Enterprise resource planning, or ERP, involves the management of business processes through the use of technology. As you might imagine, it’s a big job. As you also might imagine, recruiting candidates in this field—developers, administrators, business analysts and others—is extremely competitive, especially in this business environment.
These are employees that are highly sought after because of their niche skills, especially in today’s candidate driven market. Since the pandemic, we have seen that ERP employees have been leaning towards remote roles, and less towards hybrid or in-office positions. And we don’t think that’s going to change.
Last summer an LA Times article proclaimed: “Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era.” The market has only gotten hotter since then.
Writing for CIO, Sarah K. White said: “Recruiting in the tech industry is on the rise — with companies reporting they are hiring ‘at or beyond pre-pandemic levels,’ according to the report. Of those surveyed, 52% said they planned to add new positions in the coming year and 80% said turnover has increased in their company over the past year.”
For employers, it’s tough out there. So what can they do to appeal to these candidates and boost the odds that they’ll be able to hire top talent? Focus on five “must do’s.”
Today’s candidates want flexibility. They’ve earned that flexibility over the past couple of years as both they and their employers discovered that, no, they don’t need to be on site. These are positions that work with online technology, in the cloud. They can do that from anywhere, which is leading most candidates to want flexibility from employers.
Now that also provides potential benefits to employers, of course. Your potential candidate pool doesn’t have to be within commuting distance—it can literally be anywhere. This expands your talent reach and allows you to attract top talent that might not have been available to you in the past.
In many situations, especially as employers are waiting to fill a permanent role, we’ll bring on contractors. That’s certainly another option to consider these days. Still competitive, but another option.
Contract roles also offer flexibility—and variety—for candidates who may sign on for a six-month engagement at 20 hours a week, for instance, before considering a more long-term, or full-time role. Some of these contractors are also setting up LLCs and have an entire team behind them.
Top ERP talent is hard to find. Most clients are seeking employees with three to five years of experience and that experience really matters. These are specialized professionals filling business-critical positions. Their experience matters. In fact, increasingly, it matters more than their education. If they’ve worked with these systems and, if they’re client-facing, if they can present themselves well, that’s what matters most—that will far outweigh a bachelor’s degree.
Given the high demand—and the tight supply—it may not be surprising that employers need to be prepared to pay if they want to hire ERP pros. Salaries have been exponentially increasing. With salaries increasing, we have also seen counteroffers increasing in an attempt to keep invaluable talent.
If you want to attract and retain ERP talent in today’s marketplace—any talent, in truth—you need to be a top employer. You need to be the kind of employer that offers the work, the environment, the policies and practices that will keep employees engaged, productive and on board with you.
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