Businesses undergoing transformation want to move fast to get the right people in place. With that need for speed, we’ve seen over 70% of companies only consider candidates with an ‘exact fit’ to advertised roles (zero gap recruiting), according to a recent study from von Rundstedt in Switzerland.
Is this a sign of strategic short-termism or an indication of a Just-in-Time workforce? And what are the long-term implications of this hiring method?
We discussed this controversial recruitment practice and its fallacies in a panel webinar with European HR experts who shared their strong opinions. Here are some of the key insights from the discussion.
What is ‘zero gap’ or ‘exact fit’ recruitment?
When companies only consider candidates that exactly fit the job description, it’s called ‘zero gap recruitment’ or ‘exact fit hiring’. Companies are looking for a perfect fit between the role and the candidate.
“This means that candidates need to bring experience in the same job with the same job title, in the same industry, even with the same systems or technology, and have already completed the same tasks successfully,” explained Pascal Scheiwiller, CEO at von Rundstedt Switzerland.
The pros and cons of zero gap recruiting
Exact fit hiring is an appealing method when trying to move fast, especially in a business transformation. But this hiring style is a surprising pursuit when, on the one hand, we hear many companies complaining of a talent shortage and, on the other hand, droves of people are struggling to find a new job.
Plus, Michael Moran from 10Eighty highlighted, in our last LinkedIn Live, how expensive it can be to take the zero gap recruitment approach.
So why do organisations use it?
How zero gap recruitment helps business transformation
Get perfect fit, just-in-time hires
If an organisation can recruit the right person quickly, the hire cost is lower, the burden on current employees is lifted faster, and the recruit can have a positive impact on the business sooner. This is particularly desirable if the business is undergoing major transformation.
It seems that exact fit hiring is prolific in liberal labour markets like Switzerland. Scheiwiller points out, “The speed of business and the high speed of change is triggering companies to do everything just in a moment. So, the immediate short-term impact is clear. Companies don’t like long-term commitment. They don’t like binding strategy. They need flexibility.
[Where the labour market is] very liberal, you can get rid of people immediately for any reason. And even though this hire one day doesn’t fit anymore, you just fire and hire a new profile which fits in the moment perfectly.”
Exact fits are low risk
Business transformations are inherently risky and exact fit recruitment can help eliminate some of that risk. Niall Fitzgerald, Career Coach at 10Eighty said, “The hiring manager is not going to risk upsetting the apple cart by trying to push people who come from a diverse background or don’t fit the exact profile.”
But this can come at the expense of long-term flexibility and diversity within the business.
Systems-driven recruitment assess equally on hard skills
Another major factor is the use of systems in the selection process.
Fitzgerald noted, “In my experience, [exact fit hiring is] largely driven by the systems and processes and the gatekeepers. To a large extent, the early stages [of recruitment] are governed by algorithms.”
Initially, systems seem to provide equal opportunity in recruitment as they objectively assess based on skills. Plus, hiring can be conducted faster through a level of automation. Both are desirable during (often messy) business transformations. But this often overlooks the value of soft, transferrable skills in a candidate.
How zero gap recruitment hinders business transformation
It’s natural that businesses will try to achieve a best fit, especially when the hire seems urgent because businesses are undergoing transformation. But organisations should ask themselves what ‘best fit’ means for the future of the company, not just the immediate job vacancy.
Growth requires risk but zero gap is risk averse
Zero gap recruitment is risk averse. But real growth and business transformation comes from embracing a level of risk, including a risk in who you hire. Diversity of thinking, demographics, and soft skills create a resilient workforce that is adaptable.
Nathalie Crouzet, Chief of Operations at Réseau 137, highlighted, “The value of a company is its people. They are the ones that make decisions, that innovate. And if you don’t have the right people or the right skills, your organisation won’t move.”
There needs to be freedom for the hiring manager to look for candidates who will bring long-term success to the business beyond fulfilling the immediate needs of the role.
Zero gap hiring triggers long-term costs
The fallacy that zero gap recruiting is cheaper crops up as soon as an organisation faces the next round of change. If employees are recruited based on hard skills alone, businesses are not thinking ahead to employee development. So, rather than having an upskilled, adaptable workforce, businesses face the more expensive strategy of hiring interim executives to bring about business transformations.
Scheiwiller said, “We see this zero gap focus on technical skills in the recruiting areas of many companies. At the same time, speaking with the HR development departments of the companies, we see that they focus a lot on developing future, transversal skills because they are later struggling with the mobility of the workforce within the companies. Why not look at this when recruiting in order to avoid the big investment you need in people development later?”
Olivier Landerer, CEO at Global Talent Hub, pointed the finger at organisations looking to grow saying, “They’ll use an interim executive to support them on these change transformation projects because they believe they don’t have anybody internally. But chances are they haven’t looked deep enough in their organisation to see whether they might have some people that could potentially lend a hand.”
Zero gap hiring is short-term. Business transformation is long-term.
Organisations need to dig deeper into how they’re assessing candidates and what their long-term goals are.
Scheiwiller said, “If, as a company, you want to successfully go through a transformation, you need to think about your values and your priorities. Today, everything is about short term, flexibility, no commitment. And I’m sure that companies will lack talent one day if they don’t change this, because in a world with short-term talent and workforce reduction, values like loyalty, reliability, commitment, and engagement become more and more important again.
The company cannot get commitment and engagement if they behave in a short term and zero gap way. If they’re not willing to invest in people and to develop people, they need to shift their values again if they want to ensure they have the necessary critical talent in the future.”
Zero gap recruitment won’t keep working in the future workforce
Looking long-term at the talent pool, it’s getting smaller and there’s an aging population. It’s predicted that the workforce is going to shrink about 10% over the next six years, which means you have less talent and more people in the older age categories. So, trying to fit roles with exact requirements is not going to work long term.
As long as there are ‘perfect fits’ in the market, we will have zero gap recruiting. But once these profiles are no longer in the market, there will be a sense of urgency and companies will become more flexible in recruiting.
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