The Challenges Being Faced In The Hiring Market Today

I was delighted to have the chance to be interviewed by Tony Restell just recently, delving into the state of the hiring market and the challenges that employers are currently facing.

Here's the interview in full - and, for those who prefer to read rather than watch, I've provided some of the key points of note from the 3 questions we tackled underneath this recording:

How is the hiring market looking today for employers?

So the hiring market is changing. We've had years and years of high demand and low candidate supply. Don't get me wrong, that is still the case. We still have high demand and low supply, but there have been some things that have impacted that - most notably higher interest rates, at least here in Canada.

We have hopefully now started the trend back towards lower interest rates. But when things like interest rate hikes happen, then unfortunately, employers get a bit nervous. They will think twice about hiring somebody whenever a new opportunity arises within their organization,

What are some of the biggest issues harming a company's efforts to make hires in this economy?

Besides the economic backdrop and interest rates, some of the other issues that really do cause problems for employers are:

• Finding people who have a strong skill set that's a really good match for what that particular company is looking for; and
• Finding people who will stay for the long term, so identifying those hires who will grow within the organization and bring real added value to the organization when they are hired.

What can an employer do to really give their recruitment partner the best possible chance of success?

One of the things that really makes a difference is giving your recruitment partner the opportunity to speak with the actual hiring manager. So a lot of the times, we will work with human resources or a department head who isn't necessarily involved in the department on a day to day basis, doing the day to day things in the minutia of running that particular department.

The supervisors and managers who are in the trenches with the teams are much better equipped to give us a good view of what goes on on a daily basis, allowing us into their environment, so that we can see what the culture is like, so we can see where this person will be sitting, who else they will be working with, and understanding the personality styles.

That's key to making a successful hire, because I think when you add new people into an organization, if you don't understand the culture and what the day to day is like for the people who are already there, you could put in a person who doesn't fit in that culture.

The other thing I recommend, especially in a market where there is high demand and low supply, is to be open to employing those who don't necessarily have every skill, but can learn those skills; or people who have strong, transferable skills from a different industry, even from a different country.

Do you need help making a key hire?

I hope this interview has given you some good food for thought about the state of the hiring market? As always, your thoughts are welcomed in the comments. Should you need any help with making a key hire for your business, now or in the future, please feel free to contact me here on LinkedIn to discuss how we might help.