Predictions for 2018: NFP Recruitment
30 January 2018 at 8:32 am
With good candidates in even shorter supply this year, NFPs will need to focus on improving employee retention and attraction strategies in 2018 writes NGO Recruitment director Richard Green, as part of a series of 2018 predictions from leading experts across the social sector.
In the world of not-for-profit recruitment, 2018 will not be without its challenges as the ongoing skills shortage across most job roles and skill sets continues to bite.
Rapid technological change and significant social policy reform mean not-for-profit organisations need to look closely at new ways of recruiting and working to meet and deliver on outcomes.
Here are our top five recruitment predictions for 2018:
A candidate short market is set to continue
With good candidates in even shorter supply this year, NFPs will need to focus on improving employee retention and attraction strategies, now more than ever. Employee engagement and creating a positive workplace culture will be a top priority, not only to help retain existing teams, but also to attract the best candidates during the recruitment process.
In addition, the increasing power of social media, and the rising popularity of sites such as Glassdoor, a website where employees and former employees can anonymously review their employers, also means workplace culture will become more transparent than ever before.
Organisations need to be mindful that job seekers are now able to gain a much clearer idea of what it’s like to work somewhere before they even apply for a role.
Fundraising skills in hot demand
With the changing political, social and economic landscape, and the ever-evolving suite of fundraising skills, fundraising as a discipline is becoming more and more sophisticated each year.
In the last two to three years, we’ve seen a groundswell of quality fundraising consultants assisting NFPs with their income generation strategies, which means even smaller organisations will be looking to hire top quality fundraisers in 2018 as technical and digital fundraising skills become ever more sought after.
Into 2018, organisations with a leadership team that understands the importance of income generation, is clear on what it wants to achieve, and knows how to invest wisely in growth to generate the best results will reap the rewards.
2018 the year of social recruitment
Organisations that fail to fully embrace social recruitment in 2018 and invest in social media and online recruitment marketing strategies will struggle to find the best people. At a minimum, NFPs need to become more effective at harnessing the power of LinkedIn for their own internal recruitment, if they haven’t done so already.
Driven by the increasing number of 18 to 35 year olds, or millennials, now active in the workforce, candidate expectations and the way in which people engage with organisations will continue to shift due to the prevalence of social media and adoption of new communications and interview technologies.
According to Glassdoor, almost 80 per cent of current job seekers are now using social media in their job search activities. So NFPs need an engaging, authentic and responsive online presence and be prepared to interact with potential employees in this way.
NDIS facing a challenging year
The disability sector will also continue to face enormous challenges this year with the continuing rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. With the Productivity Commission predicting one in five new jobs will come from this groundbreaking policy by 2019, we all definitely have our work cut out to find the best people to make the scheme a momentous success.
We will see an increase in demand not only for carers and case managers, but also for a wide range of operational roles, as the disability sector adapts to the new demands of the NDIS. Disability service providers will be looking at the most cost-effective and efficient ways to find the people they need, even down to hiring their own internal recruiters in some cases.
Shift towards prioritising soft skills assessments
Although there will always be a place for psychometric testing, thorough soft skills assessment has never been more important. That’s because for a successful hire, you need talented people who not only have the right technical skills, but who also possess highly developed soft skills such as leadership, relationship building, communications, adaptability, strategic thinking, learning and interpersonal skills.
At NGO Recruitment, we’ve always taken a values-based approach to our recruitment process and our ability to expertly assess cultural fit underpins our success. But at the final stages of the interview process, organisations need to prioritise psychometric testing less and less, and instead be more interested in how well a candidate will use their soft skills to adapt to a new workplace culture, and become an integral and long-term team player.
About the author: Richard Green is the director of NGO Recruitment. He has more than 25 years’ not-for-profit sector and commercial recruitment experience. Before establishing NGO Recruitment in 2004, Richard was a fundraising and membership professional for Greenpeace, UNICEF Australia, Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, Inspire Foundation and the Australian Direct Marketing Association. Since 2004, Richard and his team have successfully placed over 3,000 candidates in more than 500 national and international not-for-profit organisations.
Richard is a dedicated board member of 350.org Australia, actively campaigns for causes close to his heart and volunteers his time for several community organisations. He also delivers guest lectures to university students considering a valuable career in the not-for-profit sector.
See also:
Predictions for 2018: Philanthropy
