A huge 70% of firms expect to be affected by employee ‘gazumping’ in the future if the trend for candidates to be poached by more agile competitors continues according to a new report, but despite these findings the CIPD say that the jobs market is at a virtual standstill.
A report by Brooklands Executives reveals that almost half of the 529 respondents interviewed have suffered from the problem.
Longwinded recruitment processes, the report finds, are fuelling the practice of gazumping job candidates. Thirty-eight per cent said they were frustrated at the length of time taken to find the right quality of job applicant.
Another bug-bear revealed by respondents is interviewing. Nearly three-quarters (72%) said interviewing was a waste of time and 40% admitted that they knew immediately whether an interviewee was right for the job or not.
David Jensen, Managing Director at Brooklands Executives Limited said:
“As we approach a state of full employment, enterprises need to be able to find and secure the right talent quickly. But, as the findings show, the traditional recruitment process is not delivering for business.
“There is no question that as the economy has improved so the pendulum has swung in the favour of the job hunter. Many businesses, however, appear unaware of this change. While they waste time going through the motions, the people they need and want are being recruited by their competitors. Not only does this cost their business but it also affects their ability to grow.”
While official statistics do indicate falling unemployment rates, professional body the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) argue that the jobs market has stagnated a view at odds with the findings from the Brooklands Executives survey.
Dr John Philpott, chief economist at the CIPD says that unemployment figures hide a weaker demand for staff and a cooling labour market.
He said: “The flood of new jobs enjoyed in recent years has slowed to a trickle. And with the number of economically inactive people of working age at a record level, the government is still a long way short of meeting its goal of ‘full employment in an opportunity society’.
“Despite continued good news on measured unemployment hardly any net new jobs have been created this year and the employment rate for people of working age has fallen to 74.7%. The slowdown is even more marked in terms of hours worked – a further fall of 4.2 million hours per week in the latest quarter.”
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