The Great Resignation is the informal name for the widespread trend of a significant number of workers leaving their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Texas A&M professor Anthony Klotz defined the term  “The Great Resignation” (paywall). 

“How we spent our time before the pandemic may not be how we want to spend our time after,” says Klotz.

Klotz believes how we spend our time pre and post-pandemic will cause a massive shift in the future of work he identifies the key factors of Hybrid and remote work as a key driver in people reassessing the status quo. 

The great resignation, if the stats are to be believed, will massively affect organisations from the US to the UK and their ability to function and drive businesses forward. 

Some Stats: 

• According to a survey conducted by LinkedIn, 74% of the participants said time spent at home during the pandemic caused them to re-evaluate their current work situation.
  • survey of 1,000 UK workers reveals that almost a third (29%) of UK workers are considering moving to a new job this year. Findings also uncovered the industry’s most likely to be affected by this with Legal (44%), IT & Telecoms (42%), and Sales, Media & Marketing (40%). 
  • Employees between the ages of 30 and 45 have had the greatest increase in resignations with a 20% increase between 20 and 2021. (Harvard Business Review)
  • More than 19 million US workers and counting—have quit their jobs since April 2021 (McKinsey & Company)
  • 65% of employees say the pandemic has made them rethink the place that work should have in their lives. Gartner

Top Reasons for the Great Resignation 

• The Covid Pandemic: The covid pandemic has given workers time to reflect on their current work, what this means to them and how this aligns to their life and values. 
• A backlog of resignations: workers considering resigning from their jobs prior to COVID-19 stayed in roles due to the uncertainties surrounding the pandemic.
• Working from home: remote work became the norm for a lot of people, so when businesses started asking them to return home full-time many wanted to remain working from home.

• Sense of belonging being valued: there is a disconnect between what the employees consider important and what their managers and companies see as important. (McKinsey’s & Company)
• Employee burnout: while 42% of employees were already experiencing burnout before the pandemic, that number skyrocketed to 72% during the pandemic, due to increased anxiety, heavier workloads, and people taking less time off. (Limade)

An Opportunity for Change   

Many believe the great resignation is an opportunity for change, forward-thinking companies are shifting their focus towards retaining employees and making work more meaningful. For work to be more meaningful employers need to focus on true authentic employee engagement and understand the root cause of leavers and develop strategies, engagement models, and tools that make employees want to stay. 

Companies in 2022 should  focus on: 

Understanding Employee Key Drivers: Companies need to understand what is driving employees at a company and social level so that they can shape their offering to be more meaningful to employees. Companies need to take their employer brand seriously and understand how this aligns with employee values. Companies that invest in their employer brand see staff turnover reduced by 28%. (Office Vibe)

Flexible work Arrangements: Forward-thinking companies will focus or Hybrid, work from home and remote first models to tap into the talent pool that sees flexible working as their preferred model of work. COVID, it was a novelty. The rise of the four day work week in 2021 may start to become the norm in 2022 for forward-thinking companies and become a competitive advantage for companies in the war for talent (LinkedIn). Recent research has shown job seekers Searches for jobs that allow employees to work from home in Ireland were six times higher in December 2021 than before the Covid-19 pandemic began Irish Examiner.  (Irish Examiner – Remote Working)

Focus on employee Wellbeing and mental health: With burnout being a significant factor in the great resignation, companies need to focus more on the mental health of employees according to research from the CIPD, Fostering employee wellbeing is good for people and the organisation. Promoting wellbeing can help prevent stress and create positive working environments where individuals and organisations can thrive. Good health and wellbeing can be a core enabler of employee engagement and organisational performance.  

Employee engagement technology: With hybrid, WFH, and remote working, companies need to make use of digital technology to improve employee experience and engagement, there has been an explosion of technology in this area that focuses on both productivity, communication, and internal social elements of the business. These software products can strengthen business communication, employee engagement, culture, and connection to the business. Products such as Workplace from Meta, Viva from Microsoft, and Humu all focus on the workplace and improving employee experience and engagement. 

The Future 

As COVID 19 has had major impacts on the world of work across the globe lots of organisations and individuals are still in a period of adjusting to a new normal. Companies that thrive will be the ones that hire employees that authentically share their values. Forward-thinking organisations will focus less on the transactional elements of employment and more on: 

• Understanding employee key drivers
• Employer Brand
• Employee experience and engagement 
• Mental health 
• Flexibility In the workplace 
• Equality, Inclusion, and Diversity 

2022 will be an interesting year for organisations as they develop new strategies to retain and hire staff post COVID.  

Most of us will be familiar with traditional interview questions but from time to time employers will test applicants with unusual questions in an interview.  Usually asked by big brands, as obviously, they want the best of the best. Candidates who can think on their feet under pressure. 

If you are interviewing with a big brand, expect to be tested, but don’t expect to have the answers at your fingertips. The key is to pause, thinking about the question, respond calmly and logically. Your willingness to embrace an unusual question and your efforts to give a logical answer will be looked upon favourably by an employer, whatever answer you eventually arrive at. 

Here are some strange questions which have been previously asked in interviews: 

• What biscuit would you be and why? 
• Room, desk and car – which do you clean first? 
• How would you get an elephant into a refrigerator? 
• If Germans were the tallest people in the world, how would you prove it? 
• How would you cure world hunger? 
• Pepsi or Coke? 
• If you wanted to bring your dog to work but one of your team members was allergic to dogs, what would you do? 
• Design an evacuation plan for the building 
• Name a prank you would pull on x manager if you were hired. 
• If you could be remembered for one sentence, what would it be? 
• Tell me a joke 
• What’s your favourite song? Perform it for us now.” 
• You’re a new addition to the crayon box, what colour would you be and why? 
• On a scale from 1 to 10, rate me as an interviewer 

…Now, let’s review how to answer the strange interview questions.  

What biscuit would you be and why? 

This question is trying to decipher your kind of personality, or possibly the interviewer wants to know if you’ll eat all the digestives on a tea break. Either way, the first biscuit which comes into my head are my favourite biscuits, Chocolate cookies. A common choice I’m sure, but everyone loves a chocolate cookie. 

What your favourite biscuit says about you 

Room, Desk and Car – Which do you clean first? 

• Desk 
• Room 
• Car 

Whichever order you decide, the interviewer is most likely interested in your reasoning. What logical approach are you taking to an unknown situation? 

How would you get an elephant into a refrigerator? 

This sounds like a joke question, but try to arrive at a logical answer. 

• Is it a baby elephant, if so a chest refrigerator may be adequate? 
• If it’s a full elephant, I guess we would need a custom-made refrigerator 
• Bring the elephant to a sub-zero climate such as Antarctica- essentially a giant refrigerator 

If Germans were the tallest people in the world, how would you prove it? 

Take a consensus of the average person’s height in each country in the world and compare it to German’s average height. 

How would you cure world hunger? 

This question is massive. These are only some suggestions: 

• Focus more on globalisation in poorer countries 
• Provide facilities/training for locals to produce more food 

Pepsi or Coke? 

This could just be a personal choice, but Coke has always seemed to be slightly superior to Pepsi. Most likely due to its marketing advantages from previous campaigns such as initiating a red Santa Claus and developing ‘bring a coke home’ Christmas Campaign. 

More differences between Coke and Pepsi

If you wanted to bring your dog to work but one of your team members was allergic to dogs, what would you do? 

This is a question analysing your caring side, you can’t cause problems in the office with team members, but you also can’t harm the dog by leaving it in the car all day. What are your options?

• Bring the dog on a day your team member is off 
• Don’t bring your dog to work 

Design an evacuation plan for the building. 

This is analysing your attention to detail. Have you looked at the building when you came in, are you aware of the layout of this floor? 

I guess the rule here is to, pay attention to the building on arrival.  

Name a prank you would pull on x manager if you were hired. 

This is another analysis of your personality, it’s a great measurement to see how you would fit into the team. In addition, to assessing what you think is funny and acceptable in a work environment. 

If you could be remembered for one sentence, what would it be? 

This last sentence will provide insight into what you most care about in life or what means to you the most. This can be a judge of your character and interests, are you going to be a good team fit? What do you care about?  

Tell me a joke 

If you’re caught off guard this can be difficult to think of on the spot. Do you resort to how did the chicken cross the road? This is blatantly boring and not very creative. On the other hand, you don’t want to offend anyone with “three men walk into a bar..” kind of joke.  I suggest dad jokes are probably the best, they are so embarrassing they are funny. 

What’s your favourite song? Perform it for us now. 

This question assesses your confidence, can you perform a song in front of strangers? I guess you’re confident enough to do anything. Especially if you can’t sing. 

You’re a new addition to the crayon box, what colour would you be and why? 

This is a chance to be creative, make up a colour? Go beyond the usual RGB, if the job seeks a creative individual this is your time to shine.  

On a scale from 1 to 10, rate me as an interviewer 

Is this a question asking you to suck up to the interviewer or is it a test to see if you can critically analyse? Can you give constructive criticism? This is the real test to decipher what the interviewer wants from you. If you’re applying for a manager role or senior position, then yes provide genuine advice. Try not to show fear in high pressured situations, even if this job depends on it.  

Please note that any answers I have provided are out of context. The best way to approach these types of strange questions is to understand what the interviewer is asking you and how your answer could be relevant to the job.  

Learn what questions have been previously asked in Google interviews  

If you’re interested in a career move and would like to speak to one of our friendly recruiters in confidence, please get in touch on 028 9091 8529 or email your CV to [email protected].   

Hiring the right talent is difficult enough. But retaining them presents an even greater challenge. One of the very first indicators of an employee considering leaving a job is disengagement. Creating a highly engaged workplace begins with having a competent employee retention strategy in place.

2021 welcomed a strongly led candidate market, and gone are the days when the employers held all the cards. Employees no longer feel compelled to serve companies that do not serve them beyond a salary. Thus, understanding employee retention is the key to retaining those top performers.

So, what is employee retention?

Quite simply, employee retention is the overall effort taken by an organisation to preserve its most prized asset – their talent! Moreover, a low or high employee retention rate directly impacts the company’s overall business.

It is essential to know how to manage your company’s employee turnover rate if you want to grow your operations, with 77% of companies now focusing on employee experience to increase retention.

It is crucial to implement a data-backed staff retention strategy rather than simply ticking off a HR checklist. The employee retention rate should be monitored on an ongoing basis, either quarterly or bi-annually, to ensure any issues or concerns are raised before disengaging your workforce.

Employee retention and employee engagement are interrelated to each other. Employees who receive growth and exposure feel motivated. They feel motivated and satisfied with their work and thus remain with the company.

So, what are the main drivers of employee retention?

Deciding to leave a job is a difficult decision for almost everyone. It takes a lot of thinking and weighing of options before taking the leap.

The reasons why employees quit their jobs may be personal or professional, however, there are a number of critical drivers of employee retention that could make the difference in your employees’ consideration to stay:

• Healthy work environment
• Rewards & recognition
• Flexibility
• Opportunities for growth and development
• Healthy relationships with management
• Competitive compensation

By monitoring the causes of losing employees, you can implement your best employee retention strategies.

Innovative employee retention strategies for the post-Covid work world

As we step into the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis, the corporate world has gone through a complete culture reset, particularly in the vast increase in the number of remote opportunities. Companies that provide the option for remote work have a 25% lower employee turnover.

Retaining your people post-pandemic might not be possible with your pre-pandemic measures. You will need to constantly review and implement retention strategies to keep ahead of your competition, especially post-pandemic.

To help you through this war of talent, we have noted some of the fundamental considerations on how to retain employees.

Hiring for Cultural Fit

Employees can develop their skills and expertise, however, when considering hiring someone, keep your cultural values in mind which will result in more loyal and engaged employees. New hires can blend in with the team quicker. They feel comfortable and can contribute faster.

80% of employee turnover is due to bad hiring decisions. Asking questions that are related to your company values or demonstrating the role correlation with the values will help provide candidates with a more in-depth perspective of their fit with the company.

At Corvus, our recruitment solution Corvus Assured ensures the most accurate fit to your organisation through a methodology assessing management alignment, behavioural insights and full profiling.

Hybrid Workplaces

Flexible working arrangements have become one of the top things that people look for in a new job. It has become an expectation rather than a benefit. Hybrid workplaces have become a hot topic since the beginning of the pandemic with businesses having to reassess their working methods. The option to work in the office or remotely has presented an opportunity for employees to obtain a greater balance between their professional and personal lives, without impacting on their ability to perform to the same, if not improved standards.

However, not all employers have been entirely convinced with the idea of a semi-virtual workforce, which in return is driving employees to look at competitors, and even new industries.

Employees save time and money on daily commutes, improve their work-life balance and experience fewer distractions whilst, employers can save infrastructure costs, overhead costs, avoid office politics and reduce absenteeism.

The biggest benefit to employers, however, is that there is no longer a geographical constraint in hiring people, resulting in access to a bigger pool of talent.

Employee Well-being

Particularly after the Covid-19 outbreak, health is the top priority for everyone, as both our physical and mental health had been tested amidst the global lockdown.

You can give your employees more than just sick leaves and free health check-ups. Recently, LinkedIn gave its employees a mental week off to cope with burnout. A study in the Employee Engagement Series conducted by Kronos Incorporated and Future Workplace found that 95% of human resource leaders admit employee burnout is sabotaging workforce retention.

Maintaining a positive work-life balance is fundamental to your employee wellbeing, with 11% of workers having refused a new job due to a lack of good work-life balance opportunities, as having considerable family time is dominating as a priority.

To take pressure off employees, ensure their workload is of an acceptable level, allow work from home, and practice flexitime.

Discussions surrounding a 4-day work week have gained huge traction over the past few months. Typically, people who work extra-long hours or leave the office last are seen to be more dedicated and productive. Let’s look at two scenarios.

Rewarding Efforts, and Not Just Results

It is easier to measure results than the effort taken to get that result.

Things don’t always go to plan, meaning companies must empathise with the ground reality and recognise the efforts of their employees and reward hard work rather than just appreciating results!Employees whose managers consistently acknowledge them for good work can reduce turnover up to 31%.

Every employee wants acknowledgement and recognition for their work. Appreciating your employees for their efforts and achievements goes a long way in making them feel valued, and when employees feel a sense of belonging, they tend to be more loyal.

Sometimes, your employees expect more than a thank you or a pat on the back. When they fulfil their goals, rewarding them to congratulate their efforts is important. Some ways to reward your employees and employee recognition are corporate gifts, point-based reward systems, performance awards, etc.

These factors motivate and encourage an employee to contribute and excel, which not only helps them along with their career but essentially helps improve your bottom line.

Shaping their Growth and Development

Helping employees achieve their short-term and long-term goals is one of the most crucial employee retention strategies. It demonstrates that you are invested in their future just as they are invested in your organisation, with a number of candidates now choosing a job with lower pay if they see development opportunities.

70% of staff members would leave their current organisations for a job with one known for investing in employee development and learning, therefore, designing in-house training programs for employees can not only retain your top talent, but advance their professional development. Other methods include encouraging them to attend conferences, industry events, etc. which can improve your employee retention strategies.

Encouraging Open Communication

You can create a workplace where employees aren’t afraid to express their opinions. In other words, a workplace where they can freely express their views and voice their concerns.

An “open-door policy” is an effective way to establish a culture of open communication, showing that you’re always available to listen to their views.

Practising a feedback culture, can help you stay connected with your employees. Covid-19 had different levels of impact for everyone with some struggling to keep their work and personal life separate, whilst others experienced workplace loneliness, anxiety, and stress.

During these difficult times, it is important to empathise with your workers and keep a check on them, ensuring you get the pulse of your workforce. Engaging and communicating as frequently as possible will ascertain the challenges or struggles your team are facing, whereby you can strengthen your rapport with them, thus increasing their loyalty and trust in your leadership and company.

Employees who don’t believe their company will act on their feedback are 7x more likely to be disengaged than those who do.

Bonding with Employees

We all know that employees don’t leave jobs but their managers. A good manager works continuously to nurture their relationship with the team members. Above all, bonding with employees outside work is as important as inside the office.

Team lunches, group treks, corporate social responsibility initiatives, excursions are some methods to celebrate employees, which in turn will deepen your bond, and strengthen your team loyalty.

Providing Benefits

One of the primary reasons that make employees quit is quite simply the lack of compensation. To avoid this, give fair and just appraisals to all employees as and when possible, as your workforce would likely be demotivated if they do not receive the proper benefits, or that to which your competitors offer.

Thus, leaders should build a competitive benefits package such as:

• Salary hikes
• Incentives
• Bonus
• Health benefits

There are alternatives to solely financial incentives. According to a survey conducted by Glassdoor, 35% of employees said that they will quit a job for better compensation.

Team days and staff lunches are nice supplementary perks, but you must think beyond these short-lived delights. It shows that you are invested in your employees’ growth as much as your company’s growth.

So, if you are a small to medium-sized organization, you can consider giving virtual rewards to your employees. Some of them are online gift cards, Spotify, or Netflix subscriptions, wellbeing apps, etc.

Initiating a Mentor/Buddy Culture

Most people don’t like to be micro-managed. Most people don’t like to be managed at all!

More importantly than managing, is ensuring you are leading your team in a style of leadership that helps, encourages, and supports their employees. Assigning a mentor or a buddy to a new employee is also a great onboarding idea. The newcomer can learn about their work and the existing techniques from their mentor. Employees who undergo an effective onboarding process can reduce new hire retention by 82%.

Moreover, a new employee can offer a fresh take on things. As a result, this will help generate creative and innovative ideas.

Engaging in CSR Programs

Reports show that millennials and Gen-Z workers in particular are more inclined towards social responsibility. They believe in giving back to the community. Especially in times like this, people value empathy.

Contributing to society and helping those in need are feel-good factors. It inspires loyalty and engagement in your people and demonstrates that you care about more than just the bottom line. A CSR initiative where the workers can contribute their participation is an excellent employee retention idea. It will go a long way in creating effective employee engagement.

Whilst the pandemic has brought restrictions, the post-pandemic world will hopefully offer a new opportunity to add CSR activities into your business strategy. There are also some activities which you can do individually, remotely or virtually, fostering a sense of fulfilment and team bonding.

Working in a virtual environment has proven to be difficult for some employees. You might think that working from home or other remote locations would appeal to all workers, however, the ability to work virtually like in an office setting is not for everyone.

As a result, most remote employees feel isolated from their co-workers. They can’t fully immerse themselves in the company’s culture. Thus, virtual team building becomes necessary, and it often plays an important role in talent retention.

These activities should be carried out by management to improve group processes and interactions, increase employee engagement and morale. It also develops better working relationships between employees.

Conducting Exit interviews

Sometimes losing an employee is inevitable, but with the average employee exit costing 16% to 213% of their annual salary depending on their pay, conducting exit interviews are crucial.

It is, however, equally important to back up such an interview with a list of effective exit interview questions.

An exit interview is asking a departing employee about his experience at the company. This process can help throw light into things like toxic management practices, departmental conflicts, etc. or more preferably, the successes and positive experiences that employees have experienced.

Concluding Thoughts

The past 18 months have been difficult for both employees and employers. Employers had to let go of their valuable employees and many people lost jobs.

With the increase of remote jobs, attracting the right talent has become more difficult than ever. People now have the option to work anywhere from the comfort of their homes.

With the job market regaining its momentum, there will inevitably be a resurgence within the latest market standards and best practices.

It is imperative to re-evaluate your employee retention strategies periodically. Take regular feedback and suggestions from your employees.

If you currently have a vacancy, you need help recruiting for, or would like a consultation of Corvus Assured® to see the full process, please get in touch today on 028 9091 8529 or [email protected]

The success of any organisation depends predominantly on the expertise, talent, and quality of their workforce. Irrespective of the size or industry, every organisation needs to accumulate a competitive team to achieve its goals. 

Uniting with the right recruitment partner will make a substantial impact on your hiring processes and improve not only the quality of hires, but will also maximise your retention of new employees.

With the annual growth forecast for NI having been revised up slightly to 4.7% for 2022, the demand for businesses to recruit high calibre professionals is more significant than ever. As a result, an increasing number of organisations are looking to work with recruitment partners to help them source the highest calibre of talent.

When choosing an executive search partner, you are selecting a representative who will best market your organisation, so their ethics, service, value for money and professionalism all have to be high on the agenda.

Below we’ve outlined 7 factors you should look for before choosing the right recruitment partner.

Industry Knowledge

There are so many recruitment organisations in the market which provide general solutions for hiring needs. However, at times, your organisation may need a specific kind of talent and expertise.

Partnering with a team who specialise in your industry denotes they will have a thorough understanding of what you are looking for, and will understand the criteria beyond the experience and skills required to be the perfect fit for your organisation.

Not to mention, they will have excellent relationships and networks with the people who are likely to be the exact candidates that you would very much want to be speaking with.

Is There a Culture Match?

You will be working very closely with your chosen recruitment partner to develop appealing job specs and ads, and regularly provide feedback to ensure candidates are well informed throughout, so it’s absolutely key that your cultures and outlook match, and that you like the consultants you are working with.

Therefore, it’s crucial that your cultures and outlook match. Having clarity on what makes a good candidate means the consultant will be able to screen for the types of soft skills that you yourself look for in an interview.

You’ll be much better placed to have frank and sometimes difficult conversations if you gel well with your recruitment partner, and having a similar outlook on what makes a good candidate from a communication point of view means the consultant is able to screen for the types of soft skills that you yourself look for in an interview.

Your recruitment partner should essentially be an extension of your management team and so hold similar viewpoints on recruitment matters.

The work we do and the clients & candidates we work with at Corvus are aligned with our company values of Do the Right Thing, Be Brave, and Be a Team.

Can They Meet Your Particular Recruitment Needs?

Often when it comes to recruitment, there is a degree of urgency involved. Rather than approaching the first recruitment practice you think of, make sure to do your research and ensure that they are working in the space that you’re hoping to recruit in. An award-winning agency recruiting for marketing superstars won’t necessarily have such a great network of IT professionals for instance.

It’s easy for recruitment companies to make bold claims, e.g “we have the best talent database around”, but if they are not the right candidates, those databases are futile. Request references or examples of how they have helped businesses in the past to hire specific talent with specific skillsets.

Different recruitment companies work in different ways and to different timelines and KPIs. Before committing to one or even a few agencies, it’s essential to discover their approach to work, and whether this aligns with your internal process.

For instance, how do they submit candidates? Is it through a portal or by email? And to whom? Every company has processes and procedures that are idiosyncratic to them, so it’s important to ensure that your chosen agency’s processes match yours in as much as is possible to allow for seamless recruitment.

The most essential component is ensuring that there are frequent and consistent communications in place by both yourself and your recruitment partner, but also with all potential candidates. The application and interview process is as much a representation of your organisation as they are of the recruitment team to whom they are in contact.

Hiring Strategies and Recruitment Techniques

It is vital to have a good understanding of the techniques and processes a recruitment organisation follows for reaching out to candidates and shortlisting the right ones. They should not merely do a Skillset- Requirement Keyword match for shortlisting.

The hiring strategies should form the principal criteria for choosing or discarding a recruitment partner. A comprehensive screening process should be an essential part of any recruitment organisations’ process. This will ultimately take some of the guesswork out of a potential interview and will pre-screen candidates for softer skills before submitting them to the client. You don’t want to be walking into an interview only to find within the first five minutes that the candidate is completely wrong for the job, often lacking key criteria which should have been picked up by the recruiter.

It’s also very important to understand how your recruitment partner will source its talent. If you’re dealing with an inexperienced consultant with a small network within an agency, they will rely on job boards to source your talent, a resource open to everyone. In doing so, they are only sourcing talent within the active job seeker market, which represents only 10% of the talent market.

A reputable recruitment consultancy consisting of experienced consultants with deep and wide networks, source their talent from the “passive job seeker market”. This talent pool is not actively looking for a new job. However, they are interested in hearing more about your company and open jobs when we contact them about it. 

Corvus created a bespoke recruitment solution, finding you the perfect fit through management alignment, behavioural insights and full profiling. Corvus Assured® lets you make better-informed hiring decisions – it’s got a 97.5% success rate. It helps eliminate bias by replacing subjectivity with tangible data. And includes behavioural insights, so you can anticipate how a candidate will behave in their new role. 

When you combine all of this with our experienced team managing your process, you have the most powerful recruitment solution on the market today.

Added Value Services

Recruitment companies should always be offering more than a shortlist of candidates. The right partner will be truly consultative. If you are working with a specialist, there is no doubt they should be providing insights into the industry job market, its trends and opportunities. While other client information will remain confidential, they can provide you with insightful market considerations and salary guidance on the role.

Within the current market, recruitment has gone beyond traditional hiring channels. Days of relying solely on job posting sites and referral systems to find potential candidates are long gone with the introduction of behavioural analysis, mobile recruitment, and social media.

You must also see if the firm is dynamic and multi-faceted. LinkedIn profiles, Glassdoor reviews, and a number of innovative channels are being widely utilised to provide a more in-depth insight into a potential candidate’s personality and aptitude. A recent study found that 122 million people received an interview through LinkedIn with 35.5 million having been hired by a person they connected with on the site.

It is also worth discussing additional services with your recruitment partners, such as onboarding assistance, Pre-Joining Training, and background check.

Customer Service and Transparency

There are so many steps and intricacies in the hiring process. When you choose a recruitment partner, their team should be agile enough to answer your queries and communicate clearly. Their customer service process should be efficient, and you should be able to communicate and discuss thoroughly at every step.

Furthermore, the hiring organisation should professional and capable to explain all the aspects of the contract or deal thoroughly. They should not make commitments which they cannot fulfil, and should openly discuss any hidden challenges. 

Reputation

Albeit, a relatively obvious criterion to consider before partnering with any recruitment organisation for your hiring processes, the reputation of the company is essential.

If a recruitment organisation has established itself as an industry-leading top talent provider, it is extremely likely they will provide you excellent services as well. The previous clients of the agency are a great way to estimate their credibility. It’s highly advisable to research the hiring organisation meticulously and request references from previous clients.

You can vouch for the recruitment agencies which can provide testimonials and reviews from past and existing clients. Client feedback shows the agency’s consistency and customer loyalty.

The recruitment organisation you are considering partnering with should be consistent and well-managed to provide you with the best hiring solutions with the best matching talent in a cost-effective manner.

With organisations engaged in a battle for talent and salaries drastically fluctuating, salary benchmarking is essential for any business that wants to stay ahead of its competitors.

With substantially more vacancies than professionals available to fill them, jobseekers now possess a multitude of options, such as hybrid or remote working, 4-day work weeks, mental health support and more meaningful work, making it imperative that businesses do everything they can to access the top talent.

One consideration which has become critical in this competitive landscape is salary benchmarking.

What is salary benchmarking and how do you go about it?

Salary benchmarking is simply the process of comparing your compensation package with those offered at other organisations – in particular, your competitors.

Ideally, salaries and benefits packages should be benchmarked for each role in your organisation, as well as any new positions your company is expecting to recruit for new roles. If this is not a feasible option for your organisation, it is possible to group positions based on seniority and benchmark accordingly – this will also contribute to assessing your organisation’s career development system.

The key to successfully benchmarking is the availability of data. Accessing a data source which encompasses a comparable variety of roles in your organisation in order to evaluate compensation across different sectors and locations. Seeking a greater quantity of roles in a data set will allow you to more accurately assess the minimum, maximum and average salaries of a specific position.

Once you have gathered the relevant data, it should be recorded in a way which enables easy replication, whether annually or quarterly. You should then use this data to make comparisons with what you are paying/expecting to pay and adjust salary and benefits packages if you find your offer isn’t competitive when compared with those being made by other organisations. Whilst candidates are seeking out employers of choice, if your offerings are substantially lower than your competition, you will lose out on the top talent.

Why Benchmark Salaries In 2022?

While salary benchmarking is always critical to support your talent attraction and retention strategies, it’s become even more important as we enter 2022.

Given the lack of available professionals, companies are battling to attract and retain talent which in many cases is hiking the value of salary and benefits packages. This not only impacts organisations looking to hire but will encourage employees already in roles to look elsewhere if they feel their existing salary is no longer competitive.

Which such a big shift in the jobs landscape, companies which have not recently benchmarked their compensation packages will be utilising out of date figures, resulting in their compensation packages becoming uncompetitive.

As well as remaining competitive, benchmarking also enables businesses to maintain sensible pay structures by characterising the maximum remuneration scales. As a result of the shortage of professional talent, which has created increased competition, there are some organisations offering unsustainable increases which will be problematic in the long term. Bidding wars resulted in resignations being met with extensive counteroffers, which in individual cases are adequate, however, when other employees find out a colleague received a generous pay increase by looking for another job, this will lead to similar action.

Employee satisfaction is often a complex topic to analyse. Although there is no formula to ensure your employees are happy, it can be universally agreed upon that salary plays an important role. On top of a healthy workplace environment and tangible personal goals, all employees want to feel valued within your organisation and the primary method to quantify that value is through pay. If an employee believes they are underpaid for their position, they are more likely to become dissatisfied and look for a role elsewhere. Salary benchmarking gives employers the ability to analyse the pay structure of industry competitors, updating their own approach to ensure employees are being paid fairly and are more satisfied in their positions, therefore reducing staff turnover. This is one of the biggest benefits of salary benchmarking.

Understanding the changing salary landscape will help organisations navigate the current environment and will help you to know where and how to allocate a budget for your selection of roles.

Why Benchmark Company Benefits In 2022?

When benchmarking salaries, you will likely find that your organisation simply cannot meet all of the salary increases being offered by competitors. Therefore, it is also useful to benchmark the wider benefits packages other companies make available to their employees. In the relentless quest to claim the best talent, employee benefits benchmarking is crucial.

While obtaining data on benefits can be more difficult than salaries, having some basis for comparison can help you to build attractive overall compensation packages, rather than solely relying on offering the very highest salary to attract talent.

Jobseekers are increasingly motivated by the overall package, rather than just salary. The top benefit trends for 2022 are Top benefit trends for 2022 circulate around remote working, increased flexibility, and focus on mental health and wellbeing, therefore are there alternative or non-financial benefits which could be introduced which would appeal to candidates more? With employees seeking a better work-life balance, these options could then be deemed more attractive than a competitor offering a higher salary but none of these benefits.

With the job landscape fluctuating all the time, benchmarking total compensation packages, including benefits, will help you to offer overall packages which stand out from your competitors. ‘The Great Resignation’ although not entirely detectible within the UK, has certainly been evident with professionals having the intent to move but not following through as of yet. If this flirtation translates into widespread resignations, you need to have salary and benefits packages in place to attract those who are on the move.

Benchmarking can help you measure your return on investment. Does what you are spending on employee benefits really pay dividends when it comes to employee retention and overall morale? Or do you need to invest in other areas in order to maximize your ROI? You may want to consider deploying internal surveys in order to gauge what is most valued by your workforce if you don’t already have a measurement tool in place.

What Salary And Benefits Benchmarking Tools Should You Use?

Listed businesses have remuneration committees in place for exactly this purpose but, without any guidance of the compensation packages offered by other organisations, it can be difficult to know where to start. 

Salary surveys can be useful for benchmarking at more junior levels, particularly with the significant volume of data that can be generated when comparing pay for roles that are relatively common in the marketplace. 

However, at the most senior level – where there are simply fewer roles to compare, and typically a larger variation in the make-up of compensation and benefits packages, it may be more difficult to determine a competitive benchmark. 

There are a number of free salary surveys and benchmarking resources available here.

While it’s important to recognise and understand the current challenges in recruitment, it is impossible to know if this surge in salaries is temporary or here to stay. Even if it is temporary, this is likely to create equal pay risks due to pay discrepancies between new and long-serving employees, therefore having a strategy in place now may prevent employing strain in the not-too-distant future.

Talent management and employee retention inside a business can benefit hugely from salary benchmarking.  A company that ignores the significance of benchmarking and the advice that stems from benchmarking does so at its peril.  However, make good use of benchmarking and a company should see retention rates improve, as well as employee satisfaction levels.  

If you need any advice on how to approach your organisations’ benchmarking, get in touch with Corvus today at [email protected]

What is a counteroffer?

You’ve nailed the interview(s), you’ve had a call from your Recruitment Consultant with the great news that the new company formally want to offer you the position.

Brilliant, your hard work has paid off!

All you must do is hand in your notice which can be daunting. You have a sigh of relief after you’ve handed in your notice. Then you get called into your current boss’ office, you’re offered a counter-offer, usually more money or a promotion to stay.

You’re torn, what do you do now?

Here are 6 reasons why you should never take a counter-offer

Recognise your worth

Why has it taken for you to resign to prompt your employer to give you the promotion, responsibility or pay rise you have been asking for? Professional development should be rewarded due to hard work and not out of fear of losing staff. The culture of your workplace could not be rewarding your hard work. You’ll soon be in the same situation again.

Broken trust

You’ve essentially fired your Manager. You have expressed your desire to leave and your Manager is unlikely to completely trust you again.

Money doesn’t solve your problems

Unfortunately, money will not make your work environment nicer, give you better projects to work on or remove that Sunday night fear. You’ll just be able to buy slightly more expensive coffee to catch your tears at work. This short-term gain most likely won’t pay off in the long run. Many promises made during the counteroffer period do not come to fruition and you may find yourself even more frustrated and eager to leave.

You’ll end up leaving

80% of candidates who accept a counteroffer from their current employer end up leaving within 6 months. Not only will you leave but you’ll have damaged your reputation with your employer and burnt bridges. Going all the way to offer stage with a new employer, only to turn them down to stay where you are a waste of everyone’s time. Are they likely to give you that same offer 6 months down the road – employers will remember that you jilted them at the altar!

Your Manager is buying time (and maybe their job security)

Depending on your Manager, they might not care if you leave, they’re more worried about you walking out and there being no one to replace you. The cost of no one in your role can be very costly and it can also reflect poorly on a Manager if they are losing a valued team member.

Rock the boat

Once your office or co-workers get a whiff of your £5 or 10k pay rise the company environment may be damaged. Resentment could grow from your co-workers. They may be thinking, ‘Oh, Susan handed in her notice and got an amazing pay rise, maybe I should do that too…’

Expectations will also be raised in terms of what you are expected to deliver – if you are given a pay increase and improved conditions, your existing employer will have significantly increased expectations about repaying them, which can lead to friction.

Conclusion

It’s important to remember why you were planning on leaving in the first place. Appreciate the value of taking this new opportunity. There were reasons you were leaving your current employer, create a pros and cons list of starting fresh at a new company. One thing that is important during this period is to talk to your Recruitment Consultant. Let them know your thoughts on this negotiation period they should be there to advise and recognise which would be the best opportunity for you.

It can be a scary process changing jobs which is why most people can see the easier option of simply staying where they are.  Workers who change jobs earn an average pay raise of £2,066 per year or 5.2% (compared to the 2.9% national average) – when did you last get a pay rise? – Glassdoor Economic Research, Why Do Workers Quit? The Factors That Predict Employee Turnover February 2017.

Benefits of changing jobs when you’re unhappy

A reminder of why you were changing your job in the first place.

•    Your mood

It will feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. When you’re unhappy, it can affect not only your mood in work, but your life outside of work. Your mood affects the people around you. Changing jobs can help improve your relationships with family and friends.

•    Fresh start

When you’re interested in changing your job, it’s usually to either get away from negativity or you’re attracted by opportunity. This could be an opportunity to take a step up in the career ladder and I don’t necessarily mean more money, I mean more responsibility, career development, new projects, better experience – an overall better career path.

•    Stay sharp

When you change your job, you need to learn to adapt to new work environments, face new challenges and possibly even work with new technologies. You’ll meet more people in your industry and broaden your knowledge in your sector.

•    Better job

In addition, to feeling more valued, this could be an opportunity to achieve a far better remuneration package. Whether that means a better pension, less travel, additional training more flexible working or bonus structure to name a few. This could give you overall better satisfaction in work.

If you’re currently looking for a job or maybe you’re considering a change it is important that you do the following things to ensure you are making the best move for your career.

1.    Create a list

Create a list of reasons why you want to change jobs. This will affirm whether you’re making the right decision to change your job and what you are looking for in a career move. This will prevent any embarrassment for yourself and the recruitment consultant if you end up accepting a counteroffer and take it because of last-minute promises.   

2.    Find a niche recruiter in your sector

This is important for a number of reasons. They will have expert market knowledge on which companies are good to work for, who is currently recruiting, and who will be someone to fight your corner throughout the job search process.

3.    Glassdoor is your friend

If your recruitment consultant suggests a company you haven’t heard of, or even if you have. Check out their Glassdoor reviews. It’s important that you’re moving to a company where things will get better, not a toxic environment where the staff are unhappy in their jobs.

Learn more about job searching in Northern Ireland

If you’re not looking for a job but would like to learn local professionals’ career stories and know what’s going on in the market in Northern Ireland? Why not listen to our career podcasts

Attracting the right people to your company isn’t easy.  It’s dependent on how you are perceived by the market. If you are seen as an employer of choice,  – especially at executive level, attracting the right talent will be easier.  

Top talent is always in high demand, but in a candidate short market, it takes a much more sustained commitment from organisations to communicate their employer value proposition to prospective new business leaders and functional specialists.  

When you need great people, and you need them to perform immediately, how do you secure this in-demand talent in the face of vast competition? 

These specialised professionals are fully aware of their market value and know that they’re sought after to add value, so will always ask “What’s in it for me?”. 

Remuneration, rewards, and perks all contribute to the decision-making process, but in recent years, so too does the perception of the organisation. How does it compare to the competition? Is there potential for growth? What focus is given to the organisational culture?  

Being an employer of choice is fast becoming the swaying factor, with 76% of candidates explicitly looking for what makes a company an attractive place to work (CISM). There needs to be an onus on building an employer brand that is data-driven and talent-led. An employer brand that is designed around your people and your business goals. An employer brand that helps you and your employees thrive. 

What is Employer Branding? 

Employer branding is the process of defining and positioning who you are, as the employer of choice, to target potential candidates. It requires defining your unique employee value proposition and identifying the unique benefits (beyond the bare minimum) which are offered to employees in order to attract them to your business.  

Within candidate attraction, your employer brand refers to the perception your potential employees have of your company, whereby each interaction you have from initial contact, will contribute to establishing your company’s values, work culture, and personality to ensure they are aligned with your ideal candidates’ aspirations.  

While there may be a positive impression during the initial awareness phase of research online or through networks, a poor interview experience (lack of feedback, delays) could negatively influence initial good perceptions. Make sure that all interactions with your brand are consistent and accurate – whether it’s your online presence, leadership team, HR etc. 

As potential new employees make decisions about joining your company based on these impressions, the requirement for a definitive strategy to ensure your key messages are being presented and received to candidates. 80% of talent acquisition managers believe employer branding has a significant impact on the ability to hire top talent (LinkedIn). 

Implementing an employer branding strategy is an intricate process with considerations from HR, marketing, and senior business leadership required for consideration. 

Check out our key recommendations to attract and retain top executive talent through employer branding. 

Who Are You? 

Before implementing any form of branding strategy, you will need to determine whether you are genuinely considered an employer of choice by your existing leadership team. Existing and previous employees are your greatest brand ambassadors, and if they have had poor experiences or are not conveying a positive message, it’s important to find out why not. Initiating employee satisfaction surveys and monitoring reviews of your organisation online (e.g. Glassdoor) are critical methods of understanding your company perception amongst your employees.  
  

Define Culture and Aims

Why have your existing employees remained with your company? What is it that keeps your employees engaged? What differentiates you from your competitors? These are the questions potential candidates will also be asking, so the answers will provide the reasons why people would want to work for you. Whether your reputation of continual improvement with enviable training opportunities or simply a friendly, collaborative environment, understanding these qualities will enable you to communicate these as indicators of your company as an employer of choice.  
  

Communicate To Specific Audiences

Ensure the message, tone, and content that you are delivering to specialist and critical candidates are tailored appropriately, whilst adhering to the encompassing aims and purpose of the organisation. “59% of companies leverage their career website for communicating their employer brand” (Employer Brand International). It is imperative that everyone involved in conveying your employer brand is informed of the right message and provided with the appropriate information to do so.  
  

Embrace Leadership

People want to work with other industry leaders who define new parameters and encourage change – the top talent consolidated in one arena. Promote the skills and capabilities of your current leadership team by demonstrating their innovation and how your company culture and environment encourages this sort of talent. If you are looking to develop an area of the business or new business opportunities, the focus should be on potential employees and prospects to affect chance and shift culture. 
  

Consider Your Online Presence

Online interaction will influence the perception of your company and employer brand, with 79% of candidates using social media in their job search (Glassdoor). Companies need to consider the quality, consistency and relevancy of information included on the corporate website, the level of research and insight that an organisation releases, and even the LinkedIn profiles of the leadership team, which are all monitored by potential new employees. 

Through Corvus Assured, we support businesses to protect & improve their employer brand by ensuring all candidates have a positive experience. We also support businesses by creating applicant information packs & bespoke, tailored adverts which are designed to explain to the audience “what’s in it for them”. The process leads to above industry rates of new employee retention which also feeds into building employer brands.

Check out Corvus Assured to find out how we could help your recruitment process.

We often think about the things companies look for in candidates, but in the current candidate-driven market, it’s become more important than ever to know exactly what candidates are looking for in a company.

The last year has forever changed the way employees view and approach work, but the one thing which continues to hold true – businesses that want to attract and retain the talent they need to move forward, must understand the top priorities of their future workforce.

They must embrace new, flexible work models and encourage a workforce that can construct their careers. Employees want to decide when and where they work, to be measured on the value they deliver and expect to be trusted to perform. Companies that understand and embrace these wants and needs will attract the right people and more importantly, hire the right people.

Top features candidates want in 2022

Job Security

The COVID-19 pandemic has created global economic uncertainty. Now more than ever, candidates are prioritising job security and stability from their employer of choice. They need to know how the pandemic has impacted your industry, and what actions are being implemented to ensure your company comes out on top at the end of all of this.

A huge 73% of job-seekers reported that their main anxiety throughout the pandemic concerned their career, rather than their health. Alarmingly, just 35% are worried about catching the virus – not even registering in their top five concerns. This indicates that employees value the security of their job above anything else. Unsurprisingly, roles offering longer-term stability will be the most highly valued by top candidates.

Flexibility & Work-life Balance

Whilst initially creating a degree of angst and scepticism, working from home has proven that people can work just as effectively as before, with many employees will continue to expect it well after the pandemic is over.

However, as the lines between work and home continue to blur, today’s candidates are increasingly evaluating a company’s culture when looking at new positions — they want to see that work-life balance is a genuine priority to prospective employers and they want to understand how remote employees are supported.

Candidates are seeking jobs that will give them a work-life balance that accommodates their lifestyles, having become a much bigger factor in how happy employees are than they used to be. This may be because employers are finding new ways to entice their employees with extra perks that will make their work-life balance more effective and enjoyable for them, for example, 4-day working weeks and half-day Fridays.

Workers are asking for more flexibility in where and how they do their job. 80% of workers say they would turn down a job that didn’t offer flexible working. The good news is, remote work is a boon for retention rates (improving them by 10%) and engagement.

Remote work is on the increase around the world, with 16% of global companies now fully remote and 52% of employees working from home at least one day a week. With more companies focusing on the environmental impact of their operations, it makes sense that remote work and flexibility will become the new normal for working life.

Growth & Development Opportunities

Even before the pandemic, one of the primary reasons for employees to move on from their current employment was due to the lack of growth and opportunities for development. Research by The Harris Poll found that one in three employees (34%) quit their last position because they “didn’t learn new skills or better their performance.”

After a tumultuous 18 months, growth and development are more important than ever as candidates are more likely to associate these qualities with stability. Demonstrating to candidates that your company is invested in their development will enable them to see a potential future at your organisation, and provide a sense of future job security.

For your business to excel, you need to be attracting the best talent, and that talent is ultimately the candidates who are always looking for further opportunities to grow in their careers.  If you can provide opportunities for your employees to grow within your company, then you have a chance of hiring and retaining the best talent.

Enabling your employees to develop their careers, will effectively be rewarding to the company as an entity, as retaining employees will bring higher levels of productivity and largely improve the company’s overall reputation as being an employer of choice. LinkedIn research shows 93% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their careers. And offering career training and development would keep 86% of millennials from leaving their current position.

If candidates know there are chances for their career to develop within your company, they are less likely to seek out other opportunities and much more likely to stay with your company.

Meaningful & Challenging Work

Top talent will often leave a company when they feel as though they are no longer being challenged enough from their role. When employees feel undervalued at work, this can refer to the volume of work, but also the type of work they are doing.

Employees want to do work that challenges them or is consequential, or at the very least to expand their skills. When that work no longer stimulates them, they will seek out new opportunities which do. A recent study discovered that 9 out of 10 professionals confirmed they would forego up to 23% of their future earnings for work that is always meaningful.

Appreciation

Although employees get paid to come to work every day, they work hard and when that hard work is accomplished it should be rewarded or acknowledged.

Having processes to recognise and reward employee successes can benefit your business in several ways, including hugely supporting your recruiting activity. Potential employees can see that your organisation is one where they know their work will be rewarded, alongside helping you to retain existing employees and also your brand identity. If employees know they will be rewarded for their efforts, or even just have their hard work recognised, they will likely be more productive and effective within their roles as they know it benefits the company and that it is appreciated. This sort of encouragement is likely to attract new and better prospects as well as ensuring the ones who are there want to stay there for as long as possible.

Employees become disheartened and disengaged if they feel they are working hard but that it is not being valued. A recent survey found that 96% of employees say it is somewhat important or very important to feel appreciated at work, yet only 37% indicated they were satisfied with the level of gratitude expressed to them at work.

Total Compensation

Almost half of job seekers have cited attractive benefits and perks such as gym memberships and PTO as a top factor when applying to new roles. Other significant factors included high salaries (46%), work-life balance (43%), and the flexibility to work from home (41%).

Ultimately, candidates are no longer solely attracted to a high salary, but rather, they are actively seeking a comprehensive total compensation package.

Offering job perks to potential employees, may not only be the competitive advantage over candidates’ other offers but also validates your company as one that values its employees and reinforces a positive company culture.

Compensation packages do not always have to signify monetary deals. Many of the top benefits and perks which win candidates over are easily implemented, such as gym memberships, flexible/ remote work options, employee discounts, etc which can mean securing those top talents.

Autonomy

Employees thrive in environments where management trust them and they possess sufficient autonomy to do their jobs. When employees are micromanaged, they may begin to feel anxious and become unable to work as effectively.

Throughout the pandemic, this has particularly been the case with many employees working from home, whereby employees crave to be trusted to complete their job effectively.

Conclusion

As the war to retain talent escalates, the focus on valuing exiting employees has become more important than ever. Along with a universal recognition that resilient employees are the foundation of any company, came an understanding that a company’s workforce is essential to business survival & growth. This has prompted organisations to completely rethink how they attract, retain, and manage their talent.

There are undoubtedly vast shortages of candidates, particularly within niche roles and industries, thus fuelling the candidate market. For employers, there is a great necessity to manage candidate expectations or risk losing out on great talent. Organisations’ need to embrace the idea that efficient, seamless, and speedy hiring is critical in today’s competitive market.

Check out Corvus Assured to find out how we could help your recruitment process.

There are a number of universal skills that employers look for in candidates regardless of what the position is. Possessing and demonstrating these skills will make you vastly more desirable to employers. These skills essentially include communication, problem solving and teamwork.

Whilst there are specific skills needed for each industry and job, there are also core competencies that span across all professions. These are considered key employability skills and are essential to being an effective employee, and future leader.

See below the most sought-after employability skills that hiring managers search for in candidates:

Communication Skills

Communication skills are fundamental for essentially every job, within every industry. Employers require team members who will successfully interpret what is being asked of them, as well as effectively communicate with others. These skills are particularly of importance in senior roles which enables others and yourself to understand information more accurately and efficiently. Being able to articulate well provides a significant advantage!

To perform your job effectively, you need to successfully discuss problems, request information, interact with others, and have good human relations skills – these are all part of having good communication skills. They help in being understood well and in helping understand the needs of those around you. In a recent poll, undertaken by Corvus, we discovered that the number one quality that hiring managers look for in candidates are communication skills, with 46% deeming it more important than dependability, confidence and ambition combined.

Leadership Skills

Leadership skills are one of the soft skills that many employers look for in candidates and that can be helpful at all levels of your career. From managing a team to contributing to a project, leadership skills will help you motivate others and ensure tasks are completed promptly. Managerial roles, in particular, require this ability to lead, alongside a strong willingness and the desire to accept responsibility for results. It’s the experience to take charge, to volunteer for assignments, and to accept accountability for achieving the required results of those assignments.

Leaders have a unique ability to inspire a vision and motivate others towards it; sometimes to go beyond what’s required of them.  Whereas managers focus on tasks and managing work to achieve organisational goals. But having someone who can do both effectively, you’re more likely to have engaged, committed, and productive employees.

Employers seek these skills in the candidates they hire for leadership roles. The indication of the leader is that he or she does not make excuses. You must demonstrate your willingness to be a leader within the organisation by offering to take charge of achieving company goals and then committing yourself to perform at high levels.

Teamwork Skills

Effective teamwork was a challenge even before the global pandemic. Lockdown definitely made it even harder. Now, as people gradually return to work, organisations need to restore their focus on enabling teamwork.

Regardless of your job title or industry, many employers consider teamwork skills a must when reviewing applicants. Candidates with a positive attitude towards teamwork are sought out by employers for many reasons—they demonstrate leadership, collaboration, and good communication.

When a team tackles a problem, the project benefits from multiple perspectives, skillsets, and experiences all at once. The American Psychological Association found that diverse teams can offer greater innovation and creativity, and a competitive advantage. The ability to manage, lead or contribute to a team is imperative to maximise opportunity and performance.

Additionally, when employees work together and succeed as a team, they form bonds that can turn into trust and friendship. This is ultimately great for your company, as employees who like and trust each other are more likely to communicate better, support and motivate each other, and work cooperatively.

Interpersonal Skills

Businesses must understand the importance of personal skills in order to support employees nurture better communication and collaboration. Managers should identify areas for improvement and help their employees evolve. They should encourage them to attend courses and training that promote personal growth and put them in situations where they can practice good communication skills and improve collaboration.

These skills enable you to build relationships, communicate effectively and handle situations in an appropriate manner. It is essential to have people with solid personable skills on your team, as it will allow your business to run smoothly and make your day-to-day operations much more efficient.

Interpersonal skills help individuals to interact with others effectively on the job. Some people are born with such skills, and some need to acquire and improve them. It is imperative for you to have impeccable interpersonal communication skills to handle clients and maintain good relations within the team.

Adaptability Skills

Learning skills enable you to learn new things and adapt to new situations within the workplace. This is especially important given the ever-changing workplace and the need for employers to stay competitive by implementing new initiatives. Having good learning and adaptability skills can set you apart from other candidates and show employers your willingness to learn and change when necessary.

Employers want to hire employees who are successfully able to manage changes in the workplace, and being adaptable shows employers that you’re able to handle new changes and challenges with ease. Essentially, having a natural ability to adapt indicates that candidates will possess a higher degree of leadership qualities, including focus, motivation, and an open-minded outlook. When others see you embracing change, it’ll inspire them to do the same. Being adaptable will also help you earn the respect of your co-workers. The better you’re able to manage change, the better you’ll be able to lead your company at large.

With the ongoing changes in technology and other fields, it’s important to stay relevant in your chosen profession. The more adaptable you are, the more comfortable you’ll be embracing new ways of doing things. This involves the implementation of a new workplace system, new tools, or new business strategies. The more adaptable and therefore relevant you are, the better you’ll be able to change with the ongoing landscape.

Organisational Skills

Organisational skills are some of the most important and transferable job skills an employee can acquire. They encompass a set of capabilities that help a person plan, prioritize, and achieve their goals, which, in turn, can save a company time and money. These skills are essential for multitasking and keeping a business running smoothly and successfully.

Employers aim to recruit candidates who can work to achieve results consistently, even when unforeseen delays or problems arise. If you are the kind of employee that knows how to get things done in the most efficient manner possible, your existing company will value your efforts, and other firms should be beating down your door!

An organised employee helps save their company time and money. These individuals can multitask and maximise their employer’s resources. When you discuss your organisational skills in an interview, you will show your value by proving your ability to consistently achieve results, even in the event of unforeseen circumstances. Good organisational skills lead to better productivity; something every company craves!

Problem-solving Skills

One of the essential skills in any workplace is the problem of problem-solving and critical thinking. At its most effective, it allows employees to seamlessly engage in the psychological process of realising, evaluating, and resolving challenges faced daily. At the core of business development, the ability to problem solve allows employees to learn to use accessible resources to work out issues in a productive manner that does not betray your company’s integrity.

We often associate the skill of problem-solving with those in senior positions. After all, they have more responsibilities, as well as the authority to tackle any issues that may arise. While it’s not very likely that you will be asked to find a solution to a major business issue on your first day of a new job, the way you handle even the smallest of problems will demonstrate to an employer how well you can deal with larger ones. If your boss doubts your ability to overcome difficulties that come your way, they may not trust you with more responsibility, or consider you for a managerial role later on.

Knowing how to solve problems is therefore of paramount importance vital. Luckily, there are many ways you can develop the skill, and learning how to demonstrate it can prove invaluable at job interviews.

Open-mindedness

In order to survive whatever trials and tribulations the future might bring, we need to learn to adapt. Business leaders must learn to be more open-minded, which means being receptive to the views, ideas and knowledge of others. An open mind can be an unstoppable force in driving business strategy, building culture and enhancing the financial performance of your company.

Having an open mind helps us think more critically, especially when faced with unpredictable circumstances. It helps us see the bigger picture and think more laterally about how best to solve a problem not only in the short term, but in the long term too. No two problems will ever be the same, but an open mind makes us more adaptable to finding solutions.

Most industries today are quickly evolving, which means the old tried and tested methods for success are likely to be redundant, as ever new developments come into play. The only way to ensure your business survives is to stay ahead of the curve, which means being receptive to new business practices and trying something new. Maintaining an open mind as a leader or employee means you’re less likely to get stuck in a rut when going about your everyday business tasks, enabling us to become more naturally inquisitive, which in turn makes is more able to better ourselves and improve our knowledge and understanding, day-by-day.

Strong Work Ethic

Employers want employees who they can trust to perform their duties and meet deadlines without having to micro-manage them. Having a great work ethic ensures you can complete your tasks and manage your work effectively even when no one is regularly checking your progress. Stanford Research Centre and Harvard University, and Carnegie foundation found that a whopping 85% of job success comes from excellent soft and people skills.

At work, accomplishing tasks and projects with a good work ethic shows that you are a reliable employee and opens you up to more responsibilities and leadership opportunities, which can increase your chances of a raise or promotion.

Having a good work ethic is also key to a positive experience in the workplace for both you and your co-workers. When you possess these skills, you likely perform high-quality work, have strong relationships with colleagues and contribute towards achieving important tasks that add value to your team and organisation. Also, those with a strong work ethic can often inspire other colleagues by serving as an example of how employees should behave. This can establish an organisational culture that values hard work, cooperation and peer support.

Where do employers assess these skills?

Employers encounter applicant’s skills in a few different places, with the most important places being CV, cover letters, LinkedIn and interviews. Here are factors to keep in mind when highlighting your skills in each of these settings:

Cover letters

Your cover letter should include mention of two to three of your most marketable skills as they relate to the job you are applying for. Include these skills in the body of your cover letter as well as an example for each of how you have used these skills in your previous work experience.

LinkedIn

With 87% of active and passive candidates open to job opportunities, it is undeniable that employers will do their research in reviewing your skills prior to your interview. Ensure your profile is up to date and professional throughout. This is the perfect platform to highlight your skills and achievements which may be a deciding factor in being invited to interview.

Interviews

A job interview is a great time to openly talk about your marketable skills with the employer. During the interview, provide examples of how you have used your skills in the past. Try to mention all skills that are relevant for the position, especially the skills that were specifically mentioned in the job posting.

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