While pay is still one of the biggest pulls for new candidates, recruitment has never just been about salary – and that’s truer than ever right now. There are other competing priorities driving job seekers: work-life balance, flexible working, advancement and – the biggest one for young workers – the chance to learn, grow and upskill. In other words, your employee value proposition (EVP) has never been more important.
Global hiring growth has slowed over the last year, which would normally put the power in the hands of employers. But this doesn’t seem to be happening. Competition for roles has remained strong and seems likely to stay that way for a while. LinkedIn’s The Future of Recruiting 2023 report found that “64% [of talent acquisition leaders] predict that the future of recruiting will be more favorable to candidates and employees (as opposed to employers) over the next five years.” Rarely have candidates had so much power – and that means high expectations of potential employers.
Here at Nice Media we partner with forward thinking organisations to produce content for L&D, culture change and recruitment to solve business challenges. This has given us a front-row seat into the opportunities that exist right now at the intersection of L&D and talent acquisition. The stats back this up: 81% of in-house talent acquisition pros say “they need to work more closely with L&D in the future”.
To quote Mark Perna at Forbes, “Learning & development professionals, your day has come.” Here are three ways you can turn your strong L&D offering into a powerful talent magnet.
Building a strong recruitment reputation and EVP
L&D is essentially for looking after and retaining talent. Last year, McKinsey found that a “lack of career development and advancement” was the top reason for people quitting a previous job. Poor retention, in turn, impacts your reputation as employer. Leaking talent is just not a good look. Having a reputation for looking after and nurturing your employees will boost your recruitment brand.
Attracting new candidates who value growth
Skill building for career growth is one of the top priorities for people seeking out new roles – especially for young workers, who make up the majority of the workforce and new hires. Over a third of workers aged 18-34 said they valued “opportunities for career growth within the company” when seeking new job opportunities (2023 Workplace Learning Report, LinkedIn). “Opportunities to learn and develop new skills” was a close second. Our experience backs this up and we’ve been hearing these exact same things from our clients, who are all keen to show off their L&D offering in their recruitment content.
Adapting to the dizzying pace of technological and social change
Some types of role (and the relevant skill sets) are so new that barely any qualified candidates exist to fill them. Not only that, but the traditional skill sets for lots of jobs are changing at an increasing pace: in 2019, an IBM Institute for Business Value reportestimated a skill learned today would be only half as valuable in five years’ time (compared to 10-15 years in the past). It was even less for technical skills. That report came out four years ago – given the pace of technological change since then, it’s a safe bet to say that this will be even shorter now.
So, having a great learning offering and being prepared to upskill your workforce makes it easier to hire for hard-to-fill roles by broadening your potential pool of talent. Keeping skills in your current team refreshed also reduces your need to hire for those skills in future. That’s why “89% of L&D pros agree that proactively building employee skills will help navigate the evolving future of work” (2023 Workplace Learning Report, LinkedIn). You must align learning and recruitment with your business goals.
Shout about your L&D credentials
Of course, it’s all well and good have a great learning culture – but if you don’t shout about it, prospective candidates will be the in the dark about what a great employer you are. We work with top employers to showcase exactly how they will meet the needs of specific audience segments in an increasingly competitive market place. Talk to us to start attracting top talent with targeted, high quality video content.
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