It’s the same the world over. Within the next 10 to 20 years there will be more people leaving the labour market than joining. From the forecast by United Nations, Thailand will face this dilemma in 2025, only 15 years from now. In fact, though Thailand still enjoys a positive net growth (more people entering than leaving the job market), the decline has already started years ago. I’m afraid it’s going only one way: down and down. The stats also predict that South Korea is due for a contraction in 2015 and Indonesia by 2035.

But first on the line is China. Already in 6 years, 2016, China will experience a negative net growth in working age population (15-64) entering the job market. Singapore is right behind and the contraction in working age population begins 2017, a decline that started in Singapore only last year.

With the prospect of fewer young Thai people in the labour market it means an increasing aging population. That in turn means a shortage of workers who can support a growing number of retirees. We all know how that will affect economic productivity and also strain the social security and pension systems. Forecasters predict that in Japan the labor force will decrease from 68 million down to 46 million, Italy’s from 23 to 14 million and in Germany the labor market goes from 41 million to 28 million by 2050. Interestingly when looking at figures for Japan, their contraction has been real for the last 16 years. You can only speculate how much this demographic is linked to the economic troubles seen in Japan for many years.

Stop here for a moment – but don’t shoot the messenger now. If you think the war for talent is already in your face everyday, you ain’t seen nothing yet. It’s time ladies and gentlemen to act smarter than the other company on the other side of the street. Introducing the Employee Value Proposition!

Apple, Google, Starbucks and another 50 global brands might not find it very difficult to attract and convince candidates to join their organizations. They have such strong name recognition that it’s more seller’s market than buyer’s market. But the rest of us do not have that luxury of such high public visibility.

Your marketing efforts should no longer be focused on your customers and clients, but more so on your potential employees. You must define your Employee Value Proposition (EVP). It must clearly describe real needs and clarify job expectations. Here are some questions that will help you on the way. They must be answered before you start any sourcing of new staff.

And let me warn you, it will take you the same amount of time, energy, and analysis to make your EVP that you put into your annual business plan and budget. There is no way you can develop the EVP between coffee breaks.

• Why would someone who is good at this type of work want this particular job?
• Why should anyone come and work for you?
• What does this job offer that is unique or makes it most attractive to a potential candidate?
• Why is doing this job at your company better than doing the same job at a competitor?
• Why do people come to work at your company and why do they stay? Is it leading edge technology? Fast growth? Industry reputation? Work/life balance? How does it differentiate you from your primary competitors?
• What is your competitive compensation and benefits plan? 12 or 13 months guaranteed pay, sign-on bonus, performance incentive, company car, medical cover, provident fund, for employee or for family too? Flex time, free parking at the office building?

You must take into consideration what we call Generations at Work. Are you typically employing new staff below 30 years of age? That’s Generation Y and these youngsters have a mind of their own. They may come to work in Steve Madden platform shoes or flip flops, listen to the iPod while working, they want instant gratification and become MD and millionaire before the age of 31. The Employee Value Proposition must reflect the core group you target as your next employees. Babyboomers and even Gen X are different than the Y’s. Waiting in the corridor we even have Gen I (for Internet). You can never rest.

Once you have the EVP in place you can move to describing the 2 – 3 major work challenges to be faced by the candidate in the position? You must define 6 – 8 deliverables i.e. steps required for on-the-job success. In other words, what must the person in this job need to do to be considered extremely successful in this job? Done properly you will have a list of six to eight things the person needs to do over the course of a year that defines great on-the-job performance. Your answer should not describe personal attributes like skills, experience, education or traits.

Remember that applicants or candidates are a perishable commodity. It is the only “product” I know that can speak. They can say no to being “sold” to your organization. The better ones are quickly turned off by unresponsiveness which is interpreted as a lack of initiative or seriousness. Resumes may look like a pile of paperwork on your desk but they really are not. If you don’t act with a sense of urgency and are prepared with an intelligent EVP when meeting future employees the contraction in the labour force will hit you hard and before your competitor.

Do you believe you are increasing the likelihood of filling a vacant position by 300 to 400 percent if working with several recruitmen companies? You may think that the recruitment companies all have different data bases containing different resumes, they press the magic button of candidate resumes and shortly after an invoice goes out to their client. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Now let me tell you what really happens… in the real world of recruitment and executive search. When you ask the first executive recruitment representative, he probably knows about 3 guys off the top of his head that may match what you are looking for. His team at the office will do a quick search and may find another 4 guys. They make 7 phone calls and get this outcome: three guys have already taken other jobs; two are not interested in moving to your company or location; and one or two are just not qualified. End of the day, the recruitment company might get one or two candidates to present. Or maybe none at all.

So you move on and call a second recruit company. They too go through 7 people mentally and through their computer data base. Here’s the dirty little secret. The 5 of the 7 guys are all on the recruitment companies’ lists. You see, active candidates who are actively or semi-actively looking for a new opportuniy have distributed their resumes to perhaps 5 to 10 data base recruitment coompanies (not surprisingly when you think about it). But for you and your company, it means you are not getting exposed to 4 recruitment companies x 7-10 candidates – but probably only to 10 different individuals.

Working with any executive search frim, such as Grant Thornton, I will have my team of researchers talking to over 100 diffrent people. Yes, 100 different people. We will expose your company and vacant position to more than 100 candidates. As a matter of fact, before you even see the first candidate, we will have invested 642,320 Baht in expenses on this search process (a consultant costing model based on average research and interview time).

So it’s your choice… do you want the exposure to 10 – 15 people or work with a process that is going to expose you to over 100 people? Choosing the latter, it will go a long way to ensure that when you make a hiring decision, at least at that moment in time, you have hired the best available person on the market.

If you continuously hire people while losing talent internally your organisation will not survive. Focusing on the internal development of employees is important and it provides a continuous pipeline of fresh talent for leadership positions. An organisation that looks after its staff will reap the benefits and the Grant Thornton International Business Report shows that the private sector is indeed focused on the development of their talent.

Your company brand is not only the image of the business in the minds of your workforce, but also in the minds of any external stakeholders such as potential employees and your clients. Strong employer brands tend to be associated with large multinational organisations. What about your company? Can you clearly articulate the employer brand to attract and importantly retain talent?

If you are not able to convince potential new employees,
who have come to meet you regarding a job opportunity,
that your grass is greener than where they currently are,
it is not likely that they will consider your offer.

As the global market for talent tightens, you must ensure that you have systems in place for finding and identifying the right talent. I have yet to meet any executive in Thailand that finds it easy to identify and hire really talented people. We have clients who go on and on for months in their attempt to find just one that comes  close to the job requirements. They are waiting for a miracle. Waiting to find the needle in the haystack. Meanwhile they are loosing sales opportunities, they are not getting the best deal from their suppliers, existing staff put in extra hours to cover. This is obviously not a healthy situation for very long.

Yet, the fight for talent is only going to get more difficult. Further Grant Thornton research found
that the lack of availability of skills is the biggest constraint on expanding the business.

To recruit and retain the right people you must have in place a human resources structure aligned to the needs of your business. You need to create an environment that not only attracts good people but retains them. It’s about how you treat people, providing the necessary tools and resources, opportunities to learn and access to knowledge. Leadership and management must be inspiring, but also real, consistent and believable. It must all be underpinned with strong values communicated through the day to day experiences the people have of the organisation.

So what action do you need to take? First, you must recognise the issues and challenges surrounding talent, both locally and globally. Talent is not restricted by borders. Organisations in every part of the world must identify a sound recruitment and retention strategy.

Secondly, you must focus on human resources solutions. You need to create an employer brand that delivers and communicates strong and consistent messages. Values need to be defined and embedded not just in words but in very action you take. Internal talent development is as important as recruitment of new talent into an organisation. You need defined competency frameworks so you recruit not just any talent but the right talent.

Finally, take action. Recruitment and retention needs to be at the centre of management decision. HR is a strategic function and should be represented at the highest level of your organisation, no matter what the size, nature or level of maturity.

Headhunters – executive search firms – are the extended arm of your company and are your best connection to the outside world when it comes to finding top candidates. Headhunters are not magicians though and cannot present relevant candidates from one day to the other.

By definition their assignments are difficult-to-fill positions, but keep in mind that this is where headhunters excel. They have the capability of finding talented candidates and put them in front of you. It is going to be up to you to attract them to your firm. These candidates will typically be accomplishers, currently employed, with good futures where they are.

Candidates are a perishable commodity. It is the only product I know that can speak. They can say no to being “sold” to a client. The better ones are quickly turned off by unresponsiveness which is interpreted as a lack of initiative or seriousness on behalf of the hiring company. Resumes may look like a pile of paperwork on your desk but they really are not. Each resume is a real person that has been cultivated, screened, and convinced to meet with your company.