The semiconductor industry is a sector that often struggles when it comes to finding, hiring, and retaining the best talent. As you may have guessed, this is partly due to the global talent shortage which could see as many as 85 million unfilled roles by 2030. But even before the global talent shortage was on our radar, companies still struggled to recruit. The reason? A lack of specialised semiconductor recruitment agencies drove employers to general agencies or to look for that talent themselves.
Both scenarios often led to inadequate candidates or an employer’s worst nightmare — bad hires. But that need not be the case. By working with an experienced recruitment agency, employers can avoid that nightmare scenario, and that’s not the only benefit.
We’ve gone ahead and listed just a few of those benefits to working with a dedicated recruitment specialist. We’ve also explained why it’s an investment any company that wants to find the right talent simply has to make.
Access to an impressive pool of passive candidates
A semiconductor recruitment agency understands that the best candidates are often passive candidates who are already in a role but who may be open to a change at some point. In fact, as many as 70% of all candidates for a role are passive, which is a significant portion of the talent pool. With this in mind, the agency will work hard to build up its pool of passive candidates as it fills vacancies.
Building a pool like this takes years of networking and forming relationships with industry professionals so it’s not something that a company can simply do overnight. Not just that but that pool of candidates needs to be nurtured which is what the agency does each time it contacts passive candidates with potential opportunities.
By working with a specialised semiconductor recruitment agency, you gain instant access to that pool of candidates knowing that each one is qualified and willing to work in your industry.
Expert advice on salary and benefits
One of the biggest issues that candidates come across as they enter the job market is related to salaries and benefits. This is because companies often don’t realise what constitutes a competitive salary or what type of benefits are currently being offered as standard within the industry. For example, a salary and benefits package for a position that was last filled 3 years ago may be well out of date, and offering that out of date package could result in fewer applicants.
However, if you partner with a semiconductor recruitment agency, you’ll get up to date expert advice on current salary trends. You’ll also know what kind of benefits that candidates are currently on the lookout for. This could be anything from mental health days to the ability to work remotely. In a nutshell, a specialised agency will be able to help you decide what kind of salary and benefits package will attract the best candidates.
Better screening of candidates
If you have ever worked in recruitment or tried to fill a role at your company then you will know that for every great candidate application you recieve, there will be at least 4-5 that are well below par. For some reason, active candidates in particular will take a spaghetti approach to their job seeking by applying for everything hoping that something sticks.
For an employer this means that sorting through applications and screening candidates can be extremely laborious and slows down the hiring process. However, once you bring a semiconductor recruiter on board, they will have a dedicated screening process in place that eliminates unqualified candidates without letting any potential superstar hires slip through the net. The agency will also expedite the process by first putting your role forward to people within its pool of passive candidates that match the job requirements.
The short-term fix
There comes a time at every company when positions need to be filled on a short-term basis. This could be due to maternity leave or an unplanned absence such as prolonged sick leave. Whatever the reasons, the employer will need to find a short-term replacement without investing too much time or money into the recruitment process.
A semiconductor recruitment agent can help with this scenario as they often have a list of industry professionals within their talent pool who are open to short-term contracts and roles. These may be professionals who are semi-retired or those who are not currently working and are simply not looking for a long-term commitment. Either way, the agency can almost certainly have a qualified professional filling that vacant role in a much shorter timescale than the employer could ever hope to achieve.
They have ideas
Everyone has ideas, but a semiconductor recruitment specialist will have the right ideas that suit your industry. This could be anything from a different approach in your recruitment drive to a slight tweak in how the position is advertised. Whatever it is, you can be certain that there will be a bit of ‘outside the box’ thinking involved to get that position filled. And that type of thinking is usually the result of years of industry experience combined with a deep understanding of current recruitment industry trends.
Faster time-to-hire
A prolonged time-to-hire is a major obstacle for any employer particularly when the role in question is critical to the performance of other members of staff or the delivery of a client project. This is why employers work doubly hard to reduce this metric in any way they possibly can.
But cutting down the time it takes to hire a candidate can come at a cost with corners cut and candidates not properly screened. Again, this is where a recruitment specialist really comes into their own. The end result of all the benefits we listed above is that they cut down drastically on the time it takes to hire a candidate. Though we’re not talking about just any old candidate but the right one.
Reduced costs
Reduced costs — the two words that any company or CFO absolutely loves to hear. It’s a common misconception that hiring a semiconductor recruitment agency is more expensive than searching for and hiring talent yourself. But that’s exactly what it is; a myth.
Of course, an agency will charge a fee for their work, but this fee pales in comparison to the cost of sourcing and hiring independently. The simple fact that your time-to-hire is reduced is cost-effective on its own, but then you also have to factor in the work hours taken up by internal employees that may not have the right skills or talent pool to draw on. Add to that the very distinct possibility that the company makes a bad hire and has to repeat the entire process and you can see why more and more companies are turning to the likes of Software Placements for their semiconductor recruitment drives.
If you’ve got a role to fill or you’re struggling to find the right talent for your semiconductor company, then we’d love to help you out. Feel free to get in touch with us today to discuss your future recruitment needs — and yes, those benefits above are included.