As the pandemic subsides and restrictions are eased, it seems the economy is improving, as evidenced by “Now Hiring” signs in nearly every business window. Here at NPAworldwide, we are seeing job postings skyrocket on the network’s internal job sharing board. Also, very tellingly, we aren’t seeing as many candidates being posted. This is quite rare when more jobs are being added than candidates in our database.
These companies are going to face a challenge as hiring needs outweigh the candidate supply. Hiring managers are turning to recruiters to help fill these roles quickly, but it’s still a challenge – candidates have become much more picky about where, when, and how they want to work.
Last week, BLS reported a record-high number of job openings. But there are still far more job seekers than jobs, so why the disparity? The pandemic really caused workers to take a long, hard look at where they are and what they want. The hospitality and retail industries are still struggling to find workers who are willing to expose themselves to the virus in a people-facing job, for minimum wage and/or mediocre tips due to decreased dine-in capacity. In addition, the pandemic thrust people into new roles, like schoolteacher for their kids or caretaker for their elderly parents — as long as schools, daycares, and senior care is limited, this will remain a hurdle for people deciding whether or not to return to the workforce.
ManpowerGroup’s Talent Shortage survey reports that attracting and retaining skilled workers has rarely been more challenging as 69% of U.S. companies report talent shortages – the highest in more than a decade.
Here’s a great article that includes four tips to help employers attract and retain talent in a tight market for talent, which are:
- Be flexible in terms of remote work and wages
- Don’t neglect the talent that you already have – invest in education and training and allow them to advance their careers
- Get outside your traditional channels – job boards may have worked in the past, but these unprecedented times call for direct, proactive recruiting
- Break down arbitrary barriers – rather than looking at the resume for a specific degree or major, shouldn’t we be focusing on skills-based hiring?
What tips do you share with employers facing a talent shortage?