What It Takes to Make the Right Match

June 2, 2016 – Although 76 percent of full time, employed workers are either actively looking for a job or open to new opportunities, nearly half (48 percent) of employers can’t seem to find the workers they need to fill their job vacancies, according to CareerBuilder‘s just released ‘2016 Candidate Behavior’ study.

“Job seekers may have more of an edge in today’s market as employers grow increasingly competitive for labor – but they need to follow new rules of engagement,” said Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer (CHRO) for CareerBuilder. “For employers, it’s important to remember that the candidate experience starts from the very first click and can impact how effectively a company is able to recruit quality candidates, the popularity of its employer brand, the strength and quality of its referrals, and even its bottom line.”

Must Knows for Job Seekers About Job Hunting:

It may take longer than you think to land the job. The average time it takes to find a job – from the moment a job search begins to the point of accepting an offer – is typically at least two months. Depending on the field and location, it can take even longer, so don’t get frustrated if you don’t get hired right away.

Companies aren’t done with you if you don’t get the job offer. Fifty-four percent of employers re-engage with past candidates who were not given job offers. Stay connected by joining an employer’s talent network or signing up to be automatically alerted to new job openings through job sites.

Your resume is not enough. More than half (53 percent) of employers say a resume doesn’t provide enough information for them to assess whether someone is a good fit for the job. If you’re just providing a resume, you may lose out. They want to see a cover letter, professional portfolio where applicable, recommendations and links to social media profiles.

Executive Search: Trends In Talent Acquisition
“There is an old paradox in need of an update. It varies based on who you talk to but goes something like this: leadership remains in short supply…the ‘War for Talent’ is either over or just getting started.” — Dale E. Jones, President and CEO of Diversified Search

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Companies are looking for skills that may surprise you. Yes, companies want to know your work history and the hard skills associated with a particular job function. But, did you know that 63 percent of employers said one of the top questions they’re trying to answer when looking for candidates is “what are their soft skills?” Make sure to highlight these less tangible skills associated with personality such as having a positive attitude, being dependable and working well under pressure.

The competition may be putting in more hours than you. On average, job seekers spend 11 hours a week searching for jobs. Are you putting in more or less time than the competition?

You may not work in your field of study. One in three people (36 percent) don’t work in a career related to their degree. Keep an open mind. Employers focus on relevant skills and whether or not you seem trainable enough for the job, so you likely have more career options than you imagined.

Employers will pay more. With competition heating up for positions at all skill levels, two thirds (66 percent) of employers plan to offer higher starting salaries this year. Job seekers are in a better negotiating position, so you want to avoid taking the first offer in most cases.

Must Knows for Employers About the Candidate Job Search Experience:

Candidates are less likely to jump through hoops. The market has become more employee-centric and candidates are quicker to drop off if the application seems too cumbersome. One in five candidates said they are not willing to complete an application that takes them 20 minutes or more, and 76 percent want to know how long it will take them to finish an application before it starts. However, the majority of job seekers said they would be willing to endure a lengthy application process if the company is offering a higher base salary.

Candidates move on quickly. An inefficient, slow-moving hiring process will kill your recruiting efforts. Sixty-six percent of job seekers said they will wait less than two weeks to hear back from the employer before considering the opportunity a lost cause and moving on to another.

If you’re hard to find online, candidates will be too. Most candidates (64 percent) said after reading a job posting, they will spend time researching before applying. If they can’t find the info they need on the company, 37 percent of all candidates will just move on to the next company or job listing. Your company career site and social presence must be strong.

Candidates expect more information in the job listing. It’s not enough to describe the company and job. The top things candidates said they want to see in a job posting include: Salary (74 percent); total benefits package (61 percent); employee ratings (46 percent); contact info of hiring manager (40 percent); work from home options (39 percent); how the company provides work/life balance (35 percent); photos/videos of the work environment (31 percent); and team structure and hierarchy of the role (27 percent).

Millennials may swipe left if your mobile capabilities are weak. One in 10 millennials said they would drop a company out of consideration if they couldn’t apply to a job via their mobile device. So if your site isn’t mobile ready, your pages take too long to load or you have poor navigation through mobile, you could be losing fresh new talent.

You may not be covering all your bases. Consumer’s audiences are very fragmented. Job seekers use up to 16 sources in their job search. Are you everywhere they are?

You may not know how good or bad your process is in the eyes of candidates. Only 31 percent of employers claim to have tried applying to one of their company’s open jobs to see what the process is like. Put on that job seeker hat and go to one of your jobs, and go to your career site, and interact with your company through the eyes of the job seeker so you can make improvements where needed.

So what remains the best way for hiring managers to find quality employees? The most popular answer continues to be old fashioned referrals. Yet on the other end job seekers don’t feel the same way when it comes to seeking a new position.

Seventy-one percent of HR professionals say employee referrals are the best resource for finding candidates, yet only seven percent of job seekers surveyed view referrals as their top resource for finding a job, according to new survey by workplace research firm Future Workplace and career network Beyond.

With many reports stating that companies are having difficulty finding quality talent, referrals also seems to be the best way to find employees that stick.

More than 50 percent of referred employees have been in their current position for more than five years, supporting various findings that have cited employee referrals as a top source of hiring, according to ‘The Impact of Successful Employee Referral Programs,’ issued by iCIMS. The study found that employee referrals are the most significant source-of-hire for employers, bringing in top talent that increases quality-of-hire, instances of cultural fit, positive results, and decreases key metrics such as cost-per-hire, time-to-fill, and turnover.

“(A great referral program) allows you to turn your entire workforce into recruiters,” said Kara Yarnot, founder of Meritage Talent Solutions. “When you only have so many recruiters and so many resources to reach out to candidates, it helps to have a great referral program to empower all of your employees to help in sourcing.”

So how have companies been bridging the gap while trying to find the right full time talent? By hiring temporary and contract employees.

According to a new report by LaSalle Network, temporary and contract hiring has grown 57 percent since 2009 and today there are nearly three million people working in temporary or contract roles. According to the American Staffing Association, growth in temporary and contract employment has been outpacing overall employment.

Another recent study by CareerBuilder said that temporary employment expected to add 173,478 jobs from 2016 to 2018. In addition, 47 percent of employers reported that they plan to hire temporary or contract workers in 2016, up slightly from 46 percent last year. Of these employers, more than half (58 percent) plan to transition some temporary or contract workers into full-time, permanent roles.

“Today, nearly three million people are employed in temporary jobs, and that number will continue to grow at a healthy pace over the next few years as companies strive to keep agile in the midst of changing market needs,” said Kyle Braun, president of CareerBuilder’s staffing and recruiting group.

Both of these reports coincide with findings by The Execu | Search Group. Its ‘2016 Hiring Outlook: Strategies for Adapting to a Candidate-Driven Market’ report found that 26 percent of hiring managers surveyed plan to increase hiring of temporary employees this year.

In addition, a recent Adecco study, ‘Definitive Guide to Building a Better Workforce,’ found that 67 percent of companies use contingent labor to enhance their workforce and close talent gaps. The study surveyed 536 C-suite executives across the U.S. regrading the types of talent they need, skills that are most difficult to find, how they are using contingent labor and progressive recruiting methods to enhance their workforces, employee retention techniques and more.

“With the U.S. unemployment rate at an eight year low, competition is fierce for skilled talent. That means it’s more important than ever that companies resolve to invest in the recruitment and development of top talent and explore creative, progressive staffing solutions,” said Joyce Russell, Adecco Staffing USA president.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief, Hunt Scanlon Media

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