You may have heard; unemployment is at record lows of 4%.  You probably didn’t need that official
statistic to know how hard it is to find and recruit people for your business right now.   

I’ve outlined the contributing factors – what this means for small businesses and how you can improve your chances of finding staff.

How did we get here? 

Well it’s been a bit of a perfect storm!  I’ve been saying for years that NZ would fall over if it wasn’t for immigrant labour.  Well, Covid has shown us a glimpse of that reality. 

Many international students would work 20 hours a week, often in hospitality and retail.  Those whose English communication skills weren’t great often ended up in cleaning, factory or security jobs.  Then when their studies were complete, they would receive Study to Work visas, and enter the full-time employment market. 

Those streams of people are severely reduced.  People on working holiday visas have had their times extended, but it hasn’t’ been anywhere near enough to fill the gap.  And naturally there’s (almost) no immigration. And with all the press about people losing jobs last year, it appears some people are still nervous about going to a new employer, so sitting tight.  More so those on Visa’s waiting until the impending Immigration changes become clearer. 

This exacerbated a very tight market with serious shortages, critically so in trades, in what is a rapidly growing country.

My small and medium business (SME) clients are saying, “…but we’re not in those industries”, trouble is it has had a knock-on effect.  Businesses have compromised on the calibre or skills of candidates and vacuumed up people, that would have perhaps worked in another sector. 

The positive being that some people are getting opportunities they wouldn’t have previously.

Unfortunately, most SMEs can’t train someone as they are too small, they don’t have a ‘trainer’ let alone the time (or double resources) to allow someone to get up to speed.

Whatever has happened SMEs need to know that they are disproportionately affected due to the lack of branding and sheer ‘pulling power’ of larger businesses. 

How can you hire a great candidate when they don’t even know who you are?   And when most advertising follows ‘post-war’ methods, extending a shopping list of ‘must-haves’.

So I thought I would outline some actions you can take as a SME to improve your hiring chances:

If you’re a SME doing your own recruitment you need to give yourself a fighting chance.   If you are strategic in your approach, utilise your network, use marketing principles, and multiple advertising streams supported by social media, you’ll have much better results.

Also remain open minded about people’s abilities.  New Zealanders are one of the most travelled people on this planet, yet this doesn’t seem to equate to ‘open mindedness’ when hiring.  It’s time we dropped the ‘doesn’t have NZ experience’ excuse.  What do they have that you haven’t even considered?  There’s a chance you ‘don’t know what you don’t know’ and are missing out on other valuable skills.  

The saying ‘hire on attitude not skills’ has never been truer.  The above will at least give you some candidates to work with.

About 55,000 low-paid workers, mainly women, are about to get one of the biggest pay rises ever after details of a historic pay equity settlement are revealed today.

The deal will cost the Government over $500 million a year when fully implemented in five years, assuming it is signed off by union members and the Cabinet.

The settlement will mean hefty pay increases from July in three government-funded service sectors that employ mainly women on low rates: aged residential care, home support, and disability services.

The Herald understands that for the primary litigant, rest home caregiver Kristine Bartlett, it will mean an increase from about $16 an hour to about $23 an hour – more than 43 per cent.

The deal allows for annual increases over five years to $27 an hour.

Overall, pay rises will range from $3 an hour to $7, depending on the work and experience.

The statutory minimum wage at present is $15.75 an hour. The new pay rates will not be backdated.

The case is the first legal settlement in New Zealand that recognises that some jobs pay less because they are done mainly by women.

Read more here

This informative webinar covers how to measure motivational, cultural and job fit of candidates for your vacancies.  It is this that impacts tenure if you get it wrong.  Simplistically it covers how to measure if someone WILL DO the role, not CAN DO the role as ‘behavioural interviewing’ does and is a great complement to this.  Follow the link to view the webinar and add this technique to your interviews to improve your hiring! 

Hint: start at the 3 minute mark to bypass the ‘ummms’ before Tania got into her flow.

In 2017 I saw a number of established small and medium enterprises (SMEs) affected by a crisis challenging their very existence.  The ability to hire the right staff.  The ability to find and keep good staff has always been a challenge but the skills shortage, now worse than ever, is threatening their survival. 

Although I’d like government to have more relaxed rules for SMEs around hiring overseas people, last years immigration criteria changes have meant the opposite.  So this article firstly defines the problem then provides practicable and affordable solutions.

As an outsourced recruiter I’m the recruitment arm for small and medium enterprises so have a holistic view of how the skills shortage is impacting SMEs.  I see more and more SMEs stymied by not being able to get staff.  The lack of available people combined with SMEs reduced ability to be noticed by potential employees runs a real risk of paralysing some businesses.  Last year I had several business owners tell me that if our team couldn’t find a person with particular skills (skills that weren’t on the skills shortage list) then they would have to shut up shop.  If you’re reading this article you’ve likely experienced the shortage but here’s some firm statistics if you’d like them.

In 2017 the largest increase in job ads was for unskilled and semi-skilled labour (reported in September 2017 by HRD).  Luckily some of these roles such as CNC Operators are now on the skills shortage list.  What catches SMEs out is a massive shortage of sales people, a remaining effect from the GFC.  Many people left this profession and haven’t returned, but this isn’t on the skills shortage list.

The reason the skills shortage is so impactful on SMEs is that they generally aren’t well known to potential employees, in comparison to corporates.  Most SMEs lack employment brand and recruiting expertise.  They also don’t have funds for agencies, therefore many try to DIY. 

The current 4.6% unemployment rate has meant a changed hiring landscape.  Due to skills shortages and low unemployment we have moved from the old fashioned “Advertise and Assess” model of hiring to “Find and Engage” (well-articulated in a recent article by Adele Chua of HRM).  That raises real concerns for SMEs as they do not have the time, resources or experience to hunt people down, approach them and convince them to come aboard. While in the past they’ve been able to get away with DIY due to good ad response, they can now be left high and dry.

So, in a nutshell – the main challenges for SMEs are lack of visibility and lack of budget or resources to improve this. Yes, SMEs should be training current staff and making sure valued staff are on or above current market rates, and have conditions they value.  But if the horse has bolted and you must hire, or you’d like to grow the company, here are some recommendations that may help…

Recommendations:

• Ask your existing employees for referrals before you advertise, specify people they would recommend, not just people they know
• Market your opportunity from the candidates’ point of view, this means not saying ‘We are looking for’, or ‘you must have…’.  Instead try ‘Thrive working in…’ or Enjoy a role as…’.  In this market it truly isn’t about you
• Find Facebook groups that relate to the interests of the people you seek and post your ad there.  Consider ‘boosting’ your post
• Are there any special interest groups related to the role you are employing for, organisations or associations?  If so advertise on their sites or in those publications
• Use video to provide further information.  Not corporate videos that are written for potential clients as an audience but potential employees as the audience.  Feature your own employees to add a personal touch and explain what they like about the company.
• Use an outsourced recruiter who’s innovative and digital and social media savvy and can put together a plan for putting your opportunity in front of the right candidates
• Be open minded, you may not be able to hire a Kiwi, think about the experience a new Immigrant may bring that a Kiwi may not have had exposure to
• Remove age, cultural and other biases!  Hard to do I know but now’s not the time to be close-minded if your business is to survive
• Consider new grads, in many cases they are able to come up to speed quickly
• Consider supporting an immigrant’s work visa request by completing the dreaded ‘Employer Supplementary From’ to support the job offer.  You will of course have to advertise and register the role with Work and Income and track results to provide proof of difficulty
• Put a careers page on your website that is tailored to your ideal audience, i.e potential employees.  Showcase current employees and their achievements.  Also have a Facebook page for your company where you can publicise opportunities
• Embrace ‘Search’ methodologies to headhunt the person you want, if it’s a sought after skill an ad is unlikely to cut it.
• Depending on the job mind map your current competitors, known people in the industry, identify those you would be interested in.  Find someone within the company who knows them and can approach them or alternatively outsource this to your outsourced recruitment partner
• Maintain a list of anyone that shows interest and if the timing isn’t right, send them employee newsletters and keep them informed and engaged, they might be interested at a future time

On the up side – 97% of all businesses in NZ have less than 20 staff, and as 28% of our GDP is estimated to be produced by these enterprises, there is no argument that small businesses are critical to NZ’s future.  In Feb 2016 29% of all employees worked for companies with less than 20 staff, so there are a reasonable number of people who prefer to work for smaller businesses. But with Immigration requirements tightening, hiring will get worse before it gets better, so I suggest SMEs engage expertise and help to give themselves the best possible chance of competing for top talent.  Besides my company Talent Seed, there are many outsourced options that are not agencies and don’t come with the corresponding hefty price tag.

If I see the words ‘We’re hiring!’ in an ad one more time I’ll scream.  One of my pet peeves is most recruiter’s inability to write a half decent recruitment advertisement.  What chance does a business have of attracting people when they copy this well-worn (out) format?  

In this article I’ll rebuff the ads most recruiters, and unfortunately, companies still write, explain why most ads need to change and clarify the elements of a good ad.

If you’re hiring you need the right number of quality candidates.  A badly written ad can attract either not enough or too many.  Both situations have consequences but a good ad creates a positive flow on effect right through the recruitment process, which means hiring is a lot easier. 

So what makes a great ad? For a start, to attract great people your ad needs to differentiate your business as an employer.  

To set the scene let’s put our marketing hat on.   For reasons unknown people forget that when they’re hiring they are actually marketing their company as an employer.   And they are competing for skills against everyone else seeking those same skills.  

With an aging workforce skill shortages exist and the same-old tired format isn’t going to cut it if you want to stand out.  I recently had a client seeking a Business Analyst, at the time there were 477 ads for a Business Analyst on Seek in Auckland alone and less than 250 Auckland BAs with LinkedIn profiles. Now a lot of those ads would have been duplicated however the client really had to differentiate themselves to get noticed. So what’s so wrong with the traditional recruitment ad? Besides providing a shopping list of what the company wants and nothing of benefit to the candidate most start with talking about the company. They are very much written from the company’s perspective, not the candidate’s and don’t connect with potential applicants using everyday language.  ‘We’re hiring’ smacks of this.  There is minimal information about why a person would really want the role and the benefits and differentiators of the role and company. 

Traditional advertising follows the AIDA approach; the theory being to get, in this order, Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.  This is still relevant but simplistic and doesn’t include other factors that are required to make a stand-out job advertisement.

Even if you’re advertising for a role where there are lots of candidates you still need to make sure the right ones are applying.  Going through hundreds of unsuitable candidates isn’t fun or an effective use of time for anyone. There will always be ‘serial applicants’ and an applicant tracking system will save you time and energy but a good ad will explain why a certain skill is necessary so people without it are discouraged from applying.

So here are a few do’s and don’ts to consider when writing a recruitment ad:

Do’s

• Consider the audience, speak to them in a tone and language that is meaningful
• Reorder the ad, start with what’s in it for the candidate, nearer the end introduce the company
• Have clear differentiators and benefits for the role and talk about ‘what’s in it for the candidate’ (known as WIIFM) – benefits could be tools, autonomy, what they will learn or who they will learn from as well as tangible benefits like healthcare or car parking
• Use a ‘Unique Selling Proposition’ (USP) rather than a job title as the headline to stand out from other ads for the same role, for instance ‘Let your career soar’.
• An exemption to using a USP is when you are advertising on LinkedIn or other sites that use algorithms to match candidates; in this case key words are important so use a job title but make sure it is representative of the role’s title in the market  
• Speak direct to the candidate, use relaxed language such as ‘you’ll be’, ‘you’ll have’, ideally write as you would speak to create a connection
• Use positive language such as; enjoy, thrive in, revel in, relish a role that…
• Talk about how they can contribute and why the role is important, how they can make a difference through the role
• Explain how a requested skill set will be used, so they understand why it is needed
• Be real – ideally employees want to know they matter, demonstrate in the ad how you do this, and if you don’t make them feel like they matter, then start  
• Find the unique points about the company as well as the role; have you been recognised, won awards, what do you customers think about you?

Don’ts

• Use stuffy, formal language or language that is most likely above or below the target audiences understanding  
• Provide a shopping list of requested skills and attributes.  It smacks of ‘we want’ which is all about the company and even if you head it ‘You must have’ it is still all about you not them
• Use the same job title as one hundred and one other ads on the job boards you’re loading the ad on
• Get too fluffy, you still need to state what the job does
• Underestimate lifestyle and family friendly elements, especially if you’re looking further afield. Do you offer quality of life in your location? Sell to the family, not just the individual
• Say ‘I’m hiring!’ unless you’ve got a fantastic brand with a great pipeline of candidates lining up for work for you

Good marketing practices consider the audience, talk about what’s in it for them, and have a call to action.  Recruitment marketing is no different and a great ad provides a flavour of what you’re about as a company, ironically without talking much about you!

A well-written ad can save you time and energy during the recruitment process by attracting more of the right people. If you’re still writing ads with no differentiator stating ‘we want’ then expect to get less and less applicants.

Need some coaching to get your ads right, or have an ad written for you… give Talent Seed a call.