The continued employees marketplace is as strong as ever in the Channel Islands. The trend is positive and is likely to continue well into 2022. Its good news for job seekers but not good news for employers as they try and find a happy medium of offering good salaries, benefits including perks to attract key staff which are an essential commodity in these busy times.
A large percentage of employers on the island are keen to continue hiring quality candidates and plan to increase their staffing levels to keep up with the demand of new business coming in.
It is what businesses in all sectors on the island have been desperately waiting for after the effects of the economic downturn and the Covid curfews. Now the staffing boom has arrived it has become a headache for HR Managers to try and satisfy the staffing requirements for line managers who are having to be working long hours to cover the shortfall of bodies in their departments. At AP Personnel we are receiving shopping lists of staffing requirements from our clients – no complaints from us in terms of being of service!
So what is the solution? In order for us to help your organisation may I suggest the following as a professionally qualified recruiter, who has witnessed both employer and employee job markets over the years.
Ensure your HR department are liaising with recruitment agencies constantly. By keeping in touch on a regular basis they will find out the types of experience of candidates registering with the agency and if anyone is suitable for the company’s needs. Make friends with agencies so they favour your company’s HR team above others as an organisation to do business with and help to fill your company’s current jobs.
Regularly update the recruitment agencies of choice with your company recruitment and temporary staffing needs and if possible with future jobs coming up which will need help to be filled.
Quick feedback to recruitment agencies is critical to ensure if a candidate is suitable or not suitable after interviewing. This is so the recruiter can advise the candidate that they are of interest to you or if the candidate is not suitable then we can switch off the candidate and your company has been professional through the hiring process by notifying with prompt feedback. The agency can then focus on finding the candidate alternative employment, thus helping the job seeker and other companies on the island also desperate for staff, to help fill their roles quicker and the declined candidate may suit their requirements instead. Community spirit!
If the HR department are co-ordinators between your company’s departments – they must advise and push line managers to find time to interview prospective candidates as a priority and also importantly line managers must provide immediate feedback after interview to its HR department. If the job seeker is suitable for further interviews or potential offers of employment then feedback to agencies must be consistent and the pace is maintained. Psychologically this is a big positive to a job seeker to hear that the prospective employer valued their interview by providing feedback quickly to the agency.
Build business relationships with recruiters, inform them what is new and happening in your organisation so they are fully understanding of your company to be able to advise candidates correctly. When the shoe is on the other foot i.e. it is an employee’s job market and not an employer’s one, it is so important that the HR team provide as much information regarding your company and its positive points so recruiters can sell this in to job seekers, to entice them to your organisation as the employer of choice.
Employment agencies are in business the same as their clients are therefore constantly trying to squeeze agencies on rates and payment terms is not going to work in an employee’s marketplace – pay up for services and you should get a good service in return. Think about it? If one client is paying a higher commission rate it is certain a recruiter will favour the client paying them more but more importantly you will get the consultants loyalty and best candidates they are screening. The recruiter will appreciate the client values their services.
Accept the fact that you need to apply to the States department for work permits / licences if you have had a job open for longer than two months.
Leaders in island businesses need to be taking action and ensuring that they are supporting their HR teams by working together to get jobs filled. At our agency, we are seeing and witnessing companies ignoring the alarm bells that they are not opening their doors to recruitment agency services and causing their current staff constant overtime which may lead them to suffer stress and mental health issues.
AP Group have been established since 1990 – professionally serving the Channel Islands and global clients. Expect the best. www.apgroupglobal.com
