The recent jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals that in May the unemployment rate dropped to 3.8% overall. If you delve more closely into the numbers, you’ll see that the unemployment for Management, professional, and related occupations is in fact 1.7%.
That means that out of any 100 Management and Professional level executives you meet, less than 2 of them are actively seeking a new opportunity.
The record low unemployment rate doesn’t necessarily mean top talent isn’t potentially interested in becoming a member of your team. But it does mean they’re not looking at job postings or being enticed by “We’re Hiring!” entreaties attached to your Linked In profile. To find the best talent, a full proactive 360° campaign with inbound, outbound, social, and traditional networking is becoming imperative to finding the best talent.
As we noted in a previous blog post, the shortage of talent on the market is compelling companies to rethink their approach to talent acquisition. Traditional methods like job postings don’t work when people don’t read them. Proactive methods like direct sourcing and referrals are far more effective than using job postings. Smart companies are investing in candidate experience as a way to differentiate their opportunity from their competitors. Recognizing that any job interview is a two way street – that candidates are interviewing the existing team as much as they are being interviewed – has helped some companies make the leap towards better candidate experience.
The only way to close the critical skills gap that exists between open opportunities and available talent is to train from within or headhunt from without. Developing a successful training program or succession planning process can be a years long process.
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. And with the unemployment rate for professionals at 1.7%, the choice becomes clear.