How do you cope with the difficulties of resourcing your organisation in such challenging economic times? Have you had to reduce headcount, put a freeze on recruitment, or think more flexibly to meet your needs?

If you are recruiting, how can you attract the best candidates when research shows that talented employees are opting for job security where possible, rather than the regular movement and progression which typified the recruitment market five years ago?

There’s no doubt that recruitment and resourcing poses real challenges for any organisation at present. The publication of the CIPD’s Resourcing and Talent Planning survey report in June 2011 highlights how businesses are being swamped with unsuitable candidates, and yet economic pressures are preventing the natural movement of talent.

Couple this with recruitment methods needing to be less traditional and trendier in order to attract an increasingly wide audience and it’s a tough time out there!

The traditional methods of attracting applications are still common – i.e. recruitment agencies, newspaper advertisements and referral schemes, but creeping in are the quicker, trendier and more technology focused approaches such as using Facebook and LinkedIn to promote vacancies and attract the right calibre of applicant. It is likely that slowly but surely, these mediums will grow in popularity. And why not? They are cheap, accessible (60% of UK adults access the Internet every day or almost every day - nearly double the estimate in 2006 of 16.5 million. (Office of National Statistics, 2011)) and timely.

So, if you are facing resourcing challenges what should you be thinking about?

• Update or introduce a formal resourcing strategy – think about your resourcing needs, not just in terms of how you deliver in the short term, but what are your long term goals and how can you start planning now to achieve these when the economic climate improves? Having a clear vision and strategy will help you highlight challenges in advance and provide solutions should they become reality, as well as spotting opportunities for the future.

• Think creatively about how you can resource your organisation – do you have the right blend of contracts in place (permanent, fixed term, annualised hours, agency workers, casual workers etc) to allow you to meet demands in the most flexible way?

• Embrace flexibility - Are you flexible around employee working patterns? Do you have many part time or home based workers and how sympathetic have you been to request for flexible working? All these options can give you added flexibility to respond to fluctuations in the marketplace as well as keeping employees motivated and committed to the organisation.

• Assess the extent to which you rely on agency workers – whilst they are certainly a flexible resourcing option, they are quite often more costly than direct employees and are gaining more and more rights from the first day they work with you, as set out in the forthcoming Agency Worker Regulations coming into force in October 2011. 

• Refocus your efforts on developing talent within, increasing retention and internal promotion rates – not only does this build morale and help you plan for the future, but the cost of training and development may be less than overall recruitment costs.

• Review current recruitment policies and procedures - are good recruits being lost due to lengthy internal procedures? Can you ‘grow your own’ talent? Is there a ‘recommend a friend’ scheme in place? Are you looking in the right place… Generation Z (those born in the 1990’s) have never lived life without the internet! This age group counts for a quarter of those currently unemployed.

• Look at ways to improve your employer brand and attract the people you want - can you use the strengths and reputation of your organisation more effectively to attract potential candidates? Can you build links with local colleges, organisations or bodies? Are you selling the soft benefits enough, and communicating your organisational culture and what you are really about? All these paint a picture of what it is like working for you, and can often attract a wider and more diverse range of candidates.