Hexagon Legal Network is where professionals from all legal backgrounds and beyond can meet, chat, network, build relationships and have fun. The best part of it is that every single meeting is different and you can never know who you will meet and what kind of opportunities may arise...
Please meet Andre Thomas, very simply, he is a Talent Expert, Founder & MD of Thomas Telman, HR Strategy Consultants that specialise in improving your people strategy for a better return on investment.
If you have been recruiting recently, you are well aware of the challenges...
Thomas Telman: Reduce your recruitment costs up to 50%
The changing landscape of recruitment
Growing law firms of all sizes across the UK, battle with several significant issues that are harming their business. New entrants with dynamic business models such as LegalZoom are taking market share at the expense of traditional firms. Technological developments with AI, automation and blockchain are significantly changing the delivery of legal services. Furthermore, workforce demographics are changing with baby boomers leaving the workforce and millennials making up 50% of the workforce, increasing to *75% by 2030. Given this phenomenon, attracting and retaining the best talent is increasingly more challenging. Failure to recognise and adapt to the new landscape will, unfortunately, lead to devastating consequences.
Take advantage of this shift
How can you take advantage of this shift and gain a competitive advantage when it comes to attracting, hiring and retaining talent? Particularly when talent is scarce. Our ethos is that firms adopt a proactive people-centric approach. This means to have a magnetic employee value proposition and regularly engage with potential candidates that you have identified to have the right skill set for your organisation. You need a talent pool
It’s like having your own personal, bespoke LinkedIn of individuals that are ready to fill job roles, reducing the time and cost of your recruitment process; it is estimated that the cost of filling a professional vacancy is on average **£30,000, there is huge potential for cost-saving by reducing the time it takes to recruit the right talent. Why do you need a talent pool?
A talent pool is central to an effective recruitment strategy. It enables you and your organisation to cast your net and engage individuals, both internally and externally, that meet the future skills required to fill vacancies. When do you need a talent pool?
If you are using social media, external recruitment agencies, and job boards to attract new talent - you need a talent pool. If you are a company with less than 20 employees, you could use Excel to manage the data, however, it is limited in its application. Companies with over 20 employees should consider how people analytics and AI can improve their operations. Current v Talent Pool Approach Current recruitment process - Vacancy becomes available due to someone leaving or a new role being created - Advertise vacancy on own website, job boards, LinkedIn or via a recruitment agency - Review CVs and conduct interviews - Hope to fill a vacancy as quickly as possible This approach is reactive and your reach to potential candidates is limited to only those that are actively seeking a new job. It’s also costly due to the time it takes to find the right person.
New process
- Invite active and passive candidates into your talent pool - Assess and develop current employee skills - Fill vacancies directly from your talent pool - Measure and evaluate This approach ensures you reach the wider passive market; attracting those who are not actively applying for advertised jobs but are interested in knowing about new opportunities that will develop their career. In other words, the hidden candidates market. You achieve this by thinking and acting proactively about your recruitment strategy. For example, when senior managers are attending conferences or continuous practice development (CPD) events, they should invite suitable people they come across to be part of their talent pool. This approach to finding and engaging talent is both personal and cost-efficient. And from the candidates’ perspective, they can begin to understand more about your business values and opportunities in a discreet way. This early engagement with a candidate before a job role becomes available builds trust and will minimise any chance of counter offers or the candidate accepting another offer from a competitor. Hosting events as part of your recruitment strategy is another way to meet new talent. Consider, a subject with wide appeal, such as the impact of Brexit for businesses clients, prospects and potential employees will attend. After the event, you follow up with a newsletter and invite individuals of your choice to join your talent pool. By showcasing your knowledge and expertise for the benefit of your clients, you will attract people that want to work for your company and help to reduce the cost of recruitment. Now you are filling your talent pool with individuals who have been handpicked and meet your general skill requirements, next you must engage them. Let them know about the latest breakthrough case you recently won or the latest community project that is changing lives. A monthly or quarterly newsletter will allow you to share the unique characteristics of your company, which is often the reason why a candidate decides to join one company over another. This approach goes beyond the HR team, it is now integral to your business objectives, because by involving employees in identifying the talent you will have a team that’s committed to your mission, reducing annual attrition rates and recruitment cost. Your finger will be on the pulse of job creation and future skills and you will be able to move individuals through the recruitment process directly from your talent pool.
Keep reading to find out how to assess risk using 6 key indicators, and what the 5 steps of building a talent pool are... Click HERE. *https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/01/25/the-millennial-arrival-and-the-evolution-of-the-modern-workplace/?sh=116a1d805a73 **HR Review, Acas and Hundred5
If you would like to discuss anything raised in this article or if you are curious to know how your people strategy compares with the legal industry, please schedule a call with the experts of Thomas Telman and take their people strategy assessment.
You may wish to contact Andre Thomas directly on LinkedIn.
