Obtaining and retaining the best talent for your team has been an ongoing battle for hiring managers for many years now, but with the complexity that COVID has brought, accompanied by “the Great Resignation,” this challenge has become even more difficult.
Question: How has the pandemic changed hiring, and what do you need to do to get ahead in the race to hire the best?
Answer: To start off, recruiters are short-staffed themselves, and yet they have to hire more than ever before amid a shortage of talent. But where there’s great challenge comes great opportunity, which has led to specialist recruiters being more in demand than ever compared to generalist recruiters, mostly due to the networks that specialist recruiters have, their better understanding of the job brief, and their better understanding of team dynamics and the distinction between what “good” and “great” look like. In contrast, generalist recruiters, who hire for any job thrown at them, may get lucky and find the right candidate, but they simply won’t have the right understanding or network to give their clients real service and market insight.
What Candidates Are Seeking
The constant struggle when it comes to staffing needs is real, whether it’s retaining or enticing staff, the internal battle that comes with promotions, or making sure “bench strength” is good enough. What candidates are looking for in 2022 is roughly the same as in 2021:
- flexibility for child care support;
- benefits such as 401(k), health care, vacation, and parental leave; and
- higher salaries, which since 2020 have shot up as much as twenty percent in some cases.
We continue to see, across the board, candidates choosing jobs and companies that offer more flexibility than salary. Ask most recruiters, and they will say that “time kills deals” when hiring. The best thing a hiring manager can do is to have a plan and stick to it. Most processes should be two to four stages long across a two- to three-week process at maximum, which gives candidates the best impression of the company, suggesting that it is organized and a great business to work for, with a solid team culture.
With the market as busy as it was in 2021—a scenario that likely will continue into 2022—internal HR and all recruiters are “pre-closing” hard on candidates due to a plethora of open opportunities and the fact that most candidates interviewing will be in multiple hiring processes at once.
Team Culture in a Remote World
A remote world often makes achieving team culture more difficult. Companies that have been successful see minimal turnover within their teams and offer maximum attraction to candidates. This can come from simple things like companies recognizing employees’ productivity and not subjecting them to undue physical and mental stress and giving staff flexibility in work hours as long as the work gets done. Team culture—which can include company branding and the company’s stance on social issues—can be a defining factor for attracting and retaining talent. Many candidates now want to work for a company with a great reputation and culture.
Role of Technology
When recruiting, make sure technology is top of mind. You need to use the latest technological tools to ensure accuracy and compliance with HR rules.
In addition to accuracy and compliance, candidates expect your business to take advantage of technological advances. Whatever area of tax you work in, with a more effective flow of data, your team will work fewer hours, and you’ll be more productive using tax processes. This will also allow your tax department to spend more time on value-added activities that benefit the company’s bottom line.
In the remote world we are living in, and will no doubt continue to live in for a while yet, tax technology not only allows businesses to hire the best talent from anywhere in the country but also enables current staff to have the flexibility to work from home or even move to a state closer to family or with a lower cost of living. It’s this flexibility that allows companies and leaders to create a truly world-class tax team.
Jack Hart is a professional tax recruiter with Brewer Morris.
References:
Gilbert, Mandy. “5 Hiring Trends That Will Impact Recruiting in the New Year.” Inc., December 30, 2021. www.inc.com/mandy-gilbert/5-hiring-trends-that-will-impact-recruiting-in-new-year.html.
McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza, Emily. “6 Ways to Better Compete for Talent in 2022.” Fast Company, January 3, 2022. www.fastcompany.com/90706385/6-ways-to-better-compete-for-talent-in-2022.
McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza, Emily. “6 Ways to Better Compete for Talent in 2022.” Fast Company, January 3, 2022. www.fastcompany.com/90706385/6-ways-to-better-compete-for-talent-in-2022.
cZhao, Daniel. “Glassdoor Workplace Trends for 2022.” Glassdoor, December 8, 2021. www.glassdoor.com/research/2022-workplace-trends/.
