By Steve Swanston
Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, it’s not uncommon for business leaders to postpone crucial decisions until the country’s leadership has been determined. With the decision made, recruitment and staffing strategies can ramp up now that an educated guess of what to expect from the political climate of the next four years can be made.
And time is of the essence. One persistent human resources trend over the last decade that shows no sign of abating is the serious shortage of candidates with the necessary skill sets to match available positions. This war for talent is real, and if you are in the position of filling or upgrading positions, be prepared for battle. There are three main factors contributing to the shortfall:
- Baby boomer retirements. In 2011, the oldest baby boomers began turning 65, traditionally retirement age. Each year thereafter, approximately 10,000 adults will hit this milestone, taking a wealth of experience and organizational history away from the workforce. This is a direct hit to the population of credit union CEOs and senior executives.
- Industry competition. Over the past 20 years, human resources experts have observed that fewer people by percentage are entering the financial services sector as a career choice. Now, there is competition for these same candidates from technology, biomedical and dot-com companies, whose salaries, benefits and casual work environments are often hard to top.
- Abolishment of training programs. Formal training matched with clear career progression used to be a selling point to a career in financial services, as well as a key retention strategy. Today, employees often feel they need to jump companies to take advantage of development opportunities, rather than being nurtured at their existing employer.
There is hope for credit unions facing these challenges. The first step is to pay attention to member-facing positions. These have the greatest impact on members’ experiences, but can often be more difficult to recruit. Developing proactive recruitment strategies where you are always networking for these positions is crucial. If you wait until you have a position available before recruiting, you may be pressed to hire the first person with the minimum qualification that applies, rather than holding on for the right candidate who is the best fit. Ongoing tactics may include working social networking sites such as LinkedIn to reach passive candidates and leveraging job boards to reach those who are currently active.
A credit union’s biggest hiring advantage may be its culture and work environment. If your community has a designation or competition to recognize its best employers, go for it. Having a “great place to work” designation and the accompanying publicity surrounding such an announcement can be a great way to attract candidates. In all recruitment efforts, playing up benefits such as an employee-centric culture, work/life balance and mission-vision-values will help you win the battle of employee recruitment.
Steve Swanston is Executive Vice President of Business Development at JMFA Executive Search Group.
Learn about the options offered by CUES Executive Search in Partnership with JMFA ESG to improve and streamline your recruitment process.
