After several years of economic depression and stagnation, the United States is seeing a rebound in 2014. While this affects businesses of all types in a variety of ways, it also plays a big role in the look of the recruitment landscape. Here are three of the key ways that recruitment is changing thanks to economic rebounding:
1. More Competitive Packages for Best Candidates
In 2009, there were six applicants vying for every single job opening. In 2014, that ratio has halved, leaving just three applications for every position, according to U.S. News & World Report[1]. While this still gives employees the upper hand in negotiations, the most highly qualified candidates will be harder to recruit. This creates the need for more competitive packages for applicants. These packages will focus on salary, but they may also include fringe benefits, like the option of working from home or flexible hours.
2. Faster Recruitment Process
Ken Sundheim writes that, “An improved economy means heightened opportunity costs (i.e. lost potential sales) when organizations don’t have the manpower to service clients.[2]” In a stronger economy, companies need to cut down on recruiting times in order to be fully employed on a consistent basis. Hiring managers may have to conduct fewer interviews and make faster decisions when recruiting in order to cut down on the time that positions stay vacant within a business.
3. Increased Use of Outside Recruitment Providers
Perhaps the biggest change in the recruitment landscape is that in a booming economy, companies are willing to spend more on the hiring process and pay outside companies to do it. As the recruiting process becomes more complex, Forbes reports that, “U.S. corporations spend nearly $72 billion each year on a variety of recruiting services, staff and products.[3]” Outside recruitment companies are the natural choice for selecting key applicants when time is of the essence for hiring managers.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in January 2014, unemployment had dropped to just 6.6 percent in the United States[4]. This along with other signs of a rebounding economy signal the three changes listed above, which will play a role in today’s recruitment landscape.
[1] http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2014/01/08/8-ways-the-economy-is-still-affecting-the-job-market
[2] http://www.ere.net/2013/12/18/how-an-improved-2014-economy-affects-recruiting/
[3] http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2013/05/23/corporate-recruitment-transformed-new-breed-of-service-providers/