Where do Australian NFPs find talent?

This article is an excerpt from Heart Talent’s NFP Talent Attraction report, a comprehensive review of the state of talent attraction in the Australian NFP sector. 

Job boards are the go-to channel, despite limitations.

Not surprisingly, job boards are the main sourcing channel for all NFP employers.

Interestingly, 68 per cent of organisations only advertise on one job board. 

80 per cent of NFP employers use SEEK as their main channel to source talent and the majority of job ads (job ads) are written by the people and culture team. A small number of hiring managers get involved in writing and publishing job ads.

NFP organisations are eight times more likely to advertise on SEEK than other platforms, yet at least half struggle to find talent to fill vacant roles through this channel.

While posting a job advertisement (job ad) is the go-to action when employers need to hire, it’s clearly not as effective as it could be. 

Anecdotally, we know people often find searching and applying via job boards a negative experience. From the sheer volume of jobs to friction in the application process and in many cases the absence of contact details and transparency in the information provided; the overall sentiment about job boards is more negative than positive.

The first key limitation of job boards as a sourcing channel is the quality of content.

In 2021, Canva looked at 6.3 million job ads and found 63 per cent of Australian job ads contained confusing jargon and business clichés. Heart Talent’s research across thousands of NFP job ads found at least 75 per cent included cliches and/or buzzwords.  These include, ‘passionate’, ‘dynamic’, ‘team player’, ‘self starter’, and ‘blue-sky thinking’.

The second limitation of job boards as a sourcing channel is a question of employers truly understanding the audience they’re trying to attract.

One in five NFP organisations report a small applicant pool as a key recruitment challenge. 36 per cent say they often can’t find the calibre of talent they need through job boards.

For some roles, job boards will work. For others, employers need to get creative and proactive with how and where they connect with talent.

Proactive talent search happens, sporadically.

Around 30 per cent of NFP people and culture teams use SEEK search and/or LinkedIn search when they’re hiring. Only 10 per cent have hired someone they connected with via this approach.

For the Heart Talent team, proactive talent search can result in up to 50 per cent of new hires being sourced outside of job boards.

Various sources including LinkedIn report 70 per cent of the workforce is open to a new career opportunity but not actively looking for a job. This passive talent is an untapped market for the majority of NFP employers in Australia.

While proactive talent search is time consuming, when well-targeted and coupled with compelling recruitment marketing and content across digital channels, this approach can significantly increase reach and engagement with a job opportunity.

The last resort: Outsourcing recruitment.

Seven in ten NFP employers report working with a recruitment partner on hard-to-fill roles, often as a ‘last resort’.

This budget-conscious approach seems logical on the surface, yet half of employers report problems with the size and calibre of the talent pool they attract. Most turn to readvertising as their next step and in doing so, risk more time and more money spent, with no guarantee of hiring the right person.

Early turnover is very common - nearly one in three Australian workers leave their new job within the first year.

PwC’s 2023 Saratoga benchmarking report suggests this trend could indicate a mismatch on job roles, misalignment on culture, issues with onboarding or post-onboarding support and even hasty hiring and recruitment practices.

Outsourcing recruitment to a trusted partner has the potential to mitigate the risk of new hire turnover.  

Choosing the right person to bring into your organisation is a big decision. Because recruitment is a professional service, engaging a recruitment partner comes with a warranty. This is your recruitment guarantee, an assurance you are hiring someone who fits the brief, is engaged with your organisation and the role and will stay. If your new employee leaves the organisation within a certain timeframe, your recruitment partner will find a replacement at no cost.

Read more about the modern work landscape, common talent trends and new approaches for the era of talent in the insightful, practical 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.