The Hiring Power Shift & the Great Resignation is here
As our world reopens the power has quickly shifted back to employees, creating the conditions for more people to jump ship. This is why you are seeing headlines announce that we are in the ‘great resignation’. Why is this and how can you benefit?
Recruiting Across the Extremes of Economic Ebb and Flow
At the low end
When the economic cycle is at a low point, as it was in 2008 and during the uncertainty of the pandemic for many industry areas, the terms on offer reflect the desires of hiring companies. Even top player candidates feel pressure to accommodate employer demands and put up with workplace discord and/or poor leadership. Although this may be a reprieve for companies, it sets up for future unrest and turnover as employment conditions improve.
Moving toward the midpoint
As recovery builds momentum the motivated employees begin looking for a better culture fit and better leaders. Pay is not usually the highest priority. These folks are attracted to factors like purpose, culture, opportunity, and work flexibility; factors that counter offers cannot quickly resolve. Even if your company survives the worst of a recession or pandemic, you can be blindsided with retention problems at a time when top people are needed most.
Economy in full swing
At the peak of the economic cycle top players may not be looking to move since bonuses and/or commissions should be looking good but they will be concerned about increasing pressure from growth and culture changes as their employer scrambles to fill vacancies. The urgent need to hire for capacity and, most likely, less than optimal onboarding can lead to a drop in standards that puts pressures on company values and performance, giving rise to restlessness, disillusionment, and more turnover.
Those Pre-Pandemic Hires are Getting Restless
As I write this, the trend has shifted well past the mid-point, back to and even past pre-pandemic employment conditions in some areas. The balance of power in the hiring market is once again strongly in favor of candidates and they are restless, wondering if the grass is greener somewhere else. This creates risk if your culture is less than ideal but a huge opportunity if you need to grow. However, throwing up some job board ads will not optimize your results.
How to Succeed in Growth
It’s now time for hiring managers and recruiters to shift into a more creative and relational approach to hiring. A typical job board ad is not going to cut through the noise to engage top talent and even if it does, this is only the starting point. Check it out for yourself and do your own search in LinkedIn or Indeed pretending to look for a job. You will find quality openings not in the tens but in the hundreds and thousands. Remote work options have also expanded so you are now competing with even more companies across the US and Canada.
Without good people it is harder to excel and these good people now have choices – lots of them. Recruiting has always been a marketing and sales effort but now you must be strategic with outbound activity to find the best. Once found you need to get their attention, attract and engage them, and then ensure it is a good mutual fit. There is a lot to this process because you are educating, inquiring, building trust, sharing needs and motivations, and negotiating for a win win outcome with multiple people!
All this takes time but a top hire in place today versus a few months from now will most likely have huge returns. As such it will pay you significant dividends to engage a recruiting team to help you execute an effective hiring strategy to get a higher level player and get one faster than you could with your own efforts, especially since you have many priorities to juggle.
By employing a professional recruiting service your company leverages a well-established knowledge base, skill set, and network. Choose a service that knows how to find the right candidates for your culture and how to coach and support your managers to effectively interview, negotiate, and onboard top talent. A well run search will also significantly impact long term retention and ensure your new hire integrates quickly to contribute to your company’s success. At Premierehire we know how important the fit assessment and onboarding process is so we include our exclusive assessment process and New Hire Accelerator program with all our searches.
But remember – Professional Level Employees are Always Empowered
The higher the position in the company the less extreme the swings in the balance of power are going to be. When you need to hire qualified people to lead your company they are going to feel empowered as professionals even at the worst of economic times. Few will compromise on the value they know they can deliver even if jobs are more scarce.
As a business owner or manager you have to engage with them on the level they expect. Often the reputation and focused effort of a dedicated recruiting firm will elevate your search and enable you to attract candidates who normally ignore unsolicited emails or would not notice your job ad buried deep in postings. When you have a dedicated recruiting team, they will find and reach out to qualified candidates and open up a higher level of talent that is currently not job seeking but who are potentially open to a career move.
Professional recruiting services will also help you match the personalities and styles of a new hire to your culture, improve the odds of a successful negotiation, and provide support to ensure a successful onboarding. Overall, a professional recruiter providing strong candidate matches will increase your company’s retention rate at any point in the economic cycle.
To learn more about how Premierehire can help you retain, recruit, and onboard top talent with our programs and services please contact leanne@premierehire.com or book a free consultation.