Paradigm Shift to Recruiting for Purpose Before Position
By Margaret Kidd
The Covid-related supply chain disruption and great resignation, as well as Russia’s war on Ukraine, has created a new dimension for employers looking to recruit, train and retain a global workforce. As a result, employers in general and the engineering, procurement and construction/third-party logistics world in particular are scrambling to find talent as major capital and renewable projects ramp up.
The reality of a U.S. unemployment rate of 3.6 percent (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics) for June 2022 – near the lowest rate in 50 years – is a wake-up call to hiring managers. In today’s competitive marketplace for talent there is a paradigm shift not only from hiring to recruiting, but also in how employers interact with local tier one public research universities.
Human resource professionals and business unit leaders must pivot from traditional hiring practices that include reviewing resumes from job postings, checking references and conducting structured interviews. The new paradigm is about recruiting for culture fit with organizational strategy, structure and values. This requires recruiting for purpose before position and is accomplished by engaging and winning over talented people who fit your organizational culture.
Successful organizations that have operationalized recruiting for purpose before position have leveraged relationships with local universities in terms of:
• Engagement with students on capstone projects.
• Offering multiple internship opportunities throughout the year.
• Including students at industry events/conferences such as Breakbulk Americas (Sept. 27-29 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston).
• Providing student tours of corporate facilities.
• Committing to participate once per semester in speaker series on campus.
• Funding sponsored research.
Workforce of the Future
Universities are key determinates of regional competitiveness in terms of workforce development that meets industry needs. Both the University of Houston, or UH, and the Supply Chain & Logistics Technology program, or SCLT, are key players in the development of a regional knowledge economy.
Building upon research conducted by Paul Benneworth, David Charles and Ali Madanipour in 2010 in Building Localized Interactions Between Universities and Cities Through University Spatial Development, the relationship between UH/SCLT and industry could be understood in terms of a knowledge enterprise and supplier of human and intellectual capital and deliberative partnerships with UH/SCLT and industry around projects of mutual benefit, respectively.
As both faculty and students from UH and other regional universities will be attending Breakbulk Americas, an excellent opportunity exists for those who want to change the paradigm and recruit for a purpose before position. With typically more than 140 students participating each year, this is a safe space to operationalize recruiting in an extremely competitive marketplace for talent.
See you in September!
Margaret Kidd is program director, supply chain & logistics technology at the University of Houston.
Photo: Attendees at Breakbulk Americas Education Day celebrate collaboration with industry. Credit: Breakbulk Events & Media
