If you speak to any organisation or recruitment firm across the country, you’ll probably hear the same thing “we’re finding it difficult to recruit”.
2021 was dubbed ‘The Great Resignation’ following people’s shift in mindset following the global pandemic and it appears the issue is continuing. Staffing problems aren’t only a concern in the UK, in America, even the largest of conglomerates such as Microsoft are having to adapt to employee expectations, or risk losing their experienced staff.
Notably, culture and tourism businesses were particularly hard hit by lockdowns while the health, care, digital and logistics sectors are experiencing fierce competition for staff and rising salary demands.
It would now appear the ‘traditional’ methods of recruitment are no longer working, or the calibre of applicants may not be a suitable fit. Tried and tested ways of recruitment previously included social media, recruitment agencies, friend or family referrals, head-hunters, internal searching, and other staff recommendations.
The problem is, by and large, all these methods are still looking in the same ‘pond’ and as such we are back to the same problem, not enough fish, or the wrong kind of fish. So maybe it is time to find an alternative route to source candidates.
Those already working with military personnel, including exited or currently serving, know the tremendous skill set that can be brought to any business, but it’s getting the message out to businesses who are not yet aware how much their business performance could positively change if they took the chance outside of their ‘recruiting norm’.
OnBoarding Officers has witnessed first-hand the untapped potential within the veteran community, and this comes at all levels, especially so at the executive grade.
Becoming an officer in any of the Services is something many civilians have no understanding. The depth of responsibility, stamina, commitment, resilience, leadership, creative thinking, and crisis management cannot be imagined by those who have never been through the rigorous training and real-world experiences of being a serving officer. Such skills are not only taught but are embedded in the DNA of these amazingly talented people.
Yes, it’s likely many Service personnel may not have sat in a commercial boardroom or run a department as we know it, but their man-management and other amazing attributes mean that they can absorb huge challenges.
These skills, enhanced with some more technical training and community support in the form of resettlement training can help Service Leavers transition into the civilian world successfully.
At the same time, employers would benefit from a simplified way of understanding and recognising the equivalence between military skills and civilian qualifications. The FSB (Federation of Self Employed & Small Businesses) reports that small businesses can often be better than bigger ones at spotting and nurturing talent, rather than discarding a service leaver’s job application because some of their skills and qualifications aren’t necessarily from a traditional academic route.
In fact, the A Force for Business: Service Leavers and Small Business report which surveyed businesses who had employed Service Leavers was to help fill a skills gap. Research that was undertaken, presented findings similar to the Royal British Legion, of that there is significant overlap between the skills of servicemen and servicewomen and the sectors where the economy has the largest shortages of skilled labour.
The most common business benefits reported were resolved skills shortages (35%), improved team performance (27%), fresh perspectives and creative ideas (26%), improved customer relationships, reduced absences and a boost to existing workforce morale (all 18%).
If you’re a Service Leaver or currently planning your resettlement and wish to learn more about our training programmes, please click here. In addition to both of our programmes, we provide ongoing support via our Community please click here to learn more.
Alternatively, if you are an organisation currently looking to tap into this exemplary talent pool, please get in touch so we can share your opportunity within our network.
