To address unfilled job openings, let’s promote the “image of the profession”
“It’s enough to make your head spin!” “This is completely crazy!”… these are the kinds of reactions people might have when faced with studies reporting that more than 100,000 jobs are unfilled.
Béatrice Siadou-Martin, University of Lorraine; Fanny Poujol, University of Montpellier and Franck Gavoille, ESSCA School of Management
David McEachan/Pexels
How can we explain why these jobs remain unfilled, even as the unemployment rate is at a historic high? (around 10%) Is this observed?
To everyone, this situation seems “absurd but recurring”. And yet, this observation holds true every year for many professions: healthcare professions, accounting professions, engineering professions, sales professions…
The Tendance Emploi Compétence (TEC) observatory reveals two key findings. First, one-third of recruitment efforts will encounter difficulties that could lead to the failure of the hiring process, thereby leaving jobs unfilled. Second, employers attribute this situation to a shortage of candidates or to a mismatch between candidate profiles and working conditions.
To explain this apparent paradox, a number of academic studies have examined this issue and offer some interesting insights. This has led to the emergence of the concept of “employer brand”.
Beyond the “employer brand,” there is a lack of representation of the profession…
“Employer branding” is a key challenge for companies seeking to attract and retain “talent.” It allows a company to highlight and communicate the work experience it can offer its current and potential employees. In this way, it positions itself as an employer of choice.
And clearly, the efforts made by French companies are paying off. In the latest Universum ranking of the most preferred employers among future graduates of France’s elite universities, French companies are climbing the ranks.
But is that enough? Recent economic news highlights the challenges facing the PSA Group, which—despite its popularity and the positive image of its brands (Peugeot and Citroën) among the French public—is struggling to recruit temporary workers for its Sochaux plant. Thus, being a renowned employer does not seem to be enough to attract candidates; it is therefore necessary to go beyond employer branding alone.
Perhaps reflecting on the profession itself offers some answers. Franck Gavoille, a Professor in human resources management, proposes defining the image of the profession as:
“A comprehensive mental representation of a profession as it exists in an individual’s mind. It corresponds to the set of mental representations […] formed as a result of an individual’s exposure to various stimuli […]. The individual draws on this representation when determining how to behave with regard to a profession.”
In other words, individuals form an idea of different careers based on all the available information they receive about them.
Without going into excessive detail about the various aspects of a career, we can briefly list them. These include the demands (“What does the career require of me?”: balancing work and personal life, risks taken, stress, etc.); rewards (“What can the job offer me?”: compensation, professional fulfillment, career advancement, etc.); the responsibilities the job entails; and its interpersonal aspect (“What kinds of human interactions does this job require or facilitate?”).
From “career image” to career choice…
The sales profession is often cited as a occupations facing labor shortages. There is a significant and consistent demand in this field (approximately 100,000 recruitment projects per year in recent years), and forward-looking studies confirm this trend.
According to the report “What Jobs Will There Be in 2022?”, France Stratégie and Dares estimate that there will be 587,000 job openings in France between 2012 and 2022 across all sales-related occupations.
In this context, it seems worthwhile to examine the perceptions of students enrolled in a sales career track. Our academic study, conducted among 88 Master’s 2 students, yields three important insights.
First of all, when asked, “What does a sales representative mean to you?”, students spontaneously mention compensation, responsibilities, and the interpersonal aspect of the job. Human contact and relationships seem to be central to their perception of and choice of this career.
Surprisingly, students do not mention the skills required to pursue this career. This raises questions about when these skills are developed (do they emerge only after one or more practical experiences?) as well as the tools and methods used to communicate about these careers. An analysis of the trade press also suggests that this aspect is less prominent in the discourse.
Communication about sales careers should therefore be improved, because the more people know about the field, the more favorably it is viewed. This is also a key strategy for combating negative stereotypes. Reflecting on the role of a salesperson as well as the company's role can be a way to better understand them.
This could make it possible to provide job listings and candidate applications that better reflect the reality of the job and its work environment. And perhaps this would help fill some of the unfilled positions, which are also the result of a mismatch in candidate profiles.
Béatrice Siadou-Martin, University Professor of Management Sciences, University of Lorraine; Fanny Poujol, Associate Professor – HDR, University of Montpellier and Franck Gavoille, Professor of Human Resources Management, ESSCA School of Management
The original version This article was published on The Conversation.