Addressing the Talent Outage
Hiring managers and recruiters battling in today's war on talent frequently complain about the labor shortage (or in some cases, outage) in their external talent pools. Unfortunately, some are reluctant to consistently utilize proven screening tools such as personality assessments simply because they realize that such measures will minimize the number of candidates they have to choose from. Some may be more concerned with simply filling jobs than with finding top talent characterized by highly competent, committed employees who have what it takes to positively impact the business.
The concerns over talent do not stop at the hiring manager's desk. Talent is now becoming a board-level issue within 60% of companies (Source: Human Capital Institute). Business owners and advisors are beginning to realize the truth in Robert Reich's (Professor, Univ. of CA at Berkeley & Goldman School of Public Policy) statement:
"The only unique asset that a business has for gaining a sustained competitive advantage over rivals is its workforce—the skills and dedication of its employees. There is no other sustainable advantage in the modern, high-tech, global economy."
With the foodservice industry turning over more 250,000 employees each week (Source: People Report, NRA, BLS) the talent pools recruiters are working with may be filled with many recycled candidates who either failed to perform or opted out because they were just not a match with another company. Surely this problem is not unique to the foodservice industry. Companies are finding themselves needing to get creative in their sourcing of candidates in order to re-fresh their talent pools and attract candidates from other industries. But how many companies are putting resources into developing the competencies of their internal candidates or potential PFW's (promotes from within)? Spending energy and money on developing internal talent achieves two primary goals; (1) it keeps employees engaged and demonstrates the organization's commitment to providing growth opportunities, and (2) internal candidates have already passed the "fit" test as it relates to company culture and team dynamics, etc.
How can you impact your organization's talent pool significantly? First, identify potential managers within your hourly ranks by performing a Talent Audit. The Talent Audit is a process designed to pinpoint current competency levels based on assessment results and performance levels based on supervisor evaluations and other metrics. The Talent Audit also identifies individuals' abilities and potential to take on higher-level responsibilities. The resulting talent map assists you in establishing succession plans and addressing developmental needs of individuals based on important competencies. In summary, targeted competency-based development with your high-potential internal candidates can reduce the labor shortage over time while saving organizations enormous amounts of money in recruiting and turnover costs.
