Recruiting in 2013 – The Challenges of Finding Qualified Applicants
Posted June 17, 2013 & filed under Job Search, Uncategorized
Recruiting in 2013 – The Challenges of Finding Qualified Applicants
By Brad Beleski- Omni One
I’ve been in the technical recruiting industry (mainly engineering) for almost 10 years now. In this time period, I’ve seen some of the hottest markets and some of the worst markets that our economy has been through in decades. When the automotive industry tanked in 2009, it was one of the most difficult times to find openings – especially in the manufacturing world in the heart of the Midwest. In the last few years, manufacturing in Ohio and the surrounding states has been on a steady rebound. Job openings are easy to find, needs are everywhere, and companies want to hire again. Automotive suppliers, OEM’s, food manufacturing, medical device, aerospace, you name it….these industries are reinvesting in technology and need the talent to suffice.
Companies are once again trying to steer clear of using overseas markets to manufacture their products, and they are also looking to bring back talent that they were forced to lose over the last 5 years. Through all of these economic changes, downturns, upswings, recessions, rebounds, hiring freezes and frenzies, there is one aspect of the recruiting world that seems to be a harsh reality. Finding qualified applicants to fill difficult and critical positions is getting harder and harder every passing year, and has never been more of a challenge as it is today.
People may wonder why it is difficult to find qualified applicants for open positions today when there is such a large pool of applicants who are unemployed. They may also wonder why it’s so difficult today to find qualified applicants with the surge of online resources to connect with applicants such as LinkedIn. The reality, though, is that despite the abundance of unemployed individuals, as well as the plethora of recruiting resources at our disposal, the truly ‘qualified’ applicants that our clients want to hire to help turn their companies around and make a huge impact are extremely hard to find. According to an article published in 2012 by Time Magazine, “some of the most puzzling stories to come out of the Great Recession are the many claims by employers that they cannot find qualified applicants to fill their jobs, despite the millions of unemployed who are seeking work.”
So what does this mean for the manufacturing industry and especially for the recruiting world? I can think of 2 things that make me both optimistic and excited about the coming years. First, I believe that more and more employers are going to realize that they need the help of specialized placement agencies and recruiters like myself for finding the right talent for their openings. There are more requirements to meet job demands than ever before. According to that same Time Magazine article, “employers have complicated the hiring process by piling on more and more job requirements, expecting that in a down market a perfect candidate will turn up if they just keep looking.” Basically, in order for HR Managers to make their hiring managers happy by finding applicants to meet strict requirements, they are simply going to have to reach out to recruiters for help.
Secondly, recruiters are going to have to get more creative and more resourceful than ever before when it comes to doing our job and finding the qualified applicants for our clients. LinkedIn and online networking is helping, but it’s up to us as recruiters to use these resources most effectively. The days of going on Careerbuilder and Monster, typing in a search, and finding a candidate that same day (most likely someone who is laid off and unemployed), are dwindling. And on top of that, employers don’t want us to find talent that way. For the first time in my 10 years as a recruiter, I need to use much more of my time to contact applicants for strong referrals, network on social media sites to find the ‘passive’ job seekers, and contact more and more company competitors to ‘recruit’ the right individuals for these difficult openings.
In summary, the manufacturing industry throughout the Midwest is in the midst of resurgence and our clients are demanding the best of the best when it comes to adding new talent. It’s our job as recruiters to inform our clients that we are doing whatever is necessary to find this talent, change the way we’ve done things in the past, and utilize new resources to the best of our abilities. The passive job seekers are extremely hard to find, and these are the candidates who are set apart from the enormous pool of average talent. We have the means and the know-how to do this, and this is certainly the new trend in the recruiting world. 2013 is setting the bar for us- especially in highly technical staffing. We charge fees to our clients to meet these challenges, and hopefully the unique and different strategies that we use to find qualified candidates are worth the investment.
