The Supply Chain and Logistics industry has the opportunity to become one of the strongest and can lead the way in recruiting and attracting the growing youth population.
The first step is for companies to recognise that they have a responsibility to assist with the education and training of the next generation to ensure that the industry is still as strong, if not stronger in forty years.
Innovative Recruitment techniques
It is now time that the Supply Chain and Logistics Industry started to develop new and innovative strategies to recruit and attract talent. The Internet is a good place to start.
The younger generation have developed a relationship with the Internet that has quite literally changed the way in which companies recruit.
Gone are the days of just advertising in newspapers.
In today’s business world, job boards and career portals are a crucial strategy to find talent.
Specialised Career Portals Start by identifying available industry-focussed job boards in the region.
A number of on-line trade magazines, newsletters and industry associations have started to develop on-line job boards and career portals for the Supply Chain and Logistics Industry.
www.sclaa.com.au and www.austlogistics.com.au have both recently taken the initiative and launched new specialist job boards, powered by global platform of SupplyChainJobz which will allow the industry global access to job seekers, advertisers and recruiters.
These style job boards will ensure that the industry slowly develops an on-line community to help reduce the talent shortage across the world.
Companies now have the opportunity to advertise jobs on these portals, job seekers can post their resumes and recruiters can help find industry-based talent from across the globe.
Additional resources include tools, tips and guides for attracting and retaining talent.
Industry-focused job boards also have an integrated approach to recruitment.
Automatic job alerts and resume postings ensure that the companies registered are kept up-to-date with all available talent.
Gone also are the days of waiting for someone to read a passive advertisement on-line; these portals are active and working for the advertisers and job seekers.
Recruiters are becoming more sophisticated and are demanding smaller volumes of resumes with higher quality candidates.
On-line job boards have the ability to generate quality data on candidates, ‘weed out’ poor resumes, link the right candidates to the right companies and are a more sophisticated model for recruitment.
Corporate Career sites that bring your company to the job seekers are also a recommended recruitment strategy.
Actively advertising and promoting your company mission and branding can subconsciously assist attracting talent. Being recognised as an Employer of Choice in the minds of job seekers can make a difference.
Most Internet recruiting is currently through recruiters and HR personnel. Yet, as companies become more geographically dispersed, corporate recruitment will shift closer to the business.
Management is starting to understand the world of Internet recruiting and is now searching for candidates.
Ultimately on-line recruitment services are a faster method to find candidates and if used effectively can ensure your competitive advantage.
Job boards and career portals are more than a place to advertise jobs.
If developed correctly they are a specialised communication medium that provides regular information for the industry as a whole.
Sophisticated career portals are designed as another way to bring the industry together to learn, educate, train and provide a crucial strategy to reduce the talent shortage that affects us all.
It is important to realise that the most desirable candidates are less likely to post their resume on a job board or be actively seeking employment.
Career portals that are developed as educational resources for the wider industry will have more success in attracting this sector of the market to their site.
Educational websites are slowly becoming a popular tool in drawing already-employed candidates’ one step closer to the job board.
They have become an on-line, interactive community and with the development of video interviewing, on-line job simulations, automatic reference checks and on-line assessments job boards will become a crucial recruitment strategy for every business.
Specialised Recruitment Companies
A second strategy for attracting talent is through specialised recruitment companied who have expertise in the Supply Chain and Logistics industry and who understand your business.
Companies like Logistics Recruitment, a leading global player in the Supply Chain and Logistics industry, have a significant role to play in the war for talent.
Logistics Recruitment is just one example of a specialised recruiter who has global reach through their International offices and whose recruiters are Supply Chain and Logistics experts who have worked in the industry.
It is important to identify early on whether the recruitment company you are using truly understands the industry and your business.
Add to that the importance of global reach. Does your recruitment company have access to the highest quality candidates from across the globe?
Can they access already-employed candidates, how large and of what quality is their talent pool and can they meet your needs in a timely fashion?
Before selecting your recruitment company stop and look at their track record in the industry.
Identify whether they have the capability to find you the best candidates that fit your company culture.
As the industry becomes increasingly competitive, the ability to recruit and retain the right talent can make the difference between success and failure.
If the Supply Chain and Logistics industry is to become ‘world class’, it needs to adopt best-in-breed techniques to attract and retain talent.
On-line communities, job boards, career portals and specialised recruitment companies are imperative for talent acquisition and retention.
Phillip Parsons is Chairman, SupplyChainJobz