Recruiters are the underappreciated professionals who tirelessly match job hunters with great ... [+]
Recruiters are the underappreciated professionals who tirelessly match job hunters with great opportunities. In light of the fast-approaching National Recruiter Day on May 30, it’s the perfect time to shed light on these unsung, hardworking professionals.
These are the people who you immediately contact when desperately needing a new job. They have access to the hidden job market with roles that are not publicly posted online. Recruiters maintain and continually cultivate tight relationships with companies, hiring managers and human resources personnel.
The search experts share with their candidates insider tips about the corporate culture, compensation ranges, appropriate corporate titles and the best work style offered that’s suited for your lifestyle and career progression. You’ll receive feedback and constructive criticism to improve your interviewing skills. Instead of being forced into the uncomfortable position of negotiating salary and benefits with your prospective boss, an experienced recruiter can help deftly navigate the tricky salary conversations and obtain the compensation that you desire.
The Tough Times For Recruiters Finally Turned Around
It hasn’t been easy for recruiters over the pandemic. During the dark days of the virus outbreak, recruiters, human resources personnel and talent acquisition professionals were fired or furloughed. The situation looked bleak for the folks whose job was to help people find jobs when there were few openings and a historic level of layoffs.
Ultimately, the economy reopened and businesses were in desperate need of staff. The demand for talent had become insatiable. The Wall Street Journal reported that there were not a sufficient number of recruiters to help place people. A current search for “recruiters” on LinkedIn shows 355,369 job listings.
In a conversation with Jennifer Shappley, vice president of global talent acquisition at LinkedIn, concerning the upcoming celebration of National Recruiter Day, she shared that hiring has never been tighter. Shappley said that recruiters—including contingent, retained, staffing, sourcing and in-house talent acquisition—are the backbone of the hiring process. With the dramatic increase in the war for talent and coping with the Great Resignation with around 4 million Americans quitting on a too-common basis, recruiters are left feeling burned out.
According to Shappley and LinkedIn data, by May 2020, the need for recruiters dramatically dropped by nearly 70%, relative to pre-pandemic demand. Fast forward to 2022 and now recruiters can’t keep up with the needs of businesses. LinkedIn’s platform shows an 11x growth in global requirements for recruiters compared to the nadir of May 2020, which was around 4x the pre-pandemic demand in January 2019.
Why It’s Hard To Find And Recruit Candidates
It is not easy to find, attract and recruit candidates that have the requisite skills demanded by organizations. LinkedIn data shows job switches have increased by 4% year-over-year globally. With 11 million jobs open in the U.S., it's understandable that potential job hunters can be highly selective.
Workers are reconsidering what is important to them. They’re reevaluating their work and life priorities. Employees want flexibility and choices over how they work. There is an expectation that businesses must value their mental health and emotional well-being.
If companies refuse to offer remote or other options, take their staff for granted and run the operation as if it’s still 2019, people will quickly quit and seek out better opportunities.
What’s Happening In The Current Job Market Climate
There is always an ebb and flow in the job market. It has been blazing hot for a while. Even with rising inflation rates, supply chain disruptions, the resulting increases in costs for everyday living and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there are still an enormous number of jobs.
To keep the economy afloat during the pandemic, the Federal Reserve and U.S. government injected trillions of dollars in stimulus packages into the economy. This led to an amazing rebound. Consequently, businesses needed to aggressively catch up with hiring as conditions improved, the job market boomed and recruiters were kept busy.
As the stimulus programs ended, inflation dramatically rose, concerns over geopolitical events increased, as well as questions of bubbles in many sectors. The U.S. has started to see a correction. Recently, there have been selective hiring freezes and some rightsizing. LinkedIn’s latest data, however, indicates that hiring in the U.S. across all sectors has grown by 6.4% above pre-Covid-19 levels.
The Changing Role Of the Recruiter
A recruiter is more than a person pitching a job. They are similar to a talent agent, putting in the time, effort and energy to find their client a dream job and the compensation they desire. An intimate bond is formed during the sometimes elongated process. The best recruiters learn—or are predisposed—to be empathetic and caring. Oftentimes, long-term relationships are formed between recruiters, job seekers and corporate clients. There is a need for recruiters to be flexible with the sudden lurching changes, in both candidate and hiring manager expectations and requirements. They must also deal with issues that are out of an individual’s control, such as geopolitical and economic events that also have an impact on the hiring decisions.
Making Life Easier For Recruiters
LinkedIn, the social media platform for job seekers, is announcing new and updated features to help recruiters make more placements. LinkedIn Recruiter is rolling out functions for recruiters to find on-target candidates faster. Time is of the essence for recruiters, as it's a race to find the best person for the job opening before their competitor does. The Recommended Matches feature will enhance candidate recommendations. According to LinkedIn, these people are more likely to accept InMails. Those who utilize both Recommended Matches and Recruiter find more interested and qualified candidates.
Skills-based hiring is becoming more common. Recruiters can source candidates based on applicable skills and readily screen for prospects with the best matches. There is the functionality to add context on their member profiles about how they developed their skills, resulting in more matches.
In-house talent acquisition recruiters could benefit from a feature that helps look within the organization for someone who has the skills to interview internally for a different type of role. This helps with morale, as employees see that upward mobility is offered and encouraged.
The Recruiter Inbox will be enhanced to offer a more efficient and collaborative messaging experience with features to help add notes and tags and view messages. With updated Job Wrapping, recruiters can manage all of their jobs in one place.
Shappley said that she knows how tough it is to place candidates. She celebrates all recruiters for their tireless work and commitment and encourages everyone to thank a recruiter who made a difference in their life.
