Despite mass layoffs that followed the onset of Covid-19 and people desperately looking for work, staffing agencies face challenges in filling their clients’ vacancies. They have few potential employees on their books that suit their clients’ requirements.
Consequently, personnel agents work under extreme pressure to find the right candidate or lose out on earning commission, retaining customers, and maintaining a solid reputation in their industry. Here is what has created staff shortages and how it affects staffing agencies:
Challenges matching candidates with jobs
Many employment agencies get flack from their clients for sending candidates to interviews who cannot fulfill the job requirements. They might have the necessary qualifications and hard skills but lack the soft skills to fit into an organization.
Alternatively, they may be somewhat economical with the truth when stating their skills. eSkill offers skills tests for staffing firms covering various aspects, including basic computer, organization, and interpersonal abilities. Such tests separate the wheat from the chaff, allowing agents to decide which candidates they put forward for a position.
Tests can include video interview sessions or opportunities for candidates to demonstrate the skills employers need. This pre-screening testing is limiting shortlists of how many candidates are suitable for a post. However, many would-be employees learn from the tests, upgrade their skills, and prepare themselves to perform better during future opportunities.
Conventional work has changed
If Covid-19 has taught us anything, it is the flexible working hours suit many employees. Now that many have had a taste of it, they are reluctant to return to an eight or nine-hour office day. They also prefer to work remotely as it allows them to be more involved at home, eliminates their commute, and protects them from potential Covid-19 infections.
Some employers still oppose remote working and flexible hours, believing that employees are more productive when working at an office for a set number of hours. This places personnel agents in the invidious position of persuading employees to return to conventional working circumstances or employers to embrace the changing work environment. When neither party is prepared to compromise, a stalemate ensues.
Self-employment
Many people faced layoffs during Covid-19 by starting businesses to generate income. Many have found terrific success and have no desire to reenter the jobs market now that they have had a taste of self-employment. Agents find themselves trying to convince candidates to consider positions that they are no longer interested in.
Experts predicted that there would be a glut of potential workers seeking employment once economic conditions returned to normal, but this has not been the case. Instead, people have relied on their wits and instincts to create ways to earn a sustainable income without resorting to full-time employment.
Wage levels
Another contentious point that eliminates many candidates for mere consideration when an agent is trying to fill a post is wages. People are not prepared to settle for less money than they feel they deserve. Companies do not offer high wage rates right now as they are still recovering from the economic losses caused by Covid-19.
However, would-be employees are standing fast and demanding better pay and working conditions. It creates an impasse that agents try and overcome by negotiating with both parties, sometimes to no avail.
Skills shortages
The IT industry has experienced enormous skills shortages. This was prevalent pre-pandemic, but Covid-19 only exacerbated it, with companies snapping up qualified professionals to help them transition to online and remote work. Therefore, insufficient candidates exist for current employment demands.
The pandemic also prevented many students from graduating and entering the workforce. This leaves employment agents scrambling to find candidates from an already limited pool.