It’s That Quantity/Quality Thing Again - MRINetwork Digest

MRI Network Digest


Setember 2010

Volume IV
Issue 9

It’s That Quantity/Quality Thing Again


With the sheer size of the U.S. labor market, there really isn’t an easy way to talk about it other than by the numbers. Four-hundred and seventy-three thousand unemployment claims last week, 14.6 million people unemployed in the United States, 46 million workers with bachelor’s degrees in the country. The use of these figures makes workers sound like commodities, easily comparable and easily interchangeable pieces.



Nearly one in ten people who want to work don’t have a job. It would seem that hiring a great candidate would take no more than putting up a help wanted shingle for an afternoon. You might even believe that, unless you’ve tried to hire someone in the last year.



“Regardless of the state of the economy, there is nothing easy about identifying great candidates,” says Tony McKinnon, president of MRINetwork. “Trying to find that impact player who you begin every search looking for, is like trying to find a popular toy on Christmas Eve. You can go to a big toy store with a thousand different options, but that doesn’t make your search any easier.”



The Bureau of Labor Statistics obviously can’t give figures about the quality of workers. They can, however, report on one of the most basic indicators of quality: education. Workers who have completed a bachelor’s degree have an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, less than half the national average and down .3 percent from just three months ago.



“Employers look at how many applicants there are for every job and assume they’ll be able to have their pick of quality people,” says Mickey Kampsen, president of Management Recruiters of Charlottesville. “What once would have been interviews of a few highly qualified candidates can turn into cattle calls as employers cast wider nets. With so many candidates, more stages are added to the interview process. People who truly are the top candidates aren’t given the personalized attention that would encourage them to take a position. Employers don’t always know how to tango.”



With a 2.2 percent job-opening rate, there are unemployment rate was 4.4 percent, the job opening rate was 3.3 percent,



unemployment rate was 4.4 percent, the job opening rate was 3.3 percent, almost a one to one ratio.



“The truth is that the top candidate you want coming out of a recession is the person who has been battle tested, so by definition, these candidates are usually employed, and they are elusive,” notes McKinnon. “They are often risking the job they already have just by talking to you, and if they don’t feel like they are being personally sought out, their motivation to participate can evaporate and the candidates you are left with aren’t the best you could have had.”



Employee confidence in the job market continues to teeter with shifting news. The recent bounce back of the quit rate from 1.3 to 1.5 percent seems to be remaining stable, though well below its rate from a few years ago. After a .1 percent fall in consumer spending in June helped fuel talk of potential deflation, spending rose .4 percent in July, beating expectations.



“Estimates now say unemployment won’t significantly decrease until mid-2011, but before that happens employers are obviously going to have to ramp-up hiring,” says McKinnon. “The attitude employers take when approaching candidates after such a long downturn is going to be as important as any other factor in the recruiting cycle.”


******************************************************** http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.