Hiring can be hard, here’s what most NFP leaders do
People want work with purpose and meaning, yet at least one in three NFP employers struggle to attract the talent they need.
This is one of the key findings of Heart Talent’s research on the state of talent attraction in the Australian NFP sector.
Of course recruitment challenges aren’t unique to the NFP sector. Throughout 2023, four in ten employers reported recruitment difficulties.
While talent attraction challenges have eased since the mid-2022 peak, the Australian labour market remains reasonably tight.
Employers commonly cite four main reasons for their recruitment difficulties:
a lack of suitable candidates
high salary expectations
too much competition from rival organisations
unattractiveness of the role.
These findings from the Australian HR Institute are consistent with the themes that emerged from Heart Talent’s research with people leaders in the NFP sector:
intense competition for talent
increased salary expectations
low brand recognition.
As part of our commitment to the NFP sector, Heart Talent recently published the NFP Talent Attraction Report, a comprehensive review of talent trends and common challenges for NFP employers.
Throughout 2023 and early 2024, we collected and analysed insights from more than 400 conversations with hiring managers and leaders about their recruitment and retention challenges.
Some of the other key findings of this report include:
63% of NFP employers report competition as their biggest talent challenge.
One in four have ‘lost’ a preferred candidate to another job offer.
47% report challenges with the size and quality of the talent pool they attract.
Heart Talent Founder Cynthia Harris believes competition isn’t all about salary and benefits, though:
We need to remember that competing isn’t always about being ‘better’. When it comes to attracting people to join your organisation and mission, knowing what makes you different and what value you provide is equally as powerful as a shiny list of benefits.
In April 2024, 53 per cent of Australian employers who were actively recruiting failed to fill a job vacancy within one month.
While this data is an improvement on the 72 per cent peak in mid-2022, this data represents a lot of wasted resources without a positive result.
When the Heart Talent team asked NFP leaders about what happens next when they can’t fill a vacant role, five common actions emerged.
1. Readvertise
Readvertising the role is the most common action NFP leaders take when they fail to fill a vacant role. While this might seem like an obvious next move, it is worth considering the opportunity cost of readvertising.
The cost to advertise a job vacancy across two job platforms is $600-$800. Typically a job ad might be live for 30-40 days and attract anywhere in the range of 20 to 200 applications.
Readvertising not only doubles advertising costs, it also increases the resources required to review, assess and respond to all applications. Perhaps more importantly, employers should consider what message a readvertised job sends to the talent market.
2. Headhunt
A small number of NFP employers named ‘headhunting’ as a sourcing strategy for hard-to-fill roles. It is worth noting this approach is only utilised by people and culture teams. NFP employers report that it’s not something hiring managers have time to invest in.
3. Outsource
Most NFP employers report using recruitment agencies for hard-to-fill roles or as a ‘last resort’. While limited budgets are an important factor for NFP employers, partnering with a recruitment business has one important benefit that mitigates risk while also saving employers time.
4. Internal talent mobility
Considering a promotion internally is a smart retention strategy. Most NFPs leaders report succession planning as something their organisation needs to improve.
If there is someone internally who can step into a vacant role, ideally this should be the first course of action.
5. Review and reset
When they struggle to find suitable talent for a vacant role, forward-thinking employers opt for a review and reset approach, rather than readvertising or outsourcing.
A thorough needs analysis should be the first step in any recruitment process, not an afterthought. The all-important discovery stage at the beginning of every recruitment process can make or break the outcome. This includes building the talent persona and understanding the employer’s value proposition for talent.
‘The number one reason a recruitment process fails is skipping the first and most important step - discovery. When you skip this stage, you’re setting off on what could be a long journey without a map’. - Cynthia
Read more about the modern work landscape, common talent trends and new approaches for the era of talent in Heart Talent’s NFP Talent Attraction Report.
For a confidential chat about your talent strategy and how to attract the right talent to your team, get in touch with Cynthia Harris.