One of the biggest recruitment challenges this year – providing development opportunity
With economic growth slowing, and in many cases stagnating, development opportunity isn’t as commonplace as it was during more buoyant times. For many though, their most poignant memory (and in some cases, their only memory) of work life, prior to the last 12 months, was the period of extreme growth that accompanied the bounce back after protracted periods of Covid restrictions. This has left a mismatch between the expectations of employees, and the reality of businesses who are struggling under stifling economic conditions.
The challenge that employers face this year though, is that after ‘compensation’, ‘work-life balance’ and ‘flexible working’, ‘advancement’ is currently the next most important priority of candidates… something that during periods of low growth is increasingly difficult to provide.Â
Whether it’s retaining or attracting talent, businesses need to offer genuine development opportunity to move careers forward or face losing out to those that can, which simply perpetuates the gap between themselves and their competition.
The key things for businesses looking to bridge this needs-gap, even when there isn’t an abundance of internal opportunities, is to appreciate the close correlation between ‘career advancement’ and ‘personal skills development’. These two aspirations lay side-by-side in the rankings for ‘most important priorities’ for candidates, but the emphasis that recruiters place on them when pitching roles to candidates, doesn’t reflect this.
A recent insights report by LinkedIn found that 35% of candidates say that opportunities for career growth within a company is a top priority, whereas 60% of recruitment pros think it. Similarly, 34% of candidates say an opportunity to develop new skills is a top priority, whereas only 23% of recruitment pros think it is. If businesses where opportunities are limited, can take this insight and develop an EVP that places an emphasis on skills development over career growth and then effectively communicate this into the job space, they’ll be well positioned to negate this challenge until their fortunes start to turn around.