Why Hiring Is Harder Than Ever

Hiring shouldn’t be so hard. After all, every time you post a job, you get a LOT of resumes. Yet, so often, none of them are quite right.

This isn’t going to change anytime soon. One new study predicts that US employers will face a shortage of 6 million workers within the next decade, largely because of skills mismatch.

Even as the population grows quickly, it’s skewing away from the roles that desperately need to be filled. This is true in the trades, and it’s equally true in information work, as companies increasingly look for tech skills that candidates just don’t have.

In this month’s newsletter, why good benefits matter, how childcare issues are thwarting your hiring efforts, and how to keep the good employees you do have.

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Forget about sick leave, paid vacation and health insurance. Does your company offer pet insurance ?? or free meditation classes ??♀?? How about “Tinder leave” ???

The latter is what one marketing agency in Thailand apparently offers its employees as a perk. The company doesn’t just pay for employees’ Tinder subscriptions. It also offers PTO so they can pursue dating.

Make no mistake. Companies are looking for creative ways to incentivize hiring in a time when healthcare costs keep rising and improving upon existing health insurance options is not necessarily an economic reality. Right now, we’re seeing a lot of companies get creative about benefits that will attract more (and often, younger) people. Wellness benefits, flexible schedules, pet insurance… there are plenty of ways to appeal to prospective talent.

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A whopping 69K Americans missed work in August because of childcare issues —?an all-time record for that month. In Georgia, the annual cost of childcare is higher than the annual cost of college tuition in the state!

It’s a crisis. There is simply not adequate (and affordable) childcare to fulfill all the needs of working parents. Companies that offer childcare benefits are hot tickets to job seekers. These might include things like:

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???? Generous parental leave and PTO policies

I spend a lot of time talking to highly qualified, gifted and experienced job seekers for whom childcare is a pivotal issue in terms of enabling them to work. Consider your childcare benefits and how they attract or repel talent. Where can you do better?

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The job market seems to be slowing down, but people are still switching jobs. As recently as May, Gallup said more than half of employees in the US were either actively looking to switch jobs or thinking about it.

Regardless of the job market and its variations, it’s always in a company’s best interests to keep good employees. Here’s what Gartner says you should to to keep your employees on board. (And, for the record, I totally agree.)

First, increased compensation and benefits. A bit of an obvious answer, but nonetheless, true.

Interpersonal interactions, particularly between managers and employees, are nearly as important, as are opportunities for career advancement.

None of these things are likely to surprise anyone, yet, so many companies fail to fulfill on them.

For hiring managers, it’s critical to have resources to help tap into the right candidate pools, and that’s where a recruiter like myself comes in handy. I have the experience and the network to match up the right people seeking jobs with your open roles. Instead of looking for a needle in a haystack, a recruiter helps you get very specific about your search. If you’d like to get tactical today, reach out to me at KIP Search or just DM me here!