Will the Talent Shortage Affect You?

Remember the good old days when you’d post a job ad and be inundated with a flood of resumes? Even if only a fourth of them were qualified, you usually got to make a choice between two or three really good ones. Those were the days of the employer’s market. It was a lot like going down the bread aisle at the local market and getting to choose between white, wheat, sourdough, or rye in a variety of brands.

Now, you might still be inundated with a flood of resumes when you post a job ad. But with the skills gap and lower unemployment rates, you’ll be lucky if many of them are truly qualified. That’s because we are officially in a candidate’s market. It’s a little bit like going into a grocery store to buy a loaf of fresh whole wheat bread and finding that the empty shelves have been stocked with cereal and tortillas to make them look fuller!

While lower unemployment and added jobs have meant great news for our economy, what it translates into for you, employers, is stiffer competition with more employers for a diminishing number of knowledge worker candidates–professionals who are seeking a new opportunity, available, and qualified to do the work your open positions require. (Read this true story.) Stiffer competition means that your hiring process needs to be discerning, streamlined, and fast-moving to keep pace with in-demand candidates who are being snapped up as quickly as they become available–or even before!

“Job candidates are in the driver’s seat as the unemployment rate continues to drop,” said CUNA a full year ago. The news agency pointed out that as employees continue to believe that jobs are plentiful, candidates remain in control of the labor market. At Amtec, we witness this reality often, as employers lose out on favorite candidates because they didn’t realize just how fierce the competition for those candidates really was.

Will the talent shortage affect you? Yes, if you’re looking to hire professional candidates, you’re going to have a tougher time finding people who have the character, competency, and culture fit you need. In this candidate’s market, having a recruitment partner can help. But even the best efforts of an experienced staffing agency can make a difference only after employers first embrace the reality that it’s currently a candidate’s market. Without a heightened sense of urgency, your hiring process will likely falter again and again, costing you both candidate and recruiter relationships. Only when you embrace the concept of the candidate’s market will you be able to acquire the talent you need to get ahead.

Do you need help acquiring top contract or direct hire professionals? Let Amtec find you the best candidates, set you up to successfully interview them, and assist with offer negotiations, reference checks, and background checks. Click here or call (714) 993-1900 to start your search.