Solve the skills shortage with technology
The two major problems for the South African economy are businesses struggling to fill vacancies with suitably skilled staff, and the resulting inability of those lacking the required skills to find work. In the recent APSO Snapshot Survey of recruitment agencies half of the recruiters surveyed indicate that there was no shortage of jobseekers, but that most did not have the skills or experience that their clients sought. Consequently, the respondents of the survey found that sourcing candidates with the right skills or experience is one of the biggest challenges for a staffing business.
A comparison of the MCI Consultants HR Recruitment Survey results from 2013 and 2014 reveals that there have been significant increases in companies that:
- Use a recruitment management system (RMS, up 9% year-on-year),
- Do not primarily use recruitment agencies to fill their requirements (up 4%), and
- Use social media to recruit candidates (up 8%).
With 88% of organisations attempting to source and place candidates internally before approaching recruitment agencies and almost three quarters using their career site, this indicates that there is a trend towards direct sourcing, employee referrals, internal and social recruiting to fill vacancies, which is no coincidence considering that recruitment agencies are struggling to find skilled candidates.
So are employers any more equipped than staffing companies to identify candidates who have skills that may add value to their business and help to address the issue of unemployment? The truth is that both in-house and agency recruiters are lagging behind jobseekers when it comes to using new media and technology.
Are recruiters using the right methods to source candidates?
In a country where there are more mobile phones than toothbrushes, and a large proportion of the population (especially young people) spend more time online on social media than reading newspapers or watching TV, are South African recruiters using the right channels, methods and technology to source and attract skilled staff?
The Social Media in South Africa report published by Fuseware and World Wide Worx revealed that there are 11.8m Facebook users in South Africa, and 9.2m of these access Facebook from a mobile device. Do recruiters know how to find and engage with jobseekers on Facebook, let alone Google Plus, Instagram, Twitter, etc? How many SMBs even have pages or accounts on these networks?
What about people who don't read the news and see job websites?
Instant messaging apps such as BBM, Mxit, WeChat and WhatsApp have become the primary means of communication for young people in South Africa, but are recruiters using these media channels to contact and be contacted by candidates? These are the channels through which recruiters can reach candidates who do not see or apply for jobs advertised on job websites or in newspapers.
There are many employers and staffing companies who still do not use a recruitment management system despite them:
- Being easily accessible,
- Economic both in terms of cost and data storage, and
- Having functionality that can save time by automating the admin aspects of the recruitment process.
In addition to this, modern RMSs make it easier for recruiters to review and compare candidates' resumes by presenting them in a standard format and including additional information, such as "soft" skills. So using an RMS (also known as an ATS or CRM) not only allows recruiters to spend more time actively sourcing and engaging with candidates, but also gives them greater insight into the candidate's suitability for the position by providing, for example, a video of the candidate or their work portfolio.
Video interviewing can help candidates that experience transport difficulties
South African recruiters have great difficulty scheduling and getting candidates to attend interviews due to poor public transport and jobseekers' lack of resources to travel. Live and recorded video interviewing and screening can solve both of these problems. With recorded video screening the recruiter can send interview requests to multiple candidates at the same time and each candidate can complete the video interview at a time that is convenient to them. This as well as live video interviewing enables the candidate to attend the interview wherever they are - even in an internet café.
When jobseekers are hindered by a lack of vocational skills and qualifications, employers need to provide opportunities for them to develop the skills they need by offering internships or learnerships. There are incentives given to companies by government in regard to the latter, but these schemes are not sufficiently publicised either by the companies themselves or government. The answer is, for companies especially, to use mobile and social media channels to promote the availability of learnerships as well as recruiting staff for permanent and temporary positions.
The more jobseekers are given the opportunity to prove themselves as employees who will add value to an organisation, the more employers will benefit, which will in turn benefit the South African economy while reducing the rate of unemployment. All this requires is a shift in mindset from hiring staff with demonstrable skills and qualifications to identifying and nurturing talent.
