As a HR Director or Talent Acquisition specialist, you’ll likely have a deep understanding that most hiring failures often come down to poor decisions that were made before the workforce plan was finalised, and any vacancies advertised.
You’ve also probably been in a position where you’re launching a new product or business unit, your workforce plan has been approved, so you announce the deadline to the company, and even the board has been updated on what the team will look like in six months’ time.
Shift to eight weeks later, you’re interviewing talented, capable people, but the strongest candidates are declining your offers. And you’re left asking yourself why?!
Is the role not fillable? Or is it that the strongest people in the market were always unlikely to accept the role on the terms advertised? Was there enough due diligence, if any, to understand if the market could supply the people your plan needs, at the budget you’re willing to hire at?
In today’s market, it’s safe to say that people decisions, carry as much commercial weight as an ongoing business investment decision. So having visibility of the market reality, early on and before key decisions are made and communicated, should be a non-negotiable for all HR leads.
How workforce plans get built, and what gets left out
Most workforce plans are typically built on three core components. A salary band view, that takes inflation into account, a rough indication of what the role should look like, and a headcount number built around delivery targets. All essential pieces, but what’s missing is the market reality to support hiring.
Think about it this way, most businesses wouldn’t sign off a project RFP using old supplier costs and potential availability. So then why when it comes to hiring are we hesitant to break the same old sequence?
You would check what suppliers charge, whether they have capacity and if the project could be delivered within your deadline. Workforce planning deserves the same level of due diligence.
Yet, market insights and intelligence tend to arrive after a role has been handed to a recruiter. By then, all critical decisions have already been made, and the vacancy is being used to test the market. That’s an expensive way to test a plan. It’s not a case of lack of care, but rather the order of the decision making, where the intelligence and insights arrive after the decision it should have informed.
When the role is left open after eight plus weeks, it could be for a multitude of reasons, from salary inconsistencies, and not enough role clarity to a slow interview process. By the time you pinpoint which one it is, you’ve lost time, money, momentum and potentially harmed the businesses hiring reputation.
Ask whether the people exist before you ask how quickly you can hire
Businesses coming to market with a delivery mindset will always focus on ‘how do we fill the role quickly’, which is a fair question to be asking, but it should be the second question, not the first.
The first should be focused on whether the market reality can accommodate the plan’s outcomes. Based on the current market, can I hire the right people with the specific skillsets I need, at the budget I have, and in the timeframe, I need to work in.
When you ask this question first, and early enough, it gives you options to play with, add some real-time market data and you have the ability to defend certain thinking, scenarios and decisions. For example, you could shift the make-up of the hire to skew towards more contractors in year one to get the plan off the ground faster. Or you could adjust salary bands, so you have room to manoeuvre and reduce losing exceptional people at the offer stage. Or you could even simplify the role to bring more clarity to attract a certain type of candidate you’d like to interview.
You may not get all the answers you’re looking for, but knowledge is power and when you have power, you’re able to make considered changes while the plan is still flexible and risk impact of change is low.
Asking these key questions after the plan has been approved, narrows your options quickly, putting you out of a place of planning and into a place of firefighting. I know where I’d rather be.
Five things worth pressure-testing before the roles open
It comes down to being open to pressure testing your thinking based on what’s actually happening in the market. The goal is to have enough information to make better hiring decisions before the cost of changing any decisions become too high.
Some avenues to consider and explore
- A look at real-time salary data, not reliance on general survey data that’s likely to be a year old.
- The depth of the talent pool you’re looking to fish in. Understanding the quantity and quality of the market for the skills and disciplines you’re looking to hire for.
- Are you competing for the same people with close competitors and if you are, where do you stand in the race?
- Is the role realistic for the current market? Will it bring the right calibre of person to your business and what does it do for your reputation throughout the process?
- A market partner who can provide expertise and intelligence, challenge your thinking and share insights on potential pitfalls and easy wins.
Having a more considered view helps you make better decisions and gives you the evidence to defend them when it matters most.
What changes when the market view comes first
Let’s be real, hiring still has its challenges, but this approach will likely reduce the number of emergencies you face along the way.
Setting salary bands with more confidence, designing roles that meet the market where it’s at and based on what you need. All these things matter, because they are realistic.
It can also mean fewer roles being tweaked and re-scoped midway through the search, fewer disappointments at offer stage and even fewer unplanned decisions because the original plan could not be delivered against in the first place.
How Acuity Advisory helps before there is a role to brief
Acuity Advisory exists for the part of the process that happens before there is a role to brief. We help HR leaders pressure-test workforce plans, using live South African market intelligence including salary benchmarking, market mapping, competitor insights as well as role and profile support.
If you later need to hire, the person who helped you understand the market is already close to your business, the challenges and the brief.
If there is a plan that you’ve approved but not tested, we’d love to have a conversation about the challenge you’re looking to solve. Before the role opens, the timeline slips and the plan becomes harder to change down the line.
