5 creative solutions for a tight labour market

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5 tips for recruiting staff in a tight labour market

In this tight labour market, flexible workers are benefiting from hefty hourly rates, as EenVandaag reported. That suits the flexible workers very well, but it’s a disadvantage for employers: not only do flexible workers charge top rates per hour, onboarding and scheduling them also takes a lot of time. And time is money. Fortunately, there are countless creative ways to make your recruitment more efficient. Below you’ll find the current top 5.

1. Training
   

   Skilled people are scarce and often already have a good job. If you’re looking for a lot of people, you’ll first have to train them. There are plenty of Dutch people who may not have a relevant diploma, but are bursting with interest in your field. That motivation is exactly what you need as an employer! What’s more, training your staff is often cheaper than a huge search for new colleagues with the required diplomas and experience. And you often get better results out of it too!

1. Career switchers
   

   If you focus on competencies rather than skills, you can recruit lots of interesting people through career switchers. Think, for example, of people who move from hospitality into a recruiter role. These people often have a strong customer focus, which they can put to use straight away as a recruiter. This makes for many surprising combinations. You can train career switchers too. They often already have the basic skills, so that’s a good start.

1. Untapped labour potential
   

   A million Dutch people are not working. A large part of that untapped labour potential could take the step into work after all. Do your research, see where your opportunities lie and seize them. Some people just need that extra push, something an employer branding campaign can give them, for example. This way you’re not only working on your recruitment, but also on retaining your staff. That’s an important part of HR that many companies forget! As an employer you have influence here too. A large group of people do want to work, for example, but only part-time. The more flexible you are, the bigger your target group becomes.

1. Hybrid/remote working
   

   When you make working from home an option, you lower the threshold to apply. Part of the untapped labour potential, such as full-time mums, can take advantage of this. Because there’s no travel time and working hours can be arranged more flexibly, your vacancy becomes more interesting. It’s also an important factor for Generation Z when choosing a job. Besides increasing your employees’ freedom, it also strengthens the sense of trust you give them. That’s not only attractive for your recruitment; it also plays an important role in retaining your current staff. An indispensable part of recruiting in a tight labour market!

1. Recruiting staff abroad
   

   Sometimes our little country seems too small for what you’re looking for. Fortunately, your staff don’t always need to speak Dutch. So the tight Dutch labour market doesn’t always have to be a problem for your recruitment. In IT especially, you can easily make use of developers from abroad, for example. Programming languages can be understood and used by IT professionals all over the world. That way you considerably enlarge your talent pool.