11 Most Challenging Issues for Hiring According to Specialists

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What is one of the most challenging issues for hiring now?

To help you identify and mitigate the most challenging issues for hiring now, we asked hiring managers and CEOs this question for their best insights. From recruiting and retaining top talent to fewer candidates actively looking for new positions, there are several challenging issues that are confronting businesses in hiring new talents..

Here are 11 most challenging issues for hiring now:

  • Recruiting and Retaining Top Talent
  • Lacking a Value Proposition Aligned With Best Talent Demands
  • High Demand for Specialized Roles and Remote Competition
  • Finding Qualified Candidates
  • Poor Candidate Experience
  • Telling Candidates The Truth About The Demands of Job Roles
  • Promoting Diversity in The Workplace
  • Maintaining Safety and Health at Work
  • Finding Candidates Who Can Handle Change
  • Increasing Employee Participation
  • Fewer Candidates Actively Looking for New Positions

Recruiting and Retaining Top Talent

The biggest issue that HR will face in 2022 is in recruiting and attracting top talent. Thanks to the Great Resignation, there is a war for talent in which companies compete to attract not just top talent but in many cases any employee they can hire who is qualified. HR has to figure out what changes the company needs to make in order to not just hire top talent who have their choice of where to work, but also to retain current employees.

Not all employees are looking for the same things, but offering competitive pay and benefits as well as remote work options can go a long way towards attracting new talent. However, employees also want a good experience at work. Many look for jobs where they’ll feel valued and where the employee experience is good.

Dave Rietsema, Founder and CEO of Matchr


Lacking a Value Proposition Aligned With Best Talent Demands

Many companies are experiencing challenges with hiring because they are without a value proposition that is aligned with what talent in the marketplace is seeking.
Candidates today want to know ‘What’s in it for me?’ Not only are they looking for competitive compensation and benefits, opportunities that contribute to career advancement, promote work life balance and foster a sense of belonging are also paramount.

As such, businesses should curate their proposition thinking of the unique value they can offer to potential employees in these areas in order to attract and retain the best talent. This may require the hiring function to collaborate with other areas in the business or even do some research to make this a reality but the rewards are well worth it!

Khadija Moore, Founder and Managing Director at Dijitalised

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High Demand for Specialized Roles and Remote Competition

One of the most challenging issues for hiring today, is the continued increase in demand for candidates with niche specializations compounded by increased competition from remote-eligible opportunities.

Certain roles have become very difficult to fill due to high-demand and with the increase in remote working – businesses now have to compete with other companies from all over the world for those key skills. Senior professionals that have skills within key industries, programming languages, platforms, and specific domains are getting bombarded by recruitment outreach which makes it even more difficult to connect.

For tech companies, areas such as cyber security, cloud, and software development have become battlegrounds for talent acquisition. To counteract this, companies can look to cross-train existing staff, widen their recruitment efforts, and develop a concise recruitment package that clearly defines why your opportunity should be the only one the candidate considers.

Colton De Vos, Marketing Specialist at Resolute Technology Solutions

 

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Finding Qualified Candidates

There are a few challenges that companies will face when hiring in 2022. One of the most difficult will be finding qualified candidates with the skills needed for the job. With the rise of technology, many jobs that were once done by humans are now being done by machines. This means that companies will need to look for candidates with different skill sets than they did in the past.

Another challenge will be finding candidates who are a good fit for the company culture. In order to retain top talent, companies will need to create a work environment that employees enjoy working in. This includes offering competitive salaries and benefits, as well as providing opportunities for growth and development.

Ilija Sekulov, Mailbutler

 


Poor Candidate Experience

When candidates have a negative experience with the hiring process, it can have a devastating effect on the company’s reputation. Candidates who have a bad experience will not only be put off from taking the job themselves, but they may also spread the word about their experience, creating negative publicity for the employer. 

Elements of a poor candidate experience include ineffective communication, lack of empathy, a disorganized onboarding process, and a lack of positive brand culture. 

To address poor candidate experience, companies need to critically evaluate their recruitment process. In particular, they need to see things from a candidate’s perspective to ensure there are no obstacles that cause disengagement and frustration. In addition, companies need to work harder on creating a positive culture that is welcoming to new candidates. Creating a positive candidate experience will ensure the candidate has good feelings about the company and will want to accept the job offer.

Dean Kaplan, CEO of The Kaplan 


Telling Candidates The Truth About The Demands of Job Roles

"This isn't the job I was hired to do." Have you or anyone you know ever said this long before the Great Recession? Job descriptions may feel scary when telling the truth about role demands, but the right people will opt-in and the wrong will move one before wasting anyone's time.

On the other end, "People just don't want to work?" Do you mean people who see their experience and skill sets as valuable and time as more precious than ever, that's fair. Maybe experienced labor no longer want to work at old standards, but is it possible there are those who see the work as an opportunity?

Juan Kingsbury, Talent Strategist at Career Blindspot


Promoting Diversity in The Workplace

Many companies still have trouble incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals into their overarching strategic plan, making diversity a perennial hot topic in HR. This is crucial if you want to make a difference in your firm. This has repercussions for the company's image as an employer of choice and its ability to recruit top talent, since more people want to work for organizations that promote equality of opportunity and respect for all employees. Assess where you are with regards to DEI in your company and where you wish to go. Clearly identify who is responsible for achieving each goal. As a final step, assign resources to each goal so that its assignees can produce the desired outcomes.

Max Whiteside, Content lead at Breaking Muscle


Maintaining Safety and Health at Work

In 2022, employee happiness will still rank high on the list of HR priorities. Following the calamities of 2020, businesses started to see the value in offering employees personalized benefits packages to help them deal with the challenges they faced in the workplace.

More and more services, from child care to elder care to mental health care, are being included in the comprehensive benefits packages offered by many modern businesses. However, providing benefits isn't enough to promote employees' health and wellness; you also need to provide assistance to employees in maintaining a healthy lifestyle through their employment. Increasing the amount of time off provided, adjusting work schedules, or reducing the number of tasks assigned per day are all examples of what can be done to alleviate employee stress. Your crew is the engine that drives your business, so it is important to let them know that their well-being is valued.

Tanner Arnold, President & CEO of Revelation Machinery


Finding Candidates Who Can Handle Change

Looking at the global market and all that we’ve endured recently, it is important to hire employees who can handle change. Navigating a team through choppy waters is always a challenge, but such a challenge is made easier when you have a team made up of top-level performers who don’t get rattled, discouraged or intimidated in the face of change and can see it as an opportunity for trying something new.

Mona Akhavi, CEO of VRAI


Increasing Employee Participation

Human resources experts have been worried about low employee engagement for decades. In the early stages of the epidemic, engagement measures were trending upward due to an increase in transparency and communication, but these gains have been difficult to sustain as the focus has moved to whether or not employees will return to the workplace.

In order to overcome these obstacles, businesses should put forth effort into strategic and well-planned communications aimed at making employees aware of their contributions to the company's overall goal, vision, and values. Employees are more likely to feel invested, productive, and interested in their work when they can see how their efforts contribute to the larger business strategy.

David Janssen, CEO and Director of VPNOverview


Fewer Candidates Actively Looking for New Positions

One of the big challenges for hiring currently is an increase in passive candidates, or candidates not actively looking for a new position. LinkedIn recently stated that 70% of the global workforce comprises passive candidates. Another that goes hand-in-hand is increased competition. With the majority of talent being passive, there is an increase in competition amongst employers. Therefore the individuals that are actively looking have the ability to be more selective and companies have to build their brand further to stand out.

Nir Leibovich, CEO and Co Founder of GoCo



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