Recruiters
This year marks the beginning of a rapid period of growth for the recruiting industry. The Social Security Administration, the AARP and the Pew Research Center estimate that about 10,000 Baby Boomers retire every day; a trend expected to continue for the next 18 years. This signifies a tremendous turnover rate, and with the recent recession putting a hold on many Millennials/Gen Ys receiving a specialized degree, the gap will be difficult for employers to fill. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average tenure of a worker today at any given job is 4.4 years, while the tenure of younger workers is approximately half of that. There are multiple reasons for this, reasons which are good news for capable candidates, but bad news for business owners and employers.
One of the reasons for the high turnover rate among new generation employees is that their values are different from those of the previous generation. While Baby Boomers prized stability and rushed to settle down, Millennials are searching for interesting jobs that improve their life satisfaction. Another reason is that changing jobs after having acquired a new skill set is often a faster way to advance in their careers than working up the corporate ladder. While acquiring and broadening skill sets is a benefit to the competency of the workforce as a whole, this is a less than ideal scenario for any single employer, as employers do not see the return on their time and resource investment spent on training the employee. Yet another reason for a high turnover rate is that recovery from the recent recession is prompting more employees to look for better opportunities now that the storm has passed.
This bulk loss of current employees and the lack of stable replacements is prompting many small and medium-sized businesses without an HR department to turn to recruiting agencies. This is a rational step in the increasingly competitive market, as it takes a great level of knowledge and specialization in the recruiting field to find capable candidates. There are certainly a number of costly recruiting software alternatives available which promise efficiency; but delivering truly superb candidates takes far more than spending a thousand dollars on job boards and software. Plenty of recruiting software exists which gives the user bits and pieces of the recruiting process; social sourcing, ATS automation, etc. Yet to this day, none are at the level where one can easily use a single software to navigate the recruiting process from inception to completion. Once the amount of time spent on the entire process of finding and hiring an employee is factored in with the prices employers are paying for software which is more complicated than useful to the average business owner, the loss of efficiency and failure to deliver ideal candidates is clearly evident.
Yet hope is not lost. Boutique recruiting agencies which possess a sophisticated Applicant Tracking System and a thorough approach to sourcing and evaluating candidates may be the best option available today. Employers must remember that as with any business; not all recruiters are created alike, and some deliver candidates of a far greater caliber than others. For business owners wishing to acquire and retain top talent; now is the time to look beyond the obsolete recruiting approach and into more innovative hiring strategies.