Finding the “right” mix between what you “need” someone to have…and what you “want” someone to have in order to employ someone to be “successful” in a role….is not always clear cut. Emotions and idealisation get in the road more times than not…..

When recruiting for a role, I spend time with my client discussing their business, their existing staff, the work culture and importantly….what someone will be actually doing in this position that they need to fill.

I work closely with my clients so that both of us can be on the same page….and to try to ensure the role is “fillable” – I give them my understanding of the market, my expectations around the types of people who will apply, and the salary range needed to attract quality candidates. In return, they give me their ‘Needs’ and ‘Desires’ about their future employee.

As I screen, I keep those ‘Needs’ and ‘Desires’ in mind, but largely focus on the ‘Needs’ while long-listing applicants:

• Does the candidate have the core skillset?
• Do they have the right level of experience?
• Have they worked in industries relevant to the company?
• Do they have the ability to adapt quickly and learn the new products & skills required?
• Will they be motivated to do this role?

When I have my long list of candidates, I am able to screen-in and develop a shortlist – which focuses more closely on the ‘Desires’ of my clients:

• Has the candidate worked for Company X, Y or Z?
• Has the candidate worked in Industry X?
• Does the candidate have experience using Program X?
• Does the candidate have a commute under 30 minutes?

In many cases, candidates will fulfil my clients’ ‘Needs’ but not all of their ‘Desires’. For most employers this is not an issue, and they will interview applicants to find the best fit – knowing that someone with the core skills and motivation can be taught. However, there are some clients who will pass on potentially long term suitable candidates as they want to hold out for an “exact match”.

The biggest difficulty with trying to attract and employ a Unicorn, is that you need that Unicorn to be looking for a new role….at the same time you’re advertising…..living within reasonable commuting distance…..and seeking a similar salary to that on offer….and then still be the right fit for your business and work culture. (Stay tuned next week for a refresh on one of my previous blogs on this Attracting Candidates: Will I be “Happier” working for You??)

You may end up wasting a great deal of time AND money on searching for the ‘Perfect Candidate’…..and STILL be unable to find the elusive Unicorn.

I encourage prospective employers to be mindful of balancing their ‘Needs’ and ‘Desires’, and deciding which aspects are most important for an employee to be successful in the role Long Term:

• Could you train them to use industry specific programs or not?
• Is relevant industry experience acceptable even if it isn’t exactly Industry X?
• Are you willing to pay a higher salary to get your Unicorn?

While finding a Unicorn would be great, it is important to consider the reality of the market and to ensure that if you do find one….that it is not a donkey…..with something stuck on its head.

Make sure you’re following on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Acworth-Recruitment-185674054963527/) as I’ll share some other great tips and information.

Anyone who has placed a Job Vacancy on SEEK and is screening the applications has said this…..and usually repeatedly…….dealing with the VOLUME of “Time Waster Candidates” is the most frustrating part of any recruitment process.

As the Principal Finder at Acworth Recruitment, this is the one BIG constant in my daily job……and the MAIN REASON my clients choose to have me to deal with the recruitment process.

More than half of all applications I screen are quickly discarded because the candidate is not even remotely aligned with the requirements of the role:

• Level 2 IT Help Desk..… no IT experience what so ever
• Reception/ Administration asking for a minimum of 2-3 years administration experience..… Hairdresser
• Architectural Drafter..… Mechanical Drafter

I think the pinnacle of my frustration comes when a position is advertised with the salary range on offer clearly stated..… I take a candidate through the screening and shortlisting stages..… only to have them say that they EXPECT to be paid AT LEAST $10K-$15K more than is being offered!!!

It is clear that many job seekers either don’t bother to read the advertisement and consider the position details before they apply..… or believe in miracles, fairies and unicorns.

Taking a “scatter gun” approach by applying to as many jobs as you can is simply a waste of your time as an applicant..… and of the potential employer’s time!!!

Take a step back and put yourself in the shoes of the business owner or hiring manager..… they are looking for someone who most closely meets the requirements of the job..… has similar experience..… will fit in with their work culture..… and is within the salary range that they have budgeted for..… i.e. they’re going to take the person who is most likely to hit the ground running and stick around.

So here’s my tips on how to identifying the jobs you should be applying for:

1. Be realistic about your expertise and what you bring to a role.
2. Read the advertisement properly.
3. Consider whether your expertise matches closely with what is described in the advertisement.
4. Consider the salary against your expectations.
5. Consider the location of the job against your commute to get there.

Major don’ts..… DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME:

1. If you don’t have the experience and/or qualifications asked for in the advertisement..… then don’t apply. The requirements of the position are based on the operational needs of the business..… they’re not going to change just for you.
2. I like to put the salary range being offered in my advertisement wherever possible – this is so job seekers can consider it against their expectations before they decide to apply. If it isn’t in the advertisement (as I know many employers don’t include it), then it is included in the back end of SEEK – so use your preferred salary range as a “search criteria” so that you only view jobs that match your salary expectations….. an employer isn’t going to offer you an additional $10K because you’re wonderful – they have budgets and have already done their research etc.
3. If your commute to work is going to take an hour or longer..… you need to question if the job is for you. People tell me ALL the time, that they don’t mind a long commute and sitting in peak hour traffic..… but the fact is that after approximately 9 months of commuting for an hour or more, people get tired of it..… they sit back and consider how much of their day is being lost – as well as the cost of fuel etc..… and then start to keep an eye out for a job closer to home. Employers know this and have been “burnt” by it before..… it actually costs a significant amount of money to train someone up..… they don’t want to be back to square one in only 12 months..… so it is likely that they won’t even read your application.
4. SEEK and other job boards make it sooooooo easy to just click on “Apply” and off goes your application..… Don’t fall into that trap..… focus on Quality rather than Quantity.

For Employers who are sick and tired of screening volumes of “Time Waster” applications at the end of a 12 hour working day..… then give me a call..… I help to take the pain out of the recruitment process allowing you to concentrate on your business. We charge on an hourly basis so you only pay for the support you need.

In my most recent blog, ‘Too many graduates, Not enough jobs’, I wrote about the ever-growing pool of graduates who are unable to find full-time roles as they are considered both overqualified AND under-qualified. With a high level of technical skill but little practical application, graduates are unable to find jobs which match with their area of study. These ‘overqualified’ candidates are intelligent and motivated and if employers provide them with a meaningful starting point, they may be surprised with the results.

I also touched on the view of many that trade qualifications are inferior to university qualifications, even though both can lead to full time careers. Some parents neither want nor allow their children to complete apprenticeships, with the only goal being university. For these parents, their focus is on the idea that a “professional” role will provide better opportunities to their children. However, there are plenty of potentially well-paid trade-based roles out there. Parents need to realise that university is not the “be all, end all” for their children to have rewarding careers.

The Facts

Australia is heading towards a skills crisis as the number of apprentices and trainees decline due to people aiming for university. The number of non-trades traineeships almost halved from 490,000 in Jun 2012 to 291,000 in December 2015. Trades apprenticeships have been slightly less affected with a drop from 215,000 to 175,000 in that same period. While some of this decline can be linked to the fall of certain Australian industries, such as mining, it should be noted that other industries are growing and the demand for skilled workers is becoming more apparent.

Even with increasing numbers of small businesses owned and operated by qualified tradespeople, the number of apprentices remains low.  In some cases, fully qualified employees are hired in place of apprentices as they require less supervision. There is also the belief that the required work ethic is absent in Gen Y apprentices i.e. most employers believe that Gen-Y will not apply themselves to the job.

In some cases, even ‘qualified’ tradespeople have limited knowledge and expertise in certain areas as their training company was limited in scope or simply didn’t bother to train them properly.

These issues have led to a decline of competent and qualified tradies available to meet the needs of the market.

What this means for employers

Apprenticeships provide a chance for business owners to impart their knowledge and develop the skillset of someone who is looking to build a career in their industry. They develop business relationships which can last for many years as apprentices who feel valued by their employer will remain in place to develop their skills and match (or even outdo) their mentors.

While there is the Y-Generation stigma, employers should look at an individual’s potential and how they would fit it in, instead of characterising them on the bases of the masses (Gen Y).

Also, as businesses grow, and need arises, a fresh pool of talent needs to be tapped into, to prevent overpaying and bottle-necking growth.

What this means for the next generation

As the tide changes, today’s generation needs to prepare to set sail and fill in those gaps. There are opportunities out there that don’t need an academic qualification. Adapt and equip yourself with the right set of skills to surf the new waves!!!

I was watching Sunrise on Sunday when they spoke about something I have recently noticed myself – Only 41.7% of Graduates are in full time roles. This means that over half of the qualified people being pumped out of universities are not obtaining the dream that they were shown when they began their studies.

Many school-leavers are pushed into university study by their peers, parents, and teachers with the expectation that a degree will lead to a career – but as we have found, that is not always the case. Those teenaged school-leavers are expected to choose a course of study that they will spend years working towards without the guarantee of future success.

When these school-leavers complete their degrees, they join a sea of other graduates with the same skill-set all fighting for the small number of roles in the industry they spent years studying to enter. These graduates then don’t understand why they are unsuccessful – they have the skills and now want to gain the experience – but everyone else in that sea of graduates is in the same boat.

What does this lead to?

University graduates are applying for roles which both the candidate and the employer recognise that they are overqualified for. In many cases, graduates apply for these lower-level roles so that they are able to gain the required experience in their field, in order to help them stand out from that sea of other qualified applicants. However, the people hiring for these roles feel that graduates are overqualified and are unlikely to hire them as they “know” they will not stick around.

It becomes a catch-22, graduates are overqualified for some roles and under-qualified for others, and the ratio of graduates to roles is significantly out of proportion.

Why is it happening?

As mentioned in the Sunrise report, many people see trade-based Apprenticeships and TAFE courses as inferior to university qualifications, even when both can lead to full time careers. With this viewpoint, many parents – whether they themselves attended university or not – push their children towards obtaining a degree which will allow them to have a successful “professional” career. With this parental pressure, many school-leavers apply for degrees that they don’t fully understand or even want to achieve.

As I mentioned in a previous blog (“Y” It’s Your Fault Parents – Y Gens), there are some parents who encourage their children to focus on their studies and discourage (or forbid) them from working while studying. This leads to graduates with a solid theory base but little practical experience, if any work experience at all. The problem with this is that employers are looking for not only the theoretical know-how, but the practical experience that even a casual after-school job will bring – working with others, following procedures, punctuality & attendance, and so on.

The Role Universities Play

When a school-leaver is accepted into a university course, they join hundreds of other students studying the same course from the same lecturers. While some do drop-out or change their degree focus, this still leaves hundreds of people at the same level of experience being churned through the university system and pumped out the other end.

Some university courses have practical studies, internships or project opportunities available for the students, but not all of them. In some cases, the opportunities are there but the students don’t learn about them until it is too late and are no longer open or available for them.

In many cases, graduates who are unsuccessful in finding a full-time role will return to university to improve their skill-set, but ultimately making many of them even more overqualified and leaving them to return to the ever-growing sea of graduates.

What this means for employers

With a growing pool of graduates seeking full-time roles, employers are in the perfect position to capitalise on this. There is a HUGE number of university qualified people out there who have been hit hard by the “reality stick” and are desperate just to gain a full-time job. So employers, it’s time to rethink the notion of “overqualified candidates” that you “know” won’t stick around….. the fact is that the odds are stacked against many university graduates to ever having the opportunity to pursue the career that was mapped out ahead of them. Take advantage of these intelligent and motivated candidates – provide them with a meaningful starting point, keep them busy and motivated – and you may be surprised where that leads……

Make sure you’re following on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/RecruitLoop-Kim-Acworth-185674054963527/?fref=ts) as I’ll share some other great tips and information.