FACILITIES MANAGEMENT JOURNAL JOBS
FM CAREERS - RECRUITMENT
Warnings have come from the Building
Engineering Services Association (BESA)
of a huge recruitment challenge. Between
May and July, there were 38,000 vacancies in
the construction industry, the highest for more
than 20 years. So while the recent government
announcement of £650 billion investment in
infrastructure projects over the next decade is
welcome, there is now a skills and recruitment gap
that has to be filled - and fast - within five years.
With significant investment in the sector expected,
the cumulative cost of getting recruitment wrong is a
problem most will be keen to avoid.
RECRUITING FOR PRODUCTIVITY
According to McKinsey, the top five per cent of talent
is eight times more productive than average talent.
The problem however is that it is almost always
impossible to predict who will be in your top five
per cent before they join - especially when you look
forward six, 12 or 18 months into their time with you.
Competition is high. A combination of Brexit and the
pandemic has meant that pay packages for those
still in demand across construction, infrastructure
and facilities has rocketed ahead of this growth
period. Retention is vital. It isn't just about securing
top talent - the top five per cent - it is about keeping
them.
NURTURING CULTURE
Hiring candidates that align with company culture
can be a profitable exercise; it increases the likelihood
that good candidates will stay. Considering the
a„ inity between talent and company values enables
firms to take an objective view of the longevity and
e„ iciency of any hire, at any level.
ACCELERATING DIVERSITY
Shi¬ ing emphasis away from skills-based
assessments in facilities and construction - without
relegating its critical importance, in order to better
consider so¬ skills and behavioural assessments,
not only increases the likelihood of cultural a„ inity
and profitability but also diversifies the pool of talent
available.
Many across FM understand and are pushing
diversity, equality and inclusion. But I think we need
to be honest with ourselves. Some are pioneers.
Others pay lip service. And the reason for the
disjointed rate of progress - a problem seen in almost
all industries - is that diversity and inclusion are o¬ en
viewed as concepts that are at odds with e„ iciency
and profitability by those at the very top.
One thing is for sure. There is not enough talent
in the pipeline right now in the UK. There are two
solutions: either existing talent pools can be trained
or new talent pools need to be unlocked. In either
case, I believe the answer to be the same.
How do you know who can progress, adapt,
innovate through training? How do you know who
can be airli¬ ed from one field of expertise to another
- and succeed? Personality based recruitment, with
consideration for cultural fit, opens up new doors
for hiring managers and new attractive pathways
for teams that are being consistently baited away by
promises of better pay from others in the sector.
With the accelerated remote working culture that
is in place for so many, geographic, cultural, and
economic diversity has never been more easy to
implement in recruitment processes.
To quote McKinsey again, that those pushing ahead
with gender diversity are 25 per cent more likely to
financially outperform companies than those lagging
behind, there is a commercial, as well as a moral,
obligation to drive diversity through behavioural
analytics in recruitment.
PERSONALITY METRICS
An AI recruitment platform collects hundreds of data
points about a candidate without the candidate
having to complete long drawn-out questionnaires.
This gives employers two crucial advantages in
the hiring process; it provides a breakdown of a
candidate’s personality type, and it helps to predict
each candidate’s behaviour, revealing the tasks,
projects and even teams where they will have
the most impact. Gathering objective personality
data provides insight that can help to eradicate
unconscious biases. All employers are susceptible to,
for example, confirmation or a„ inity bias during the
recruitment process. This bias, perhaps more than
any other factor, contributes to bad hires.
Those continuing to recruit without the benefits
a„ orded by Artificial Intelligence are prone to being
in the 74 per cent of employers that make the wrong
hire. Data driven personality recruitment goes well
beyond a simple tick-box personality test. It is a deep
analytical tool that draws from behavioural science:
assessing cognitive and non-cognitive patterns. This
is how employers can tap into the top five per cent of
talent specific to their company and culture.
The recruitment model of ‘advert, application,
interview’ is as antiquated a process as there is in
business. AI powered recruitment is more frequently
associated with blue chip tech companies, but I
think that a much larger cross section of the business
community, many of whom are challenged by the
uncertain post-pandemic market, cannot a„ ord to
get recruitment wrong. And it is personality metrics
that will help to ensure they get it right.
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