Finding balance between low costs and recruiting best employees

Just four kilometres from Kampala, Paul Olweny, a senior human resource consultant, is sharing practical ways with 200 job seekers on how they can join the labour market. He is talking about writing an impressive curriculum vitae (CV), preparing for an interview and expectations of recruiters.
Within smaller groups, Standard Chartered Bank senior managers are sharing employment experiences and discovering barriers job seekers face.
For business, this is key knowledge because on top of gloomy economic times, shrinking profits, limited access to credit, attracting and retaining employees with the right skill set is becoming increasingly difficult.
“...You find these graduates have theoretical knowledge and the application of that knowledge in daily activities such as customer care is wanting,” Sylvia Mulomi, head human resources Standard Chartered Bank, says.
The same graduates, who business owners say lack work ethic, maintain a profound interest in leading companies in the country as opposed to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which account for 90 per cent of Uganda’s private sector.
“When I talk to graduates, in their view, leading means highly paying. So they are looking for banks, telecoms and the United Nations of this world. There are those looking for opportunities in sectors where they might make a quick buck,” Mulomi says.
But for her, employability can be found within budding SMEs. On the flip side, the challenge is, as graduates turn to SMEs, which sometimes operate without human resource departments, obstacles are holding them (SMEs) back.
“SMEs come to us but have challenges. You find that they were set up as personal businesses, have grown but do not have structures to take them to the next level,” Olweny says.
SMEs are operating on thin profit margins.
“We have been in a downward trend for the last two years and the first area for any business to cut is recruitment. That impacts on the young people looking for jobs, on the business trying to reduce costs because there are fewer people doing more work, and quality as workers are under pressure to deliver becomes an issue,” Olweny explains.

Recruit when you can afford it
SMEs may not have the budget to recruit but in order to get the right employees, they have to spend some money.
“You can recruit when you can afford it, and when your business starts to bring in enough work for you to need help that has the skill sets for the kind of business you have,” Mulomi says.

Recruitment budget
For formal businesses that have hard-to-find employees, putting aside a recruitment budget will be crucial. This way, they are likely to outsource the special skill set through services of recruitment firms.
“The recruitment organisation has costs it incurs because it has to look through the market and sometimes even go outside Uganda especially where the type of business is venturing into things that are new,” Mulimo says.

Succession plan
According to Olweny, who works at Aikan HR Consultants, businesses pay between Shs370,000 and Shs5m to source the right employees through the recruitment firm. But most of Aikan’s major clients have seen a decrease in the projected revenue posted early in the year by 50 per cent and the first area to cut costs is HR interventions. For smaller businesses, minimising this recruitment cost in bad economic times is possible with succession plans.
“For instance, for a restaurant manager, I will make sure I have in the pipeline people that I am training to go into that position should she want to take on another role. That way when the person leaves, I have someone who can readily take on that role,” Olweny explains.

Newtworking sites
Although small businesses are capitalising on word of mouth to find employees, human resource practitioners say this can change. Like other sectors, technology is already enhancing recruitment for businesses.
Businesses do not have to receive paper applications, call shortlisted candidates, processes that are costly and time demanding. Some businesses are turning to professional networking sites such as LinkedIn. Business career websites are now shortlisting candidates using their profiles within seconds which, Mulomi says is less costly and convenient for business operators.
Jussi Hinkkanen, has come to Uganda with Fuzu, an online platform that he says will help employers recruit more efficiently. Only 30 per cent of Ugandan employers have the tools they need to succeed in finding employable people, says a survey by Fuzu.
Hinkannen explains that with platforms like Fuzu, analysis of CVs, talent profiles and personalities is automatic so employers can simply find the right employee.