Where To Find Talent? Businesses May Have Overlooked These 3 Uncovered Potential Talents Pools

The first-quarter report of 2022 by the Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs showed that various regions in Vietnam are witnessing a local labour shortage. The workforce was short of about 120,000 workers in the first quarter, accounting for 10% of the recruitment need and being 2-3% higher than the same period of previous years.

Although companies are ramping up recruitment to compensate for the labour shortage, the clinginess to the old-fashioned methods has been backfiring on their plans. These 10-year-old methods have made the company’s job ads more far-fetched and thus, difficult to meet the new demands of the workforce, especially those that arise after the pandemic. Moreover, the conventional one-way recruitment process has limited businesses’ outreach to only active jobseekers or the candidates being available to be headhunted from other businesses, without regard to other potential talent pools. Additionally, the urban-to-rural migration of workers as well as the Great Resignation have caused a severe imbalance in the supply & demand of the labour market. Henceforth, employers are prone to have plenty of difficulties in locating the best fits for their job vacancies if they lack any plans to expand their talent pipeline.

The global labour shortage occurring does not lean on short-term issues such as workers’ health, but primarily because workers are reassessing their priorities after the pandemic. Looking into the trend of urban-to-rural migration, it can be seen that a great number of young people nowadays are willing to give up their well-paid jobs and settle down in the countryside. Such change requires companies to alter their HR strategies, directions, and recruitment methods to adapt to the new context

Ms. Tiêu Yến Trinh

CEO of Talentnet Corporation

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According to Ms. Trinh, the real problem of businesses is to find the most suitable candidate for the position and that candidate can be anyone, both inside and outside the company. Talentnet suggests 3 potential candidate pools that employers can approach to select the right candidate:

Passive talents

These passive candidates are individuals who are currently employed and not actively looking for a new job but may be open to a good career opportunity. While this group accounts for 70% of global workforce, has little to no competition from other businesses, there’s a catch – their own unique characteristics are a peculiar barrier preventing HR from approaching them.

Firstly, the passive talents are mostly found in niche positions in particular industries. Therefore, although they are experts in their fields, only a handful of positions do require their distinctive skill sets.

Secondly, their lack of urgency in finding new jobs results in the tendency to minimize social appearance, put less emphasis on building personal branding. In addition, HR may find it difficult to “infiltrate” the closed, selective social circle of the passive talents and attract the “shining gems” to work for organizations.

Ms. Trinh shared that recruiting passive talents is both Art and Science since HR needs to not only build a diverse and open network, but also establish in-depth relationships with the candidates to better connect and attract these talents. Businesses can opt for Executive Search & Selection services from long-standing, well-known HR services providers such as Talentnet to effectively approach a bigger talent pool. Furthermore, not only that experienced consultants have been building close relationships with passive talents, but they also know and understand respective skill sets of each talent, which help businesses to accurately map out available vacancies with needed candidates.

Internal talents

The SHRM report demonstrated that 72% of positions are often filled up by headhunting from the labour market or business’s competitors. Meanwhile, internal staffs are only considered for promotion to fill up 28% of vacancies. However, internal staff possess the needed set of skills, and in-depth understanding of the corporate culture, procedures, and working method. Their abilities have been tested and they may be even more productive when they are assigned to new positions, as compared to brand new employees in the first 2 years, according to SHRM.

Talentnet believe that it is best for all the employees to know and understand the future prospective in current organization. HR are required to reassess and re-evaluate current employees’ capabilities – whether to identify which employees can continue working and thriving in present departments, or those should be rotated into completely different positions. As not every employee expresses their goals and ambitions clearly, it is HR’s role to draw a clear career progression path for them and prioritize finding talent from internal resources when there are new positions to fill.

“For businesses in their prime time, it is the golden moment to set up a succession plan and navigate the job rotation of employees. Thus, internal recruitment is beneficial for business because not only does it saves time and expense but also improves the human capital within that company. Furthermore, these plans should not be a short-term program, but should form an integral part of the culture of every business”, said Ms. Trinh.

Business Alumni

People tend to hold a negative impression of those who left the organization. However, according to The Wall Street Journal, the number of employees returning to their previous companies accounts for 4.5% of the total hires among companies, an increase from 3.9% in 2019. Besides being internal talents, former employees often have additional skills and knowledge that they acquired from their new jobs. Therefore, once they return, they will quickly take on their roles with optimal productivity, thereby saving great amounts of time and money spent on training programs for businesses.

Looking from Talentnet expert’s perspectives, the recruitment process for former employees starts right after they hand in their resignation letters. How to find talented employees from business alumni? Therefore, prior to every breakup, employers need to ensure they provide a positive experience for these individuals. An exit interview is essential to demonstrate the business’s willingness to improve its culture for retaining talents. It shows that companies will stay in touch with them and they will always be welcomed back. Don’t forget to contact alumni regularly and follow them on their new journey. This will assist companies to catch up with their employee’s career path after they leave the company. Then, when former employees return, employers can assign them to suitable positions to make use of their new skills, offering them more competitive salaries and generous benefits.

In the era where businesses always have to keep their eye on talents, HR staff may consider adapting to the changes in recruitment habits, establishing new strategies, and targeting hidden candidates to effectively discover where to find talent (uncover the perfect match while still expanding the company’s talent pools).