Successful new talent acquisition based on sound research

Recruiting employees has become a challenge for many companies. Booming labor markets, declining birth rates and exponentially increasing demand for certain professions are just some of the causes. Johannes Dorn, head of the study and member of the management board of the Cologne-based rheingold institute, used in-depth interviews to identify other, less obvious, influences.

One positive learning for companies is that the most important factors for successful HR management can be controlled by the companies themselves. Knowing this and in addition understanding the detailed causes based on our market research, recruiting strategies can be successfully informed.

The research identified two key factors

Expectations and desires in the respective age group: Depending on their age, potential employees have quite different expectations of their employer and workplace, with a variety of relevant parameters. Decisive factors are, for example, company hierarchies, a possible degree of personal responsibility, the place of work, the atmosphere, the prevailing communicative style and a lived work-life balance. The social reputation of the employer and the meaningfulness of the job are becoming increasingly important. Of course, promotion prospects and salary are also important parameters, but in certain age groups they are not necessarily the decisive aspect. The fact that salespeople tick differently than marketeers, and that they in turn tick differently than back-end developers, for example, is almost banal. The central question is, what do the individual occupational groups specifically expect from their workplace and employer? To attract and retain experts and managers from the respective professions, a tailored approach, considering their decision making criteria, is key.

Image of the company: How is the company perceived by the public and by the target group of desired, potential employees? What media presence does the employer have? Do employees act as advocates for a company? Even if the external perception does not correspond with the core of the company's DNA: the image of an employer is an extremely effective influencing factor in the decision to apply for a job or to sign an employment contract.

About the research approach

Expectations and wishes of potential employees, an efficient approach to the respective group of professionals, and the image of a company form a unity. They influence each other and are decisive for the attractiveness of an employer. Thanks to our holistic approach, we as market researchers are in a position to grasp these reciprocal relationships and to consistently shed light on their interplay.

At the beginning of the research process, the groups of professionals and job profiles to be focused on are identified and discussed in joint workshops with the clients. In a next step, we explore the current guiding principles to new talent search as well as the previous targeting strategies. Potential recruiting information and job postings can be adapted to determine whether and how they should be included as stimuli for in-depth interviews and/or focus groups.

The core of rheingold's research process is the empirical exploration of potential and actual applicants as well as client employees. The client team is invited to live view any non-confidential explorations in agreement with respondents. We recommend keeping interviews with current employees confidential and non-viewed to allow employees to freely speak about even challenging experiences. The respondents are asked about their current (if applicable), general as well as future expectations, their experiences and wishes with regard to the employer.

For a 360 °degree view, we recommend to include actual and potential employees with various experience levels in the explorations:

• New hires provide a glimpse into the expectations conveyed in the recruiting process in comparison to the actual work reality in the company.
• With full-time employees, the explorations mostly focus on the impact factors of successful retention and the conditions to inspire employees. 
• Ideally, former employees are included as well to identify the reasons for termination of the relationship from either side as well as the impacts of company conditions.  

In the aforementioned two-hour in-depth interviews, rheingold psychologists also address points that are not open and "uncomfortable" for the respondent. Structural findings are extracted from the interviews in several evaluation steps:

• What image does the company have as an employer?
• How attractive is the company for potential employees?
• How does it compare to competitors in recruiting (locally; in market segment)?
• Which expectations do relevant groups of professionals have of a company in this market segment; which specifically of the company itself?
• Is there a gap between applicants' expectations and the actual day-to-day work in the company?
• Is there a mismatch between the skills and attributes expected of employees by the company and what applicants bring to the table for whom the employer image is attractive?
• Which measures are necessary to successfully recruit employees with the desired characteristics, skills and attitudes and to optimize the recruiting process with an underlying strategy?
• What relevant retention factors have strengthened the relationship with the employer?

Based on these interwoven findings of the study, rheingold provides actionable insights that contain feasible and efficient approaches that enable the client to increase its attractiveness to applicants and employees alike.

The common goal is always to support customers in a successful recruiting process, so that they remain attractive and in demand as employers even in times of an increasingly competitive labor market.