Candidates

The Job Market Is Fierce. That’s Why You Should Hire a Recruiter

The job market is the hottest it’s been in over 20 years…

And the data backs it up: The Bureau of Labor recently reported the national unemployment rate at 4.1%.

What Does That Mean for Employers?

That statistic certainly does not benefit companies who need to grow their teams and/or hang on to talented employees. Many skilled positions are even harder to fill than the national average--especially those in engineering, technology, education, and medical fields.

When competition for talent is fierce, bringing in a knowledgeable and specialized recruiter can be the secret weapon you’ve been needing to win against the competition. A recruiting partner can bring you value by recruiting passive candidates (those who have their heads down, not looking for a new job) and by helping share your story, such as company culture, which is essential when recruiting top professionals. The best recruiting firms also use data and analytics—to pinpoint the best way to find and recruit exactly who you need—and to reproduce those results time and time again, even when talent is hard to find.

Recruiting specialists such as Hobson Associates happen to be pioneers of recruiting data and analytics, giving you:

Change Your Mindset Before You Change Your Job!

During a recent Monday morning meeting, our firm’s owner, Danny Cahill, brought up the idea of mindfulness. He discussed that the practice of mindfulness can help refocus your thoughts and energy on the things you can control, and let go of the things you can’t.

I couldn't help think how much this relates to the candidates I speak with about new job opportunities. One of the top reasons people are open to making a job move is that they are “in need of a change”. What does “change” really mean? Is the answer a new job, or does it go beyond that?...

If you're unsure of the answer, now might be a good time to do some reflecting on where you are, where you want to be, and the areas of your life which you can directly improve, such as: 

10 Job Interview Blunders to Avoid at All Costs

What makes a really bad impression at a job interview? Our friends at The Balance have a list of things you should NOT do if you want to move forward in the hiring process.  All of these blunders are easy to avoid- check it out for yourself and make sure none happen to you at your next job interview!

Listen up Recruiters!

In today’s job market there are more available positions than there are qualified candidates, and this pretty much applies across all industries. In the recruiting world, this means that we're in what we call a “candidate crazy market”. It pretty much means that top performers are being inundated with recruiting calls, LinkedIn messages and emails about new jobs. Some of these jobs are stellar and can be awesome opportunities to move forward in your career, while others plainly suck. Not knowing which is which, and constantly taking or dodging these calls can be pretty annoying for a candidate!

Because of this, recruiters like myself, have to take on a whole new approach to recruiting top talent:

Fresh Mindset

As my firm takes on a new fiscal year, I can’t help thinking of this time as being reminiscent of the start of a new calendar year. You know the feeling… That first-week-of-January-feel, when you have it all figured out how you’re going to improve as a person…You talk about getting in better shape by actually using your gym membership and eating real food that doesn’t come in a cardboard box… You’re going to make a better effort at keeping in touch with friends and family you’ve become distant with, or just flat out earn more money…. All those things are great, and achievable – but what gets you there before all that? A new mindset.

I’m not implying you should become a totally new person, but making minor tweaks to the way you approach your day-to-day life, and sticking with them, can change your personal and professional life. I write this from the point of view of a headhunter, but the following can apply to EVERYONE – including my clients and candidates...

Crashed and Burned

Have you ever been burned by someone? Really burned? The kind of burn that leaves a mark? Have you envied a coworker who continually lands the big deals and sets sales records? Have you ever wished you were #1 in the office?

What do being burned and being #1 have in common? They usually go hand in hand. In fact, being burned and being in sales are usually mutually co-existing concepts. Most everyone who has been in sales for any period of time has been affected by either a dishonest candidate or client. In my opinion, the hardest one to take is being burned by a client.

The Night I Drunk Dialed the Candidate Who Took a Counter Offer

You shouldn’t mix. Business with pleasure, dance beats with ballads from the 90s, and definitely not schnapps, mediocre champagne and beer…My colleagues wanted to make me feel better after my candidate took the counter offer. We totally intended to have one drink. But they had half off on shots, Justin bought the first two rounds and that NEVER happens, and they had open mike night and pre-season football, one of which I participated in, it’s kind of fuzzy, and I really, really didn’t want to go home and feel sorry for myself. So I drank way too much. I would like to report that I used Uber, endangered no one and got home responsibly. I would like to report that. I don’t know how I got home. Or where my car is. And I ended up feeling sorry for myself anyway.

Hiring Tug of War

The poet William Blake wrote, “Without contraries, there is no progression.”  This quote rings very true to my day-to-day work-life, as the job market shifts from the last decade’s client driven position, to a candidate-centric environment.

The job market is a very different place than it was 10 years ago, when the bottom fell out of the housing market and Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers disintegrated; ushering in the highest unemployment rates seen in a couple of generations. That era was a very dark time in the world of recruiting, when only the best and the strongest recruiters survived.

When the eventual recovery set in a few years later, finding a workable “hot” job was still very difficult.  As the laws of supply and demand would dictate, this allowed companies to be extremely choosy in the candidates they chose to interview, the recruiters they chose to work with, and with their contractual terms for agencies.

The situation is very different in 2017. The job market is roaring at, or close to, full structural employment. The BLS reported in April that the unemployment rate for candidates with professional degrees is 1.6%. The pendulum has swung to the other side, and I find that companies are struggling with some of the realities of this shift.

Recruiters:The 'Big Kahunas' of Networking

Statistics tell that 64% of executive positions are sourced and filled through executive recruiters. This is because networks are the lifeblood of recruiters. If you enlist the help of a few, talented recruiters in your area (geography and/or industry), you will have virtually connected with most every company you would be interested in!

Here are some benefits of linking up with a well-connected recruiter:

Where’s the Urgency?

A week ago I posted that the Unemployment rate hit a 16-year low. That means there is major opportunity for companies that can get and keep great people. So why aren’t we seeing more urgency around hiring!?... In a nutshell: There is a caution in this economy that was not in place during the last boom. Maybe it’s a ‘Great Recession’ hangover or hedging the next downturn. I don’t know, but as they say, “these ARE the good old days”, so let’s get at it!

Don’t let the “Perfect Candidate” syndrome slow down your organization's growth. Have the guts to hire by “gut feel”. It will save you a ton of time and produce some great results.  If you recall the action and reward impact: It’s not the leader who makes the fewest mistakes that gets promoted. (When was the last time you saw a “mistakes avoided” section in a resume?)

Since hiring is the only part of this economy I’m technically qualified to talk about, here are my suggestions to add some urgency to your hiring process: