Hiring Challenges In Current Market
Job Market
The biggest challenge in hiring today is that we are in a candidate’s market. Unemployment is low, making it harder to find talented candidates for job opportunities. The hiring process often requires a lengthy interview process along with assessments for skills and personality. Assessments designed to reduce the burden on the interview process sometimes become a bottleneck instead. This is where the problem lies. Candidates are being asked to do more and more, but the low unemployment does not encourage them to participate in a more stringent process. Some candidates end up abandoning the process early. Others are hired by someone who realizes it is a candidate’s market and moves more quickly to make them an offer. Because of this, recruiters are asked to find more and more candidates, but they are still working in a limited market. The best solution is to always be looking for candidates and never turn down an opportunity to interview a candidate because you never know when you’ll need the next position filled.
Competition
One of our biggest challenges is that many other recruiters are reaching out to candidates at the same time. The techniques that worked 5 years ago just aren’t effective anymore. Candidates know they have choices, so it takes a lot of effort to really stand out. One way of dealing with the issue is by highlighting the benefits of working for us beyond the typical salary/benefits (work from home, team events, reward programs). Candidates, especially millennials, need to know we’re a company that really cares about its employees if they’re even going to consider applying.
Quality of Candidates
Another big challenge is a lack of skilled, quality talent in a demanding location and industry. Finding the right talent and not making a poor hire has contributed to extending the time to fill a position beyond 30 days. Despite the challenges that a vacant position presents, it’s even worse to fill a job with the wrong candidate only to have to refill the position at a later date.
Culture Fit
Finding candidates who have a genuine interest in working at our company is a big challenge. You can try to gloss over a poor work environment with higher pay and perks, but ultimately, people leave their jobs because their manager is bad or because the company has a poor culture. It’s hard to fake; you have to create an authentic, genuinely awesome place to work, or your best employees will go somewhere else that does. To be successful in a more competitive hiring market, you need to create a culture and business that people are really excited to work at. Then you don’t lose people, and word tends to spread about what a great place it is to work.