US job openings soar to record high of 6.3 million
This January saw the largest increase in job postings in 2.5 years, with 645,000 new jobs being posted. The economy is booming, and at 4.1% unemployment is at a 17 year low. And that’s for jobs across all industries and levels. When you look at the numbers for executive level positions, the unemployment rate is hovering around 2%. That’s great news – unless your company needs talent with a strong set of applicable skills.
How is a job posting like this Help Wanted Sign? Because neither work very well.
As this recent article in USA Today cites “many jobs, particularly in manufacturing, administrative work, and information technology, require greater or different skill sets than in the past, and not enough workers have them.” In addition to those hard skills, employers are increasingly seeking talent with pertinent soft skills – talent with the ability to problem-solve, who utilize design thinking and employ their creative skills, and who harness their high emotional intelligence in interactions with peers and clients.
The need for strong well-rounded talent has never been greater. And yet many companies are still sticking with job postings as their solution for filling their skills gap. Job postings only reach talent who are actively looking on job boards for positions. Basic math dictates that with fewer people seeking jobs, fewer people are looking at job postings, rendering them essentially ineffective. And putting “We’re Hiring!” on everyone’s Linked In profile isn’t any more efficient than a job posting.
Two options: Train from within or Headhunt from without
In the long term, a thorough training program can help to close the skills gap. But a robust training program can take years to implement and companies are slow to implement them. The only way to close the skills gap in the short term is to proactively recruit from the pool of passive talent. And that can only be done by adopting a proactive approach to talent acquisition. It’s imperative that companies start looking at ways to attract and engage potential team members to move from their current positions if they want the best talent to consider for their open role. Whether by utilizing external executive search firms or directing in house recruiters to head hunt, companies seeking the best talent that aren’t recognizing the need for proactive executive search capabilities will soon fall behind their competitors.
If you’re company does not have a team of recruiters capable of head hunting passive executive level talent, you’ll have to consider outside executive search firms. They can conduct the search on your behalf and bring you the top candidates to consider. While cost may be a concern, the cost of losing potential business opportunities is far greater in the long term.
If you have an existing recruiting team, many executive search firms offer solutions whereby they can partner with your existing HR/Talent Acquisition departments to assist them with everything from creating an ideal talent profile, sourcing of those ideal talent, or training more junior level in-house recruiters how to headhunt for themselves.
The bottom line is that job postings will not close your company’s skills gap; they’re only marginally effective for more junior positions and essentially ineffective for executive (Director level and above) searches. A proactive approach utilizing the assistance of an executive search firm is the most effective solution.