Transform How You Attract And Retain Talent: 8 Innovative Recruitment Strategies

Get the people you want to hire excited about joining your company. Read on to learn how digital transformation and the right recruitment strategies can make this happen.

How attractive is your company to the current crop of top talents? To draw the people your company needs today and in the future, consider adopting digital transformation in your workplace.

If you haven’t joined the digital transformation bandwagon, you are missing out. We are in the middle of a digital revolution that has made even non-tech companies include technology in their business plans and strategies. 

Azmath Pasha, writing for Forbes, says that going digital means “harnessing the power of data, driving service excellence, focusing on the customer and delivering products in an agile manner.” 

With digital technology, businesses can collect and use data intelligently, employ artificial intelligence, automate work processes, and access cloud computing. You can use these benefits to conduct more efficient strategies and business decisions.

Digital transformation cuts across industries and enterprises that want to thrive are adopting digital tech in one way or another. A Singtel paper even listed specific case studies on the success of digital transformation, encompassing companies from cryptocurrency to waste management. 

For example, one beauty retail chain with over 100 stores in Singapore was having problems with its outdated “legacy” IT infrastructure, insecure connectivity, and a lack of tech foundations to jumpstart digital transformation. The solution, which involved a secure IP VPN and a cloud-based platform, lessened downtime and increased overall productivity. 

Even governments are going digital by establishing smart cities and digitalising their services. 

To reap the benefits of all that technology promises to provide, businesses have had to change how they work and upskill or find people with the skills to handle the new technology. This is why, unsurprisingly, technology has also affected talent acquisition and retention. 

In-demand workers want to be at the head of digital transformation. They recognise that technology helps them improve at what they do and that digitally progressive companies are the future of work.

Not afraid to experiment and learn new things, these people can drive creativity and innovation in the companies where they are employed – not to mention lead the company in its digital transformation.

These talented individuals also understand their worth and won’t hesitate to change jobs if it means better growth opportunities. 

Digitally talented workers are skilled in information technology, automation, analytics, or digitalisation. According to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG)'s Decoding Digital Talent report, the top skills are data mining, programming and web development, digital marketing, and mobile application development.

Since digital expertise is a must in all industries, workers with digital capabilities are in high demand even in non-tech companies.

New technology requires new skills. And top talents are the ones who are fast to learn, adapt, and develop these skills.

According to the Asian Digital Transformation Index. Singapore suffers from a talent shortage in digital areas such as data analytics, more than in other countries in the region.

This shortage becomes more pronounced as more companies adopt digital transformation. If you’re not finding the talent you want, it may be because other companies are also fighting to acquire these talents. JobStreet’s 2022-2023 Outlook Hiring, Compensation & Benefits report on 438 companies in Singapore reveals that 78 per cent of respondents turned down a job invite in favour of another offer.  

On top of this, currently employed talents are actively job hunting. The BCG said that skilled workers are exploring job opportunities either because they feel undervalued at their present job or wish for a better work-life balance. 

The gig economy is offering attractive and lucrative options to digitally savvy talents. Downsizing and a lack of digital culture have pushed businesses to outsource badly needed digital expertise. The digitally skilled workers welcome this development because it opens opportunities to shift to freelancing to enjoy working from home and flexible hours. 

Employees are discovering that freelancing is an attractive option even if it means giving up the security of a full-time job. The Ministry of Manpower reports that the number of freelancers in Singapore has risen since 2016. It may increase further as people re-evaluate their priorities after the events of the past two years.

In 2021, a study by the Institute of Policy Studies found that 76 per cent of gig economy platform workers loved the flexibility and work-life balance. MOM’s 2021 Labour Force report stated that most of these riders and couriers received the same amount, with private-hire car drivers earning over S$300 monthly than previously.

The hiring of contractual or non-permanent workers may also be happening because of a dearth of skilled talent. In JobStreet’s report, 27 per cent of companies surveyed say that they are hiring contract/temporary workers because they are having difficulty recruiting qualified full-time staff.  

No doubt, having the right strategy for recruitment is more important than ever. As businesses pivot towards digital transformation, they must also prioritise talent acquisition and retention. 

1. Start business planning.  Be strategic in planning the workforce acquisition. If you want the company to be able to make full use of artificial intelligence, data science, and cloud computing, make hiring talent to support these projects part of your business plans. Ensure that your talent acquisition and retention plans align with the needs of your business. But don’t just plan for current digital skills. Identify the digital roles the company needs in the future because skill requirements evolve. 

2. Strengthen company branding.  To compete for top talent, make your company a place where top employees want to work. Bridget Gray recommends asking what technology people need to be attracted to a business and what they need to be engaged and retained. In a podcast, the IT vice president for organisational consulting firm Korn Ferry adds that deeper consideration of the wants and needs of job candidates is necessary to respond to the changes brought on by technology.

3. Focus on Gen Z.  Recognise that the new workforce is composed of a new generation of talent. Understanding how Gen Z works and job expectations helps ensure that you can connect your business with its needs.

Gen Z consists of digital natives who spend much of their time in front of a screen. They are used to relying on tech and are interested in learning and progress. So, provide them with continuous learning and opportunities to advance in their career. 

Allow for flexibility in work setups. It may take the form of remote work or flexibility in terms of time. Growing up tech-enabled, Gen Z believes that work can be done anywhere at any time, not just in an office with fixed work hours. 

Finally, align your business’s purpose with the talents you are seeking to hire. Purpose matters to Gen Z. They want to make a difference in the world so they choose companies that are actively engaged in the issues that are important to them such as diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), and environmental protection. The research conducted by Jobstreet reports that 54% of Singaporean job hunters refuse to apply to companies that don’t value DEI. “ 

4. Consider short-term hiring. Bring in supplementary talent on contract while building the skills of current employees. Training takes time. Meanwhile, some professionals and executives operate freelance and can help get your digital transformation off the ground.

5. Provide a good recruitment experience.  Remember that you compete for top talent. If there are issues and kinks in your recruitment process, these may become deal breakers for the people you want to hire. For seamless recruitment, harness technology: chatbots can be employed to provide timely responses, and artificial intelligence can help with composing job postings. Additionally, you can use data to determine who your high-quality job candidates are, for example, candidates who are interested in long-term growth rather than those interested in the highest bidder. 

Digital transformation is a big step forward for businesses and may just be your ticket to acquiring and retaining the best talents available. In planning your strategy, remember to look to the future and take a holistic approach to address new and old employees’ financial, mental, and physical wellbeing. 

For more recruitment and talent management tips, check out the Employer page of JobStreet. You can also learn more about Singapore’s job market by downloading the Future of Recruitment report.