Many companies felt that the current recession would be a help for hiring options. Most are finding out it is not the case. It presents a difficult situation for companies and for candidates. Neither has been very good at finding each other.
There are some very well qualified people who are unemployed currently and cannot connect with an employer. Many have stopped looking for another position.
There are companies that have great opportunities that are not able to connect with the best qualified talent either unemployed or employed. Many companies settle for what they can find. There are three areas that are shaping this situation.
1. Companies
The company environment has changed dramatically over the last decade or more.
As companies continue to become leaner, the requirements of individual positions become more complex. Each person takes on portions of the duties and responsibilities from those who are no longer with the company. Positions may have had the same title for years. The same title today may have become much more complex and require many additional skills, different skills, and experiences.
When a vacancy requires a person who is highly qualified for a particular position today, it becomes more difficult to find a person with all the qualifications because of:
• Increased complex requirements
• A shallow pool becoming even more shallow for qualified candidates who have the types of experiences desired
• Continuing reduction of those qualified due to retirement (see Number 3 below)
• Fewer people filling in behind those retiring due to a shear lack of numbers (see number 3 below)
• The responses to the job postings have few if any qualified candidates
Companies still use the same strategies and tactics with candidates they always have. They have taken the position that the candidate will find them whether through a job posting, the candidates search, or some other method. From there, it is a process of sifting that has little to do with the qualifications of the candidate and the needs of the position.
There is no doubt that many companies are receiving record numbers of resumes for posted job openings. I routinely talk to companies that receive up to 400 resumes per position. Some companies have shared they receive up to 6,000 resumes per week. Most of the companies I talk to are not finding the right person even in the huge volumes of information they receive.
It is necessary today to be able to attract the candidate required for a position. The ability of companies to do so is lacking. That task typically falls upon the Human Resources Department that has many other duties and responsibilities. Their methods are primarily to sort and match with job descriptions. They are not able to reach out and discover those that are truly the best qualified.
2. Candidates
The generation following the Baby Boomers has not been in a situation where they have had to make a hard effort to find employment. Many searching for employment now are following the methods that were never particularly successful in the past. The ineffectiveness is highlighted by to the large number of unemployed who are unable to find employment today.
Reasons why they are not successful are:
• They do not know how to seek out employer companies that are a fit for them.
• They do not know how to effectively perform the research necessary to learn, if a company may be one they should pursue.
• They do not know how to effectively contact a company that may be that fit.
• They do not know how to create presentation materials about their skills, experience, accomplishments that allow them to stand out among a large crowd of applicants.
• They do not know how to effectively prepare for an interview where both the prospective employer and they learn if the situation is a real fit or not.
• In some cases, there is a huge gap between the experience base of the generation that followed the Baby Boomers and the requirements of a company.
The result is they rarely come into contact with the right employer.
Candidates will have to learn how to become more visible in the crowd of applicants that flood many postings. They will have to learn how to present their credentials in a manner that will get the attention of hiring managers. They will have to know how to meet with a prospective employer in a way that benefits both.
3. The Impending Talent Crisis
A lot of things have changed about the candidate landscape. Here are some important facts:
• There are approximately 32 million unemployed* in the United States today, 25 years old and over.
• There were 76 million Baby Boomers born. The Baby Boomers are approximately 5 million of that total group of 32 million. Most Baby Boomers are either truly retiring or they are taking a job outside the industry where they had their career. Many of those who were looking to stay in the industries their career was in have stopped looking.
• The unemployment rate for candidates possessing a four year degree and/or advanced education beyond is only 4.9%*. Even though more Baby Boomers are not retiring at 65, there is still a mass exodus of Boomers from their career companies.
• Approximately 250,000 Baby Boomers are retiring per month. The exodus is further reducing that 4.9% pool.
• The group behind the Baby Boomers is one half of the size of the Baby Boomers, about 38 million. That leaves a large hole in the experience base.
(* The unemployment numbers and percents can be found through the Department of Labor.)
As the economy improves the situation will continue to unveil itself even more. Those candidates that can respond effectively will help themselves and the companies that employ them. Companies that fail to respond to attract the best qualified people for their unique situations will potentially fall behind. There have been reports that by the end of 2010 there will be approximately 6 million open positions in the US without enough qualified people to fill those positions. The type of positions this refers to are those of a technical nature and above in organizations.
