The War for Talent and Recruiting in the Public Sector
The War for Talent and Recruiting in the Public Sector
Labor Shortage
The term skills mismatch can describe situations in which workers' skills exceed or lag behind those employers seek. There is a widespread belief that workers’ skills and education are not adequate for the demands of jobs in the current economy. Journalistic reports, employer surveys, popular and policy debates on school quality and education reform, sociological writings on the economy and the underclass, and economic accounts of the recent growth of wage inequality all suggest a mismatch between the skills workers possess and what jobs require, what economists call an imbalance between the supply of and demand for human capital. Many believe that the problem will become even more serious because the pace of change is accelerating and jobs are becoming increasingly high tech, service oriented, and reorganized to involve greater employee participation in the workplace.
The War for Talent
The war for talent is not a short-term phenomenon but the beginning of a long-term change in the labor force. The drivers of change has remained from the time the war for talent phenomenon surfaced and they are expected to continue to change the labor force condition for years and even decades to come. The combination of rising job dissatisfaction and demographic trends that predict labor shortages, skill deficits, and fewer knowledge workers has all the elements for dramatic changes in the way work is performed, who performs it and where, and the skill sets that will be needed.
Factors Contributing to the War for Talent
1. Low Employee Morale
Employees seem to be more dissatisfied with their jobs and experts are worried that this will continue. Many workers are saying that they are only moderately engaged or not engaged with their jobs. Up to now, workers have stayed put because there are not many choices. This is seen as a factor that will strengthen the war for talent. As organizations develop strategies to attract workers, the war for talent will become fiercer since there are many workers who are more than willing to leave their present jobs.
2. Labor Shortage
Experts are anxious about the coming labor shortage brought about by the changes in the demographics. The mass retirement of baby boomers will cause a severe blow in the labor market. The war for talent will become fiercer as companies offer higher wages enough to induce workers to change careers, emigrate to where the pay is, or retrain themselves in the desired skills. Companies will also bend over backward to retain skilled workers, lure skilled retirees back into the labor force, or redeploy other workers.
Public and Private Sectors: Labour Market Competition
The changing characteristic of the labor market makes the competition between public and private sectors over applicants stiffer. Turnover and attrition factors force organizations to constantly search for a talented workforce. With an unemployment rate remaining historically low, information indicating that the workforce population will grow at a considerably low rate and the issue of age diversity in the workplace, both the private and public sectors must be prepared for further hiring challenges and potential shortages.
To cope with the supply and demand dynamics of the market, private sector organizations have placed particular emphasis on maintaining a pool of employees who exhibit competencies that are essential to achieving the organization’s mission and goals. The implementation of human capital policies and practices that are designed to competitively hire, develop and retain employees with the desired competencies have been a top priority to private sector organizations. For example, monetary compensation and incentives, including bonuses related to organizational performance and individual performance incentives, allow the private sector to develop a competitive advantage over the financially restricted public sector. In order to compete on a similar level, the public sector, too, must address the issues of the market and develop an organizational philosophy that represents true dedication and commitment to the human resources management function
Public Recruiting Strategies
Non-Monetary Tools
1. College Visits and Job Fairs – Expand agency exposure to the public and build relationships that can be used continuously.
2. Networking – Recruitment networks make the public recruitment system more productive. A network on contracts are developed and nurtured throughout government, academia, consulting groups, and industry, as well as within the organization. The professional network can be an effective means of indirectly communicating with promising applicants.
3. Recruiting Nontraditional Demographic Groups – As a result of a shortage of qualified applicants and the changing nature of the demographic composition of the workforce, there has been a recent increase in interest among human resource professionals in the targeting of recruitment efforts toward specific subgroups of the population. As the U. S. economy continues to grow and unemployment drops, the shortage of job applicants remains a significant problem for both the private and the public sector. The worker shortage in the United States labor force has been accompanied by a change in the demographic makeup of the workforce. In response to a shortage of job applicants, recruiters have begun to target their appeals to specific demographic groups 2000).
4. Easing the Application Process – The image of the government is one of a large bureaucracy, difficult to navigate the hoop to get a job. Although public employers are working hard at removing hurdles, it is still hard to argue in most places that hiring is an easy process in the public sector. Most states and cities have a Web site that announces vacancies, but few of the Web sites accept applications (, 2002).
5. Flextime and nonstandard Workweeks – Potential employees are often looking for alternative arrangements. This provides a family friendly option that should be attempted to recruit employees (, 2002).
6. College Recruitment – This recruitment tool involves communication with students in secondary and graduate school programs. This recruitment tool is geared toward enticing college graduates to public sector employment. As a prime communication tool for human resources professional, developing relationships with students and schools can be quite beneficial for both students and organizations ( 2005)..
7. Telecommuting – Many potential employees look for this option. It is becoming more prevalent in the public sector, as government tries to “set an example” and reduce the air pollution by commuters in urban areas (, 2002).
8. – The Recruitment is one of the top e-Government initiatives to attract the best and brightest candidates to careers in Federal government. Recruitment , one of the 24 Initiatives, is a collaboration effort between the and many including . The initiative’s purpose is to create a single Web site where citizens can not only research job opportunities across the Federal government, but also submit a single application for review at any agency and check the status of that application. The systems developed by Recruitment will extend upon the current portal to provide additional benefits to both jobseekers and human resources personnel. By developing a more integrated, one-stop portal, Recruitment, will allow citizens to:
- Access a single, convenient resource to locate jobs across the Federal government.
- Save personal Information, work history, and other resume information on the site, streamlining the process of filing out individual job applications.
- Check application status anytime, providing flexibility and saving time spent checking status via phone or fax.
By making the process of searching for positions and submitting applications easier for job seekers, as well as streamlining recruiting management for HR personnel, Recruitment hopes to increase overall satisfaction, decrease the amount of time it takes to find candidates and improve the quality level of new hires. Further, the initiative supports the Strategic Management of Human Capital component of the President’s Management Agenda by encouraging more people to apply for positions across the Federal government and by facilitating a coordinated, government-wide recruiting strategy including not only but also agencies across the government (, 2003).
Monetary Tools
1. Regional Differential of Salary – This approach is used in hard-to-recruit locations where the cost of living may be higher. For example, in New York State, regional differentials are used for New York City and other metropolitan areas. In Alaska, a regional differential is used in rural areas to attract employees (2002).
2. Hiring or Sign-On Bonus – This payment is offered by the employer to the prospective employee to induce an individual to accept employment ( 2002).
3. Referral Bonus – Payments are made to an incumbent employee for recommending an applicant who is hired ( 2002).
4. Internships – This approach is used across the United States in the private sector and is beginning to be used in the public sector. It introduces college students to the public sector mission and gives them ideas about the job while they are still in school. In locations that have a well-thought-out program, this provides a stable pool of applicants that are excited about working for the government (, 2002).
5. Loan Forgiveness – This program works well with public sector employees in the locations where it has been attempted. It must be well advertised, and many employees have indicated that this is one of the reasons they came into public employment – help with loans (, 2002).
6. Home Loans – This program works to accomplish a number of missions and has been successful where implemented. In Baltimore, a state program called “Live Where You Work” has assisted with the revitalization of the city and provided low-cost loans to city workers. Connecticut has a program called the “Urban Rehabilitation Homeownership Program,” which allows workers employed by the state and municipal governments to get lower mortgage rates than are available to other homebuyers ( 2002).
7. Traineeships – Hire employees while they are still working on a degree or certificate. These employees have the minimum qualifications, however, they have not yet attained the certificate/degree necessary in the job specification. Once they have attained the degree, they are then upgraded. This gives the public sector the opportunity to recruit while the employee is still working on the degree and offers potential employees stability while working on the certificate/degree (, 2002).
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