Are you wondering how to overcome the recruitment challenges of 2023 and make for a more successful 2024? If the answer is yes, you’re not alone. Recruitment can be a painful process; however, there are means of easing these pains. For instance, you might not limit yourself to searching for candidates within your specific sector. Instead, you can look for skill matches from other industries to alleviate some pressure from the recruitment process.
There are many advantages to looking for skill matches from other industries, from time-saving to expanding your candidate pool. Discover how looking for skill matches from other industries could ease recruitment pains below.
It gives you access to a wider talent pool.
Perhaps the biggest challenge in recruitment is that there don’t seem to be enough skilled individuals to fill vacancies. Therefore, looking for skill matches from other industries is one way to overcome this hurdle. Being open-minded is one of the most effective ways of easing recruitment pains, as this drastically increases the number of suitable candidates.
While sector experience is a valuable asset for a prospective candidate to have, it’s not the be-all and end-all. Instead, you should prioritise an individual’s skillset, as many skills can be applied across a number of industries. As long as a candidate has the foundational skills, the right support and training are all they need to succeed in a new sector. These skills might include effective communication, attention to detail, critical thinking, a commitment to learning, and creativity.
It saves you time.
The time-consuming nature of the process is one of the biggest challenges for recruitment. As a result, if you remove “industry experience” from your checklist, this could save you a considerable amount of time in finding suitable candidates.
Unfortunately, finding the perfect candidate is like finding a needle in a haystack. Therefore, you can save yourself time recruiting by finding a near-perfect candidate and training them until they’re perfect for the role. Not only will this save you time, but their learning experiences will add to their suitability for the company.
It allows you to train and mould candidates to sector knowledge.
Even if you hire individuals with sector experience, challenges in the recruitment and selection process will be inevitable. This is because candidates with industry experience will have habits from their previous positions, and these habits may not be in line with how your company does things. Every establishment has unique methods and processes, meaning you’ll have to train those with sector experience out of their previous mode of working.
In contrast, candidates from other industries will effectively be clean slates. As a result, you’ll be able to train and mould them to suit your company’s individual requirements. In some ways, it’s much easier to recruit individuals without any existing perceptions of the industry.
Candidates from other industries are eager to learn and develop their career paths.
Finally, candidates from other industries will view the transition into your sector as a new adventure. Consequently, they’ll be more excited about learning and development opportunities. This eagerness makes the entire recruitment and onboarding process much more streamlined, as the candidate will be keen to move things forward.
What’s more, offering jobs to candidates that aren’t yet linked to the industry gives you the ability to support an individual’s career path progression. This will also make your business more enticing to other job seekers, enabling you to ease recruitment pains in the future.
We can help you overcome the trickiest challenges of recruitment and selection. Upload a vacancy today.
