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The Biggest Hiring Challenges of 2016

Your company is growing, your retirees are packing their bags, and you plan to staff several open positions during the year ahead. Are you ready for the challenges and opportunities the new year will bring? Balance caution and care with optimism and positivity, and as you do so, prepare to tackle these potential staffing obstacles in 2016.

The market will thin out slightly.

During the peak of downturn in 2008 and 2009, brilliant-but-unemployed candidates hustled for positions that offered half of what they were worth (if these candidates could find them at all). Some employers took advantage of the bounty, sending candidates through ridiculous hoops and subjecting them to ten rounds of interviews in exchange for absurdly low offers. But now the tables have turned. If you’re still picking your candidates apart or offering lowball salaries, stop. At this point, pressing your candidates too hard will not attract geniuses; it will drive them away. The best will accept offers elsewhere and only the desperate will remain.

Candidates are abandoning mainstream job boards.

The biggest job boards like Monster and Careerbuilder are still popular, for sure. But the best candidates aren’t searching there anymore. They’re searching geographic and industry-specific sites where the odds are more favorable, the lines are shorter, and the jobs are a better fit. Adopt the mindset of your ideal candidate as you approach your sourcing process. Enlist the help of a recruiting firm that understands your target audience.

Linkedin is fading.

Like the biggest global job boards, Linkedin still has a place in the staffing world, but it’s no longer the best place to find the savviest and most ambitious candidates in the marketplace. Again, a recruiting firm with an educated, youthful, and ambitious network can connect you to the talent you need.

Employees move faster.

A generation ago, employees often stayed with a company for decades after they were hired. But this is no longer the norm, and the stigma associated with “job-hopping” is becoming a thing of the past. If you want to retain your candidates longer than the average relationship of 2.5 years (and falling), you’ll need to tighten your staffing program and take a hard look at your workplace culture.

Passive candidates.

If you’ve been leaning back and expecting candidates to knock down your door and beg for your approval, reconsider this approach. Studies show that a surprising number of highly talented and happily employed workers are quietly open to new opportunities. Take advantage of this silent marketplace, not by pulling employees away from your competitors, but by raising your online profile and actively networking. If you have opportunities to offer, these passive candidates should know about them.

For more on how to find and attract the best candidates on the market in 2016, reach out to the staffing experts at PSU.

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