Looking at the talent shortage through the lens of job security

The certainty of predictable demand and job security

The worst effects of Covid on businesses may have passed (for now, at least), but demand remains spiky.

The supply of talent is short, while the demand for talent is high. It echoes the energy markets where oil prices are currently extremely volatile owing to a mismatch between supply and demand. In a nutshell this explains volatility. But how do recruiters respond and orient their agency activities and services to the mismatch in talent?

The ‘Great Resignation’ may be a phenomenon of our time, but many companies still have a strong desire to acquire, invest in and develop permanent employees that represent an ideal fit. However, pursuing this strategy is likely to have a relatively low success rate, while the talent shortage persists.

Despite its complexity, understanding this volatility is quite straightforward. One way to simplify it is by looking through the lens of job security. Depending on whether you specialise in filling permanent or temporary/contract roles, job security is a double-edged sword for recruiters.

• Perm – From the perspective of permanent recruiters, job security is of course a highly desirable attribute with which to attract good quality candidates.
• Temp – From the viewpoint of temp and contract recruiters, fears over job security have been a huge driver of independent professionals opting to contract and freelance.

Conventionally, employers and workers both want the certainty of predictable demand against which a stable experienced team of people can deliver. In other words, a stable market favours permanent secure jobs.

Cost of living crisis means spiky demand set to continue

Today, the problem is that permanent jobs offering secure employment are not the best fit with the needs of businesses operating in an uncertain operating environment.

Hopefully, now the worst of the Covid crisis has passed. But in economies around the world, including developed and developing economies in EMEA and APAC as well as the Americas, the cost of living crisis has brought record breaking inflation, upward pressure on wages and enormous price volatility of consumables, and means demand is set to remain spiky.

This means the operating environment is inherently unstable and job insecurity is an inevitable consequence. For employers, this means an agile approach to resourcing is probably the best way forward.

While many companies still have a strong desire to acquire, invest in and develop permanent employees that represent an ideal fit, pursuing this strategy is likely to have a relatively low success rate, while the talent shortage persists.

Although it seems that agencies should focus their activities on the temp segment of the market, the best everyone can do – that’s agencies, clients and candidates – is to be open-minded, flexible and open to adapting their approach.

Whatever the market conditions agencies run more efficiently with ETZ

With the operating environment emphasising the need for flexible resourcing, the freelance and contract segment of the market seems to be a clear point of focus for the recruitment sector and agencies.

ETZ’s best of breed timesheet, invoicing and payment cloud software ensures agencies have the right tools in place to streamline the back office processes of temporary recruitment businesses.

To see what ETZ RecTech solutions could do for your agency, call us on 0800 311 2266 or book a demo.