OP I N I O N Questioning your approach to recruitment Despite widespread recruitment issues affecting the relocation business, it is still possible for firms to hire great employees. Caroline Seear, CEO and founder of international recruitment specialist Red Recruit, says its all about asking the right questions N Caroline Seear, CEO and founder of Red Recruit early all industries are facing recruitment difficulties, not only relocation. As demand for the services of relocations companies has grown after COVID, the lack of trained staff and the shortages have had an impact on the workforce and this is leading to stress. This makes employees look to leave the industry as they dont want to work in such a pressured environment, further increasing workload for remaining staff and increasing stress levels even more. Thats the bad news, but what can be done in such an environment? There are short- and long-term solutions and while they require extra effort, they are there. First, you need to ask a question. Why are your staff really leaving? And where are they going to? Once you have the answers you can start to change satisfaction levels within the company. You may be surprised but 95 per cent of the time, staff dont leave for the money. I have worked in recruitment for more than 20 years and asked many candidates this exact question and the answer is usually dissatisfaction with the working environment. Now, for some questions on company culture: l Are your staff appreciated? Is there a culture of saying thank you? Does the manager say thank you? l Apart from the money, what are the benefits of working for your company? l Do people have a way of expressing how they feel, anonymously or otherwise? l Is there an awareness of mental health with an environment where people can express their worries if work is stressing them out? Creating a caring culture goes a long way and will increase staff retention which should be your first and biggest focus. Employees who are happy, productive and want to stay are worth their weight in gold. We want our candidates to be a long-term asset in our clients company, not a short fix to a problem. Hiring new staff is costly in time, money, and lost productivity. Investing and training them to leave in a year or 18 months is not good for the business. So, another question: when hiring outside of the company, do you look inside the company first? I have assisted many companies to recruit for new department or branch heads. I always ask the company to advertise the role internally and then fill the vacancy left by the person who takes on the position. This can be done for all roles within the company. The approach has many benefits: staff can develop their career and the new branch or department will have loyal personnel rolling out the new venture. Its a win-win. Additionally, do you offer company training that allows your staff to upskill? There is a lot you can do to retain your staff, but this is the most important place to start. Where to start When hiring a candidate in this market you must be open minded, think laterally and look further afield. For any given role, think about transferable skills for example, and ask yourself exactly what is needed for the tasks the employee will perform on a daily basis. A relocations consultant, for instance, needs great customer service skills, experience in travel, languages maybe, dealing with people who are under stress, an ability to be super organised and great administration skills to boot. These skills can be found in people carrying out a variety of roles not necessarily in the moving business such as hotel receptionist, personal assistants and so on. Of course, it will take longer to train someone who hasnt actually been a relocations consultant before, but if you have someone who has a willing attitude and wants to learn you can go far. If they 76 FF308 Dec-Jan 23 pp76-77 Opinion.indd 76 05/12/2022 17:22