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Recruiting is tough: Unemployment remains low. The number of open positions far exceeds the number of available workers. And skills are constantly changing.
SHRM surveyed 2,366 human resources professionals in January and three-quarters (77%) said it was difficult to fill full-time positions in the past 12 months.
“Yes, it’s difficult, and I think it comes down to the scarcity of certain positions and the skills gap,” said Jill Eubank, executive vice president of business professionals and healthcare at global recruiting firm Randstad. .”
That’s down from a high of 91% in 2022, but about half (47%) say recruiting is more difficult or much more difficult than a year ago.
Among those experiencing recruiting difficulties, the top three challenges were low applicant numbers (60%), competition from other employers (55%) and candidate ghosting (46%). Employers also cited changing skills and the inability to offer flexible working or more competitive pay as key barriers to recruitment.
Leading recruiters and workplace experts weigh in on the recruiting and hiring woes of this new labor market.
View from top
Erin Scruggs, vice president and head of global talent acquisition at LinkedIn, said the biggest challenges she hears recruiters talk about are competition from other employers, figuring out how to attract Gen Z candidates and transforming skills.
“Skills change so quickly,” she said. “Job skills are expected to change 68% by 2030 due to advances in artificial intelligence. Talent leaders must always think about the future when developing overall talent strategies for their companies. The situation is complex.”
Employers in the healthcare and government sectors are most likely to believe candidates lack the right certifications and qualifications, according to SHRM research. Industries most likely to report candidates lacking necessary technical skills include manufacturing, professional and technical services, and construction. The industries with the most ghosted candidates are healthcare, retail, transportation, and manufacturing.
“We’ve had an increase in the number of applicants and employees who ended up hiring us last year,” said Rodney Smoczyk, SHRM-CP, global director of talent acquisition at Rinchem, a transportation and logistics company based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “If we end up re-engaging with them, Contact, we often hear that they found another opportunity that they thought was better, but it didn’t work out or didn’t live up to their expectations. It seemed like they were promised something big but didn’t deliver. ”
Smoczyk said the number of applicants has been steady, but the quality of applicants has sometimes been lacking.
“Maybe it’s because we’re looking for specialized skills, but there’s not a sudden surge in available tech talent after big tech companies cut jobs,” he said. “We are not seeing an increase in qualified CDLs [commercial driver’s license] So are drivers in the wake of the trucking industry slowdown. I have no doubt that some industries may have found it easier to find talent last year, but I believe there are many more that have not. “
Keep salaries competitive
Larger employers are more likely than smaller organizations to report recruiting challenges due to employer competition, lower wages and lengthy hiring processes.
Scruggs said offering competitive salaries and keeping pace with inflation are important pieces of the talent acquisition puzzle.
“There’s a general perception that wages haven’t kept pace with inflation, and job seekers are accepting that because people understand the current state of the U.S. economy, and people are staying put because of economic realities,” she said. “But as people are starting to Reshuffle the deck and you’ll find that competitive salaries become even more important.”
Smoczyk said Rinchem uses salary surveys and market data to ensure its salaries remain competitive. But ultimately, attracting talent requires more than money alone, he said.
“There’s always going to be someone who can pay a few dollars more, and if it’s just to keep the money for the team, then the highest bidder wins,” Smolczyk said. “However, if you create a culture where you are constantly invested in the development of your team and provide a great workplace where they contribute more than just their timetable, then fair pay will be enough, But it has to be in partnership and a good working environment.”
remote consideration
SHRM found that organizations that operate face-to-face (83%) or through a hybrid approach (76%) are more likely to report recruiting difficulties than fully remote employers (43%).
“People are becoming more and more accustomed to flexible work models,” Eubank said. “Where employers can implement flexible working, there are opportunities. This doesn’t just mean remote working. Not all jobs can be flexible, and offering flexible working can mean being creative, such as allowing for different working hours or Unlimited paid time off as a benefit.”
Now is the time for talent leaders to step up and serve as talent advisors, share real-time data and advocate for flexible working, Scruggs said: “Companies with the ability to do this will see higher applicant volumes and greater There’s a talent pool to choose from.”
skills gap
According to SHRM, seven of the 10 hardest-to-fill jobs in 2016 will remain in the top 10 by 2024, with high-skilled medical jobs like doctors and nurses and skilled trades jobs like carpenters, electricians and mechanics at the top of the list. .
“The health care and technology industries have been facing the same talent shortages for years,” Eubank said. “That hasn’t changed. There aren’t enough new people entering these occupations to fill the demand, which has led to a shortage of people with these skills. Fierce competition.”
Scruggs said that in addition to current scarcity, healthcare jobs account for six of the 10 jobs with the fastest growing demand: “Attracting and retaining talent in this industry has become an increasing challenge. One way to achieve this is to build an attractive employer brand.”
Some of the hardest jobs to fill last year were those that required newer skills, such as data analytics and artificial intelligence jobs. Soft skills such as communication, teamwork, project management and leadership are also in high demand.
“Hard skills can be trained, but soft skills are critical,” Scruggs added. “Hard skills are going to change so much that having the right soft skills, such as communication and a learning mindset, will be really important.”
Scruggs said employers can start embracing skills-based hiring and embedding skills throughout the employee life cycle. “It starts with a strong relationship with L&D [learning and development]. Talent leaders should ensure that the organization has appropriate upskilling and talent mobility plans in place. ”
Smoczyk said Rinchem addresses the skills gap by looking internally for talent.
“When we can’t find talent with the required skills externally, we develop programs to help our existing talent take it to the next level and provide them with opportunities to grow and expand their careers,” he said. “In fact, 67% of our positions are filled with internal talent.”
recruitment strategy
SHRM research found that maintaining a positive workplace culture, offering competitive benefits and pay, and flexible working hours were the top reasons among employers who didn’t have much trouble recruiting in the past 12 months.
While the pandemic has led employers to try innovative recruiting strategies to find talent, survey results show they have abandoned this strategy by early 2024. The percentage of organizations offering flexible work arrangements and the percentage of employers increasing pay both fell by 16 percentage points from 2022.
Scruggs said the things job seekers value most generally remain the same — fair pay, flexibility, internal mobility and career development.
“If companies can’t afford pay increases or flexible working, they need to make sure they’re leaning toward a learning culture,” she said. “Upskilling is proving to be especially important for Gen Z.”
Scruggs added that a large part of the talent acquisition strategy is driven by labor market factors.
“Whenever the competition for talent gets fierce, we do our best, but when competition subsides, companies turn to investing in recruiting,” she said. “As soon as the economy recovers and the job market opens up again, we will immediately get back to what we need to do to find the best talent.”
According to SHRM, the most common recruiting strategies include recruiting through social media, increasing salaries, promoting a positive work culture, using salary transparency in job postings, and expanding job advertising. Some of the least used recruiting strategies include eliminating college degree requirements for certain positions, expanding geographic search parameters, and considering “untapped talent” such as older workers and workers with disabilities.
Most respondents who eliminated college degree requirements eliminated only a handful of positions, but even with the elimination of college degree requirements, 73% of organizations were successful in hiring people who were previously considered unqualified.
“We have several positions that pay well and don’t require a degree,” Smochik said. “We’re very focused on how we attract talent from local communities to fill these positions, which are made up of very diverse individuals – we’re always looking to tap into those talent pipelines.”
Recruiting professionals needs to have a long-term talent acquisition strategy to avoid getting bogged down by market forces, Eubank said.
“Talent acquisition strategies ensure recruitment is aligned with long-term business objectives, thus providing a hedge against future disruptions,” she said. “Talent acquisition is a long-term approach that ensures all of a company’s recruiting efforts drive business results now and into the future.”
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