The recruitment challenge: what are your options?

It’s a challenging recruitment market at present and many charities are struggling to fill roles. From January to March 2022, job vacancies in the UK rose to a record high of 1.3 million. And with the unemployment rate at its lowest in almost 50 years (3.7%), it’s a candidate’s market.

 

According to CharityJob, charity sector applications fell by three-quarters during 2021, with reasons including the great resignation, employee burnout, and the candidate shortage.

 

And the cost-of-living crisis is only set to exacerbate the situation, with jobseekers needing to find better pay to meet rising costs. According to FundraisingUK.com, charity workers are paid 7% less than workers in other sectors.

 

Often charities don’t have the funds to be able to offer the higher salaries needed to attract candidates in a competitive market. 

 

 

What are your options?

 

If you’re struggling to recruit, there are four main routes you can consider: upping your in-house recruitment, working with an agency, outsourcing your recruitment, or buying recruitment on demand.

 

Even if you spend time improving your recruitment processes, you won’t necessarily get the candidates rolling in. Ultimately (and especially for trickier roles to fill such as IT, fundraising and management), you might want to turn to external professional support. And there are decisions you’ll need to make about which route to go down.

 

 

Fine-tune your in-house recruitment process  

 

There are things you can do to tighten up your recruitment process. That could include advertising the salary clearly, writing a punchy job advert, posting your advert on several different platforms, and making sure your interview process is robust.

 

It’s also worth emphasising your charity’s mission in adverts. The pandemic prompted many of us to question why we do what we do, making purpose high up the list for jobseekers. In fact, 63% of people want their employer to provide more opportunities for purpose in their day-to-day work.     

 

Your charity’s purpose will be a key selling point for many candidates and may help to draw in candidates from the private sector looking for a change in direction.

 

 

Work with a recruitment agency

 

It might sound obvious, but recruitment agencies connect candidates to organisations. Usually, a recruiter will cover sourcing and pre-screening candidates and then present them to you ready for shortlisting and interviews.

 

An advantage of using an agency is that recruitment is their business: it’s what they do, day-in, day-out. They will have an existing pool of jobseekers to tap into, who might not otherwise see or consider your vacancy.

 

Recruitment agencies usually bill when they have successfully placed a candidate, so will be well motivated to get the right person into the role. They will also be working for other clients, which can be a bonus in that they will be speaking to lots of candidates. But this can also potentially be a down-side as they won’t solely be working for you.

 

 

Opt for recruitment process outsourcing

 

Opt for recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) is a longer-term solution as they deliver end-to-end recruitment. Typically, you move some or all of your permanent recruitment to this external provider. They will often work alongside an existing in-house team, either on site or remotely, exclusively with you.

 

As they will be working with your charity for long periods of time, they will grasp a good understanding of your brand. And as well as bringing their expertise, they might also have helpful tech tools you wouldn’t otherwise have access to.

 

RPO is probably only an option for larger charities or those with bigger budget and significant ongoing recruitment drives. They won’t be the most cost-effective option if you are only recruiting to a few roles, or there are times when you don’t need extra support.

 

Managed service providers (MSPs) are similar to RPOs. They deliver end-to-end recruitment, but focus solely on temps, consultants, and freelancers.  

 

 

Choose recruitment on demand

 

Choose recruitment on demand (ROD) is the most flexible and responsive. Unlike RPO, you can buy in support when you need it and pause when you don’t. This makes it a more cost-effective option than RPO, and possibly also than recruitment agencies. 

 

One of the biggest advantages of ROD is that you pay day rates, so you only pay for the actual support you need. You also have the flexibility of using them for exactly the level and support you need. For example, for a role which attracts lots of applicants you might need support throughout the whole process, but for another harder-to-fill role you might only need help attracting candidates.

 

Another advantage of using ROD is that you only need to brief them on your organisation once. Then they’re ready and waiting to support you whenever you need it, already having a good understanding of your brand.