Here’s what’s worse than the Great Resignation

The Talent Acquisition industry continues to battle for talent in an increasingly tight market. Companies have been forced to reevaluate the emphasis on retention as many struggle to attract talent in a market where non-industry competitors are upping the stakes. Many point to the Great Resignation as the driving force behind the labor shortage but Emsi recently released data that should have most in the labor market terrified.

I wrote about 2 demographic changes affecting the talent market in September of 2021 but it appears Emsi has discovered a more troubling trend. As noted in their chart above, the population of adults 55+ is growing steadily and many took early retirement amid the pandemic chaos. Normally, this would not cause a major concern but the population aged 16-24 is rapidly declining and birth rates are not increasing proportionately (meaning this trend will not change this century). These trends combined with the current labor force participation rates, the US should see slightly more people aged 55+ leaving the labor force than they see people aged 16-24 entering the labor force.

If this were an equation, it would be something like -Workforce55 * -EarlyCareerWorkforce= 😱

Looking closer at the workforce participation rate and its steady decline since the pandemic, it explains why so many companies are panic-stricken with the current state of the talent market. According to Emsi, we will need more than 3.2 million workers to keep the pace of hiring needs presently in the market.

As you can see, the Great Resignation is not the only problem you need to plan for in your 2022 Talent Strategy. I see the great resignation as an anomaly that has only enhanced the constricting talent market and definitely not the only enemy we are fighting. If you find yourself in the heat of the talent grind, what do you do to ensure your firm has access to the top talent in the market and keep your competitive edge?

Close the Feedback Loop

Let’s face it, the feedback loop is broken in so many organizations. If there is one pricinple in Sprint Recruiting that can change how your recruiting process works, it’s the 4th principle: Feedback in 48 hours.

I’m sure I don’t have to outline the importance of quick hiring manager feedback on candidates in process. As a recruiter, I am always more apt to work harder and quicker for the managers who have a quick turnaround time for feedback. Usually, these managers are not the culprit of complaints because we’re in constant contact throughout the process

Perhaps one of the most frustrating scenarios is when I spend time developing a candidate’s interest in a role, only to have the manager delay providing feedback. It’s a candidate’s market so if you want your role filled with the most qualified candidate, you have to act while they are interested. Passive candidates, those who are not actively looking for job, will view the lack of manager response as no interest and begin looking at other companies. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had the perfect candidate for a role, only to have a manager drag their feet and the candidate decide to take another position with a competitor.

Most recruiting organizations will establish a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with their clients but it is only one-way. It outlines the expectations the client or hiring manager can expect from them regarding feedback on the search, number of candidates to be presented, etc. This is why one of the four principles of Sprint Recruiting, “Feedback drives Progress”, is critical to create mutual accountability and increase efficiency in the process.

If you would like an example of how feedback is supposed to work, check out these posts: What Recruiting can learn from Netflix on the importance of the Feedback Loop & Create an SLA with your Clients

Look Internally First

I firmly believe organizations that have a portion of their Talent Acquisition team focused on internal sourcing are more successful than those that do not. Perhaps one of the downfalls of companies’ recruiting strategy is this elusive idea that external talent is “sexier” than the talent already in the company. Recently, there has been a lot of focus on the need to grow your own talent as a way to increase engagement and keep hiring costs in check. There are three reasons why investing in an Internal Career Counselor is the future of recruiting.

Cognizant recently conducted a survey to analyze the impact of recruiting or “re-recruiting” employees for open roles. The 32% growth mark is higher than last year’s rate of 19%, Cognizant said. Among job categories, work culture had the highest year-over-year growth; career counselors, a component of the work culture group, accounted for a “seven-fold” jump in job postings, suggesting a “growing need for work culture specialists within businesses to help their employees adapt to digital change and acquire the skills needed to succeed in the future,” Cognizant said.

Although I hate the cliche “War for Talent”, it is pretty accurate, especially in the tech industry. Candidates with the skills in the highest demand can just about name their price in any market. Unfortunately, this usually leaves the recruiter and manager hiring entry level talent at higher compensation levels than current employees. The level of production this entry level talent can provide, relative to the pay they require, does not make good business sense.

If you would like some ideas on how to get started, be sure to read more in this post: It’s time to rethink, reskill and redeploy your workforce.

Want more candidates? Create a recruitment marketing strategy!

As I look through my emails, I notice a scary trend-email after email from some of my favorite brands. Unlike the normal “salesy” emails, most of the brands I follow capture my interests with their content. If you don’t know what content marketing is, it’s loosely defined as a type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts). The primary goal of content marketing is not to explicitly promote a brand but to stimulate interest in its products or services. Successful recruiters do content marketing by default. For the high valued targets on your recruiting lists, you may send industry articles or share valuable content occasionally as a way to stay on the recruit’s mind. Here’s how to make candidate content marketing a permanent, planned part of your recruiting strategy.

The task can seem daunting at first but once you set up the framework, it can run like clockwork. A successful content marketing recruiting strategy will be engaging your high valued candidates while you focus more energy on developing new targets and adding them to the list. Influencers like Gary Vee and Arianna Huffington are masters at developing content weekly, if not daily, that informs their base while consistently driving them to buy into their brand.

A successful recruiting marketing strategy will not only save time but allow you to hire more engaged employees.

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The data provided in Emsi’s latest production, Fighting the Demographic Drought, is incredibly insightful. There are more insights garnered from the research I plan to share in future blog posts.

What are the top talent woes you and your firm are facing? Share them in the comments.