TMS - Candidate Shortage Prompts Rethink On Candidate Selection Criteria

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Filling job roles quickly is forcing employers to rethink their staff selection criteria as the current ‘war for talent’ continues to bite.

Staffing demands fuelled by the ongoing war for talent are continuing to force employers to rethink their staff selection criteria in order to fill vacancies.

TMS Asia-Pacific CEO, Andrew Chan said feedback received from several of its clients indicates they are so desperate to ensure head count, many are dropping their initial overall requirements and rethinking their selection criteria rather than spending too much time looking for ‘role-perfect’ candidates.

“In the perfect environment, finding that perfect candidate match to skill set would be viewed as essential during the recruitment process,” he said.

“But we are seeing ever more scenarios where finding the ‘perfect match’ has now given sway to a need to compromise in what continues to prove an ever narrowing field of play in this current job heavy/candidate light environment.

“Feedback received from several of our clients has indicated while ‘close enough’ is definitely not the norm, it is now being deemed as sufficient enough to bring a new employee on board rather than spend months looking for the perfect person.

“Of course those ‘perfect matches’ are very much out there but we know that employers that have them on board are doing their utmost to ensure they keep them on the books.”

The regional ‘war for talent’ situation, he said, was continuing to be exacerbated by the roll-out of hundreds of hotels and tourism related projects and events across the Asia-Pacific region.

“It’s especially the case in China which is proving a catalyst for a staffing ‘vacuum’ being created across the region and placing huge pressure on the region with many recruitment companies looking ever further afield to engage qualified staff for Chinese clients,” he said.

-ENDS-

TMS is a top-tier specialist travel, tourism and hospitality recruitment and HR services company headquartered in Sydney and Singapore. The company’s global operation includes offices in Auckland, Bangkok, Dubai, Hong Kong and Shanghai and affiliates in the UK/Europe, the Middle East and North America. The company officially entered into the executive training arena in July 2009 with the launch of its first ‘TMS Academy’ concept in Singapore.