What happens when the market begins to grow again?

A survey, recently made by EXIDO among HR managers, says that the market will turn positive sometime between summer 2003 and spring 2004! Are we well prepared for this?

Only a few years from now the big age groups born in the forties begins to retire. At the same time fewer young people will enter the labour market due to smaller age groups. This new generation also enters the labour market later than previous generations, they study longer and they want to explore other things like travelling before settling down. When combining these trends, we will soon face  a growing scarcity of well educated and experienced people. There will be a shortage of IT analysts, accounting, financial and technical people not to mention the needs in the nursing sector. Fewer and fewer young people want to study IT and Telecom, which of course will increase the shortage in these sectors.

How well do we know the thoughts and values of the next generation and what impact this will have on how these people will choose their employer and on the way you have to do recruiting? We already describe the new generation, 16 until 24 years, with 4 I's; they are more International, Individual, Informed and Informal than older generations. They are used to have the possibility to choose, they travel more and they want work for trustworthy and ethical companies and in companies with true commitment.

According to a survey made by Exido, 49% of all employees are thinking in terms of leaving their company within one year. An american study (Saragota Institute, Human Resources report) shows that on average it costs a company 230.000 USD to recruit a new person. The importance of retaining key people has to have the highest priority. As Mike Abrashoff, founder of Grassroots Leadership, says : "Recruit your staff every day, even though your crew is already on board."

Another study conducted in the US (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employee Tenure Surveys, 1955-1996) shows that the average time of employment with the same employer was 22 years in the 50's and only 3 years in 1998. This was just before the IT boom which led to even shorter time of employment.

We have a great challenge ahead of us. How do we attract, recruit and retain the right people in an environment where we have a shortage of competence, a new generation with different values entering the labour market and an average time of employment with the same employer that is considerably shorter today than 15 years ago?

To be able to attract, recruit and retain the right people in the future, it will be important to think in terms of Employer Branding. To win the battle of getting the right people and top performers it's time to start planning of how to strengthen your Employer Brand. It's about building an employee identity towards the competence market and to create a relation with the individuals that you want to attract, recruit and retain.

• With a brand you get chosen
• With a strong brand you get actively chosen
• With a very strong brand you create loyalty and ambassadors

It is time to start the planning for this future - it will be here sooner than you imagine.

Source : EMA NOVO 1/03, written by Ulf Tonelid from EMA Partners Sweden. 2003

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