Recruitment Forecast 2015

by Dave Nerz

spiral-notebookIf you track the future of recruitment and you do not know Bob Marshall, you should tune in. Bob’s site is www.themarshallplan.org; he is great at providing recruitment analytics and fact-based information on the current status of employment and how it will impact recruitment. Recently, Bob shared some new details in his newsletter regarding the strong positives for the 2015 recruitment forecast.

For global recruiters working the United States as a part of their market, the US GDP increased at an annual rate of 5.0% in the third quarter of 2014; that is an 11-year high water mark. So businesses are doing well and the impact on the search for talent and need for quality employees should have a direct impact on recruiters in 2015. While other global markets and regions are performing at different levels, it is rarely a bad thing to have the US economy doing well.

Another recruitment analytic to consider is regarding job growth. To a large extent, growth is coming from employers with fewer than 500 employees. Seventy-seven percent of US job growth is from small to mid-sized companies. For the average recruiter that is not a part of a large employment brand, this is great news. The future of recruitment should be strong for the small recruiter working with the small and mid-sized employers. So for contingent recruiters, if you have lost your focus on the smaller employers and are working on exclusively bigger employers, your need to consider a shift based on this recruitment analytic.

Finally, unemployment is quite low in the area where most contingent recruiters work: with degreed candidates. Unemployment is just 3.2% in the US for people with college degrees. That is quite low and as we are frequently told, full employment will never be 0%, so 3.2% is close to full employment. Needless to say when we are close to full employment, client companies will be more open to paying for the services of a recruiter. So the near-term future of recruitment looks quite positive in the US.

Get busy building a plan and working that plan. The recruitment forecast is for good times ahead!

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Final Countdown for Email Platform Change!

by Veronica Blatt

Blog-Computer-KeyPlease be reminded that effective Monday, January 12th, blog posts from NPAworldwide will be distributed exclusively via Jetpack. Currently, we are running in a dual-distribution environment through both Feedburner and Jetpack. The Feedburner distribution will be shut down on January 11th. Any blog subscribers who have NOT re-subscribed to receive email from the new provider, Jetpack, will stop receiving new posts from us. RSS subscribers are NOT impacted by this change.

Although change can be disruptive (and we know that asking you to re-subscribe to our blog is inconvenient), we are excited to move to a more stable platform. Jetpack was developed by Automattic, the developers of WordPress. Our site is a self-hosted WordPress site, so we feel good about the long-term availability of Jetpack and its obvious compatibility with WordPress.

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3 Social Media Trends for 2015 that Recruiters Need to Know

by Sarah Freiburger

social media for recruitersAs the world continues to be obsessed with technology, the internet, and social networking, it is only logical that regardless of your industry or occupation, there is something to be found that would be of benefit to you or your company, especially if you own an independent recruitment firm and handle the advertising and marketing yourself. Recruiters can see how platforms such as LinkedIn or Facebook or Twitter have now engulfed more and more users in their self-promotion tactics, allowing firms to build a following of candidates or clients or business resources to stay on top of the ever changing space we live in today. For those not able to keep up with each trend, here are the top three trends I suggest for recruiters to keep an eye out for, and get your firm involved with. Read the rest of this entry »


Top 5 Recruitment Blog Posts of 2014

by Veronica Blatt

holly-berries-snowWe are taking a holiday break until early January. Thank you to all of our subscribers for following our blog and sharing our posts throughout the year – we appreciate your support! We’re looking forward to bringing you another year of great content, including contributions from special guest bloggers. Best wishes to all of you for a happy, healthy, and successful 2015!

In case you did not see these, here is a recap of our five most popular recruitment blog posts of the year:

6 Questions to Ask a Split Placement Network Before You Join – From “how much does it cost” to “who owns the network” and “how are disputes handled,” here is our list of six questions you absolutely MUST ask before joining a split placement network.

Mobile Job Search is the New Normal – Not only did Indeed acquire MoBolt (a technology platform that allows job seekers to apply directly for any job, from any device), Beyond.com announced that 64% of job seekers prefer to use a smartphone for their job search activities. View this blog for a link to the full infographic.

Differences Between NPAworldwide and Fee Trader – Prospective members often wonder how NPAworldwide differs from Fee Trader. One of the key differences is that Fee Trader has a ‘bidding’ option on posted jobs, but there are other differences as well. This post will give you a quick summary of the major differences.

Worldwide Recruitment Buzzwords of 2013 – LinkedIn offered an infographic of the top ten most overused buzzwords on their platform in 2013. NPAworldwide president Dave Nerz shares the LinkedIn infographic, plus added his own list of the top 10 buzzwords most overused by recruiters globally. Feel free to add your own ideas to the list!

Hot Specialty Niches for Recruiters – If you’re a generalist looking to develop a niche practice area, here are some suggestions on the hot specialty markets, based on data collected from NPAworldwide members.

Do you have any requests for blog content next year? We are always looking for content ideas; please add yours in the comments!

Remember to confirm your email subscription using the button below – we are completing our migration to a new email service. Beginning January 12th, all email notices will be handled solely by our new provider, Jetpack.

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The Silver Tsunami

by Dave Nerz

silver-hairWow! That is a title that evokes fear and perhaps a chuckle at the same time. For anything to keep the attention of the media or perhaps even maintain the interest of our information overloaded minds, it needs a catchy moniker. The Beatles started the “British Invasion” that “Baby Boomers” all know. The Boomers have moved onto “Reality TV” and “hashtagging.” Lots to be said for a well-crafted handle!

The “Silver Tsunami” is the title associated with the aging workforce demographic that threatens to overwhelm employers. While it is a global issue, this issue is most alarming in the U.S. and in Western Europe. Global talent will be more difficult to find and retain as the older employees retire in record numbers. Employers will be looking to recruitment professionals to locate the unique skill sets that will be lost in the decades ahead.

Every day in the U.S., 10,000 people turn 65 years of age. This has been the case since 2011. Many older workers have extended their careers and continued their employment as they waited for their retirement portfolios to recover from the Global Financial Crisis. During the GFC, many that were not prepared to retire were laid off or were forced into early retirement. With portfolios recovering, more baby boomers are making a conscious choice to retire now.

Some facts from the U.S. Census to consider:

  • In 2012, 21.3% of U.S. men over the age of 65 remain in the labor force.
  • In 1990, only 17.6% of men over 65 were working.
  • In 2012, 13.4% of women over 65 remain working.
  • In 1990, only 8.4% of women over 65 were continuing to work.
  • People over 65 represent 13.7% of the total U.S. population
  • In 2010, 19% of the total workforce was made up of employees over 55.
  • It is expected to rise to 24% of the workforce by 2050.

What is interesting is that the Silver Tsunami is working both sides of the same issue. Older worker are leaving in high numbers which is one challenge and on the other hand, older workers will make up more of the workforce moving forward…a different but related issue.

As a recruiter, HR professional, or employer do you have a strategy to find, keep and value older workers as a part of your work force plan?

REMEMBER: We are migrating to a new email distribution platform for this blog in January. Please confirm your subscription below in order to keep receiving email updates. Thanks!

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Please Re-Subscribe to our Blog!

by Veronica Blatt

subscribe-newspaperEffective Monday, January 12th, new posts on this blog will be delivered to email subscribers via Jetpack Subscriptions (we are currently using Feedburner, which is no longer a supported service). So that you don’t miss out on any new posts, we are asking you to please re-subscribe to our blog via the button below.

NOTE: This is a double-opt in process, so once you add your email address, you’ll receive an email with instructions to confirm your subscription. Check your spam/junk folders if you don’t receive this email in a short period of time.

Jetpack is a WordPress plug-in developed by Automattic (also the developers of WordPress!). Our site is a self-hosted WordPress site, so we feel good about the long-term viability of Automattic, WordPress, and Jetpack (and we do not receive any benefit from sharing this information). Using an unsupported service is really not a go-forward solution, so change, as they say, is inevitable.

A few other notes:

  1. We are running parallel with BOTH distribution systems through Sunday, January 11th. Once you subscribe via Jetpack, you will most likely receive DUPLICATE email notifications every time we post – one delivered from Jetpack, and one delivered from Google/Feedburner.
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Please drop me a note in the comments if you have any questions. Thanks for your support as we work through this transition!

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A Pact with the Devil

by Veronica Blatt

MaureenAs technology has changed many things in recruiting over the last two decades, there is something that suffers the pain of change inextricably in many organizations and that something of which I speak is the act (and art) of communication.

I could go on and on in this article about how nobody is talking to anybody anymore because of technology and this is pretty much true inside the recruiting departments of companies and is pretty much the reason many of you are in business today; however the reason for this article isn’t to bemoan that happy fact.

The reason for this piece is to share with you my techniques for learning about new business opportunities while I am phone sourcing.

Let me backtrack for just a moment.

What is a phone sourcer?
People hire me to call in to companies to find people with vey specific titles (or people doing very specific jobs) inside (usually) very specific organizations.

Kind of like in the old days when you had the time to do it yourself – old fashioned headhunting. I do the research and the recruiter does the recruiting.

Isn’t everyone on LinkedIn?
If they were you and I wouldn’t be in business. It’s a common misconception (lie) nowadays (especially among corporate recruiters who have to justify the massive amounts their bosses are spending for LI Recruiter seats!) and the truth of the matter is some industries are woefully under-represented (think manufacturing, healthcare) while others (think recruiting) are sickeningly over-represented.

Be that as it is, on my daily sojourns a gatekeeper usually answers my first dial in.

Recently I was working on a Director of Operations for a Midwestern heat exchanger manufacturer. They wanted a hands-on plant manager out of a discrete/engineered products manufacturer in Tornado Alley. I was calling into plants identifying plant managers on the first leg of my job.

You know the plant gatekeeper type:

Thank you for calling ABC Company, Marie speaking, may I help you?

Yes, Marie. This is Maureen Sharib. Can you tell me who your plant manager is?

We don’t have a plant manager right now. He died suddenly last month. Would you like to speak with our manufacturing manager? He’s handling his duties for now…

Whoa! Surprise. But it happens. Death is rather extreme, but this example happened on this job along with three other vacancies I heard about at the fifty or so plants I called into. They were:

  • Director of Operations
  • Production Manager
  • Plant Manager (who needed coil fabricators at another plant)

All these represent business opportunities for recruiters that someone who is calling into companies on the front lines of recruiting research is hearing about because someone is still willing to talk with people.

A great deal of this early probing and talking with people is not happening nowadays because technology is removing this research “burden” from so many and so many are so glad-fully handing it over without a thought to this lost opportunity cost.

They have no idea what they’re losing in this pact with the devil they’re making.

Next month I’ll regale you with a tale of the second leg of my job – when I contacted the plant managers to “tickle” their interest in my customer’s opportunity and report to you the next layer of business opportunities I uncovered.

***

I really appreciate that you took the time to read my post. I regularly write about phone sourcing and business development issues and trends. If you’d like to read more about the mysterious world of phone sourcing (it’s really not that mysterious!), Google my name and the word gatekeeper – lots of articles will come up for you that I’ve written over the years. It’ll be a good introduction for you to the subject!

Follow me on Twitter at @MaureenSharib and/or join my sourcing group on Facebook – Sourcers Unleashed.

Yes, I do (grudgingly) have a LinkedIn profile – send me an invite at maureen at techtrak.com – I’ll accept. I do post articles over there as well.

I own the phone sourcing/competitive sniffing firm TechTrak.com, Inc. that helps companies find and telephone contact candidates for their hard-to-place positions at fractional traditional recruiting costs.

You can always contact me at 513 646 7306.

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Fire Your “Best” Client

by Veronica Blatt

You're-FiredToday’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Kimberley Chesney. Kimberley is the owner of Prime Management Group in Canada, with offices in London and Kitchener (Ontario). Kimberley is a long-time volunteer for NPAworldwide, currently serving as Immediate Past Chair of our Board of Directors.

In the world of contingency recruiting, nothing is more frustrating than working so hard to find excellent candidates and then having your client go silent. Anyone reading this that has done third-party contingency recruiting will understand what I am talking about.

Here’s the scenario. You have done business with this client for many, many years. You have watched people come and go and you have always been able to defend some of their misguided reputation by explaining to candidates that they are going to change.

You have put up with “hurry up and wait” and have had candidates in holding patterns only to find that they accepted other opportunities because they too got frustrated about the so-called “opportunity of a lifetime.” You have listened to your contacts within the company complain about things and yet you remain patient, concerned and devoted to this long-time client.

Then it happens…You lose out on one, two, three or more placements because of delays.

You don’t receive any response after submitting a resume. You don’t receive the long-awaited feedback after an interview you arranged (after receiving the request less than 12 hours before the proposed interview time). You receive excuses (finally after trying to contact your client numerous times) about the delay. However, you do not receive any valuable information to share with your candidate in order to keep them in a holding pattern.

Finally, you have had enough and you remember that YOU are in control of what you will or will not put up with. You can make the decision to either wait it out or speak up.

Don’t misinterpret what I am saying here… no one wants to “fire” a client so you really have to assess the overall risk before you make that call.

One of the things you should NEVER compromise is YOUR own reputation and that of the recruitment company you work for. If you are enduring long bouts of silence regarding your work and this isn’t justified, candidates start questioning YOUR integrity – especially when you are the one who has to make excuses for your client.

When you finally make this difficult, yet powerful, decision you will have NOTHING to lose and everything to gain.

Many times, clients just don’t “get” what we do. They don’t have to, because they pay our fees to “put up” with their inconsistency. However it is up to you to educate them and explain that their silence and non-committal actions are causing their reputation to suffer. In addition, you need to explain that you will not have your own reputation suffer because of their lack of consideration.

Recently, we “fired” a client. It had a profound affect. The client simply didn’t understand what all the fuss was about and ended up apologizing and, more importantly, stopped the bottle neck and proceeded to interview and prepare offers for two different positions!

Talk about a win-win-win… Candidate happy, client happy and most importantly we were happy!

Take a look at what you are wasting your time on and see if you should be firing your “best” client.

Good Luck!

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Top 5 Growth Industries for Recruitment in 2015

by Sarah Freiburger

image of pie chartExciting times are reportedly ahead for independent recruiting firms as the REC Jobs Outlook Survey recently reported a 9% growth in the next two years. For firms, this is a good time of the year to focus on a sector that is rapidly growing, or try to change their focus to include those industries that have hit the top of the list. For students and job seekers, a new survey from Michigan State University has reported that hiring for new graduates is expected to jump by 16% next year. This increase is due to cautious hiring demand the past couple of years that is now taking off. While most of these will not surprise you, it is a good way to stay on top of the year ahead.

1. IT. A healthy 24% of the respondents to Computerworld’s 2015 Forecast survey said that their companies plan to add more IT employees in the year ahead. These were listed as the top 10 IT skills that would be in high demand in 2015:

  • Programming/application development
  • Project management
  • Help desk/technical support
  • Security/compliance governance
  • Web development
  • Database administration
  • Business intelligence/analytics
  • Mobile applications and device management
  • Networking
  • Big data

2. Engineering. This is an industry that will be seeking experienced candidates with more needed year after year. Highly experienced candidates are leaving due to retirement and the next generation needs to be able to fill in those gaps. Graduate recruitment for engineers will definitely experience a big drive in 2015.

3. Finance and Accounting. Clients in the financial services sectors are projecting huge increase in demand for staff. Financial analysts, area sales managers and relationship people, risk specialists and analysts as well as all of the associated IT, marketing, accounting, HR and other back-office people will all add to this sector growing in 2015.

4. Oil, Gas, and Energy. As oil becomes an even greater commodity, other forms of energy supplies will also start to develop, so specialists within the market will be at high demand with industries such as fracking and shale coming to front of the industry.

5. Life Sciences. Any industries that involve healthcare, pharmaceutical or sciences are going to also continue to see growth for years ahead because of the way the world is developing. Increases in the life span of the human race are causing more positions and more specializations to constantly pop up.

If you are looking to start expanding your recruitment firm in to another industry, a good way to do so is through help from other firms and recruiters that you can work with in a network organization.

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Networking Tips – How to Get the Most Out of the Event

by Veronica Blatt

Mel-Kettle-PhotoMel Kettle is a communications and social media consultant, speaker, blogger, educator, coach, bookworm, obsessive foodie and eatie, and a budding photographer. She blogs on marketing and social media at www.melkettle.com.au. Mel is passionate about working with organisations to show them how to communicate effectively so they can develop communities, share their stories and raise awareness. She particularly enjoys working with people who want to make a difference to other people’s lives. In her spare time Mel writes a food blog, The cook’s notebook.

My last blog post was about how to choose which networking events to go to.

So now that you have chosen, how are you going to make sure you get the most out of the event or conference? These are my top networking tips:

1.    Take LOTS of business cards – there is nothing more frustrating than meeting someone interesting and having to rely on them to contact you because THEY don’t have a card. Don’t be one of those people. Please. I am currently trying to track down a woman I met at a networking event recently to give her some work, but she didn’t have a card to give me, and hasn’t sent me her details – it’s making it a little tricky…

2.    Have a plan. Depending on the type of event, I generally plan to meet – and have a conversation with – a specific number of people. It might be one, it might be ten. The actual number depends on how much time will be allocated for networking, the format of the event and my mood at the time!

Try and have a look at the attendee list so you can see who will be there and where they are from – this can help you target specific people to talk to. With so many events now registering people online, it’s far easier to see who is going to be there, as often online lists are created. Some fabulous event organizers will even create a Twitter list or a Facebook group of attendees so you can start the conversation before you meet! How cool is that??

3.    Don’t just hang around with your friends or the people you are comfy with. Presumably you have gone to a networking event to network. So go and meet people! And yes, as an introvert I do know this can be difficult. Just talk to one new person. Please! It does get easier.

4.    Try and learn something about the people you meet. Don’t just fling around as many cards around as you can! You are better off meeting five people and finding out something about them so that a relationship can be established, rather than “meeting” 25 people you just give a card to. Be genuine about who you are when you are talking to people. Show interest in who they are and what they do. It’s not ALL about you!

5.    Follow up within a day or so. This can be as simple as sending an email saying you enjoyed meeting them. Or perhaps sending an interesting article you found that is about something they are interested in. Don’t send them reams of information about your business and how you want to work with them – unless they specifically asked for it.

6.    Please, please, please don’t drink too much alcohol at a networking or industry function. It doesn’t take much to ruin a hard-earned reputation. And no one really wants to talk to the tipsy chick or the drunk dude who is starting to slur his words.

7.    Most of all, have fun!

What are your top networking tips to make the most out of networking events?

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