Employers are facing another tough year, with the majority identifying the battle to attract staff as the biggest human capital challenge. Two thirds of Australian businesses currently struggle to attract staff, according to the 2008 Vedior Asia Pacific Employment Trends Survey.
“The shift from retention to attraction reflects the overall climate of the continued shortages in skilled labour and the need to consider strategies to penetrate a relatively dense ‘passive’ candidate market,” says Debbie Loveridge, CEO of Vedior Asia Pacific. “The laws of attraction are being rewritten by candidates who make decisions about a potential employer on both an emotional and rational level. With the power firmly in the candidate’s hands, it is up to the employer to differentiate their employment value proposition and clearly define what it is that makes a career with them unique.”
Sixty-one percent of Australian businesses believe their employer brand attracts and retains employees, however, 60 percent add that their employer branding strategy could be improved.
For a start, Loveridge suggests employers look to improving their online networking strategy on sites such as Facebook and MySpace. “Online is a great opportunity to target different demographics and diverse talent pools, so in the midst of such a shortage, it is a much underutilised tool in Australia.”