task.

There are many interconnected reasons to explain why these people left their jobs – stress, poor pay, burnout, lack of job satisfaction, poor employer/employee relationships, or shifting of priorities, to name a few.

The pandemic has certainly been a catalyst in causing many employees to consider the big questions and reassess what work means.

Many workers are practicing what’s been dubbed ‘career downsizing,’ taking less stressful roles and responsibilities for less money to readjust their life goals and objectives. If this trend continues, it represents large skills vacuum that employers must try to fill.

But this isn’t the only challenge recruiters currently face.

A summary of the challenges for recruiters

Even though people seem to be quitting their jobs, that does not mean it’s easy pickings out there for recruiters.

Several factors are making it a challenge to get the right people on board:

• The labor shortage. In the UK, the unemployment rate decreased to 3.7% in May, 2022. Essentially, that’s pretty close to full employment, meaning there are a lot of jobs out there with not too many candidates available.
• Many candidates are passive, meaning that while they may be “open to an opportunity”, they are not actively looking for new roles.
• Increased competition. More employers are competing for a smaller pool of candidates.
• Ineffective recruitment processes mean so much time is wasted on hiring candidates that aren’t the right fit for various reasons.
• With so many options for candidates for new roles, if you don’t have a strong employer brand, you may find it challenging to attract job seekers.

What should be clear here is that, as an employer, you have to overcome many obstacles to be fortunate enough to bring on the best talent.

Without finding a solution to your recruitment needs, there could be an irrevocable impact on your business.

Inevitably, a staff shortage puts strain on your workflow and stunts economic growth. Many businesses stuck in a turnover cycle feel like they’re constantly putting out fires instead of investing in fire prevention.

And, of course, for any business based on providing excellent customer services, a staff shortage can do terrible damage as businesses simply aren’t able to provide the level of consumer care that they have come to expect.

A solution: Outsourcing

Righting the job economy is way beyond the scope of this paper.

Businesses need flexible solutions that not only deal with this problem now but also help to futureproof the labour market against recurring severe shortages. Businesses of every size, in every industry, and in every corner of the country are experiencing the worst skill and labour shortages in decades. This challenge is worsening by the day.

Outsourcing provides a possible solution that offers a stop-gap for employers while offering growth potential and scalability.

Outsourcing allows businesses to tap into a ready-made bank of experts cost-effectively without navigating the often-inefficient recruitment market. As your business grows, outsourcing companies can grow with you as they tap into their reserves of highly skilled workers.

What’s more, by outsourcing areas of your business, especially in skilled fields such as providing excellent customer services, you alleviate the burden and stress on your current employees.

Outsourcing through Sigma Connected: The best of both worlds

Businesses should take their workforce’s location into account.

Moving operations offshore can alleviate some of the risks of staffing shortfalls.

We have worked relentlessly for more than ten years at Sigma to create a hybrid between UK-based onshoring and offshore outsourcing alternatives.

We provide businesses with what we think is the best of both worlds when outsourcing contact centre solutions or back-office tasks.

What you get:

• A ready-made, fully scalable team of customer service experts at your disposal
• A mix of cost-effective offshore and onshore solutions offers more bespoke options.
• Over 10 years of experience catering to the needs of various clients in the energy, water, and financial services industries, among others. We know what we’re doing and can assimilate quickly with your business
• A ‘great-resignation-proof’ option for continued growth

What you avoid:

• Wasted time and money with inefficient recruitment processes
• Risk of continued high turnover
• Stressful additions to your current employees’ workloads

Find out more

To hear more about the underlying causes of the talent shortage and to hear about the possible solution of outsourcing, read our full report.