Experts Predict Slow Growth but Competitive Recruiting in 2011

Todd Raphael
Nov 9, 2010, 2:21 pm ET

Slow growth, hesitancy, and nervousness will continue into 2011, but the competition for employees will continue to be vigorous for many positions.

That’s the upshot of what a panel of recruiting leaders, consultants, and professors are saying. Their detailed advice for corporate recruiting leaders will be in the December Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership.

For now, some highlights:

“Finding people in the right place with the right skills will not necessarily be easier in this over-saturated labor market. In fact, it may be more difficult.” –John A. Challenger, Challenger, Gray & Christmas chief executive officer

Jeff Joerres

“While there is a sense of stabilization growing, don’t be fooled–now is the time to implement a robust talent strategy that fully accelerates an organization’s business strategy. Those who think short-term instead of looking at the bigger picture will find themselves talent-poor thanks to external forces and the velocity of change. Having the best business strategy in the world is purely academic if the company lacks the talent it needs to execute it…2011 promises to be an exciting year. 2010 was an improvement on 2009, and that upward gradient will continue. It has been a long uphill struggle and as we trudge on through the fog of uncertainty, it can feel as if the summit is not getting any closer. If we glance over our shoulder though, and see how far we have come since the beginning of the climb, we cannot fail to be filled with renewed confidence that the peak will be scaled and we can look forward to the fun part of the race where it is all downhill.” –Jeffrey A. Joerres, Manpower Chairman and CEO

“Is all the economic news bad? Not by a long shot. Although the economy will be lurching forth, and there will be bouts of short-term bad news, we will not be back in the horrible markets of half a million job losses monthly. The 2011 economy should be decidedly better than that of 2008-09. Productivity is up, but firms cannot live on productivity gains forever. They will have to hire as output, albeit slowly, expands. Firms that start their recruitment the earliest will have their pick of the best and the brightest. Those firms will get not only talent, but also grateful team members.” –Jack Worrall, Rutgers professor of economics and chair, College of Arts and Sciences

“The American labor market is digging out from a deep hole, and doing so at a snail’s pace, for two very fundamental reasons. The first reason is that there isn’t enough demand to warrant adding more people. And if that were the only problem, the solution would be simple: Jumpstart demand. In other words, government should spend enough money to get demand growing again. But the second argument suggests even if there were another round of stimulus spending, it wouldn’t work. This is because the workers needed to produce the goods and services in demand just aren’t out there. This is the mismatch between the skills the unemployed have and the skills required to fill new jobs.” –Ken Goldstein, Conference Board economist

“Why hasn’t a lower-cost model for executive search emerged? In 1980, if I had engaged a search firm to conduct a retained search, the fee would have been 33-1/3%. Today, the percentage is exactly the same (or at least that’s the starting point for negotiation). Since the world is now flat, access to information costs almost nothing compared to 30 years ago. Every other industry has gone through cathartic change. So why does the search industry stay the same?” –Erin M. Peterson, Aon Hewitt recruitment process outsourcing leader

Lorrie Lykins

“All bets will be off as we move in earnest into a post-recession economy. We can expect to see unprecedented hiring skirmishes between rivals and all-out coups as the war for talent heats up again. And potential candidates will be less passive in their job search approaches and negotiating as the pace of hiring quickens. While online resources will continuously offer employers new and innovative ways to connect with these potential candidates, the good old-fashioned art of schmoozing and networking will be more critical than ever.” –Lorrie Lykins, i4cp (Institute for Corporate Productivity) managing editor

“Many candidates have a residual cynicism from the way they were treated during the recession. While poor candidate treatment by companies is nothing new, a person’s experience during difficult times tends to be magnified to them as opposed to when times are good. As a result, people remember how they were treated over the last couple of years, and I’ve seen employer brands suffer. I suspect companies will continue to try to rehabilitate their personal brands through improved candidate care…” –Jeremy Eskenazi, Riviera Advisors managing principal

Sherrie Madia

“You will find stellar candidates who are not plugged in to social media. But will you need stellar candidates who know their way around the Web 2.0 space as social media continues to evolve across all areas of organizations. By integrating social media strategies into recruitment, research, and overall corporate impact, you will not only find you can make more informed and effective hires, but you will also reinvent your own corporate culture.” –Sherrie A. Madia, Wharton lecturer

“It’s now time to engage all employees and create meaning that makes money. Recruiters need to stop worrying simply about their company’s survival, and start creating reasons why it should.” –Dave Ulrich, Michigan professor of business

Susan Burns

“The competition for flexible ‘project talent’ will increase as organizations seek to achieve workforce strategies that are sustainable and adapt quickly and easily to shifting business needs. The influence of social technologies, ease of access to networks, and desire to connect has made talent a shared global resource. Keeping talent engaged and interested in your brand and business is not going to get easier.” –Susan Burns, Talent Synchronicity chief talent strategist
“I believe we are on the cusp of seeing the job market open back up and jobs beginning to churn again. Churn is going to start happening, regardless of whether the 15 million people out of work have roles or not. For the past two years, people with jobs that seemed secure stayed in them and didn’t take the chance of looking at the grass on the other side. This stopped the normal churn that has always been there. We are now pent up and in 2011 things will start to change, and I predict a huge influx of people will start looking for new opportunities. So now is the time to start thinking about how to adapt again, hone your skills, and embrace this next era of recruiting.” – Rusty Rueff, Glassdoor.com and HireVue board member

How Recruiting Best Practices are Changing

January 19th, 2010
JCSI Study: How Recruiting Best Practices are Changing

2010 Recruitment SurveyThe results from JCSI’s 2010 Recruitment Survey reveal some interesting insights into how recruitment best practices are changing now that the economy is on the rise again. Hiring demands are increasing for most companies, but recruitment budgets are not increasing at the same rate. Traditional methods of posting jobs and contacting candidates are losing effectiveness, so recruiters are taking innovative approaches to finding talent. They are cutting back on ineffective advertising and agency practices and they are reaching out to candidates directly in online networks and social media.

As a result, the skills recruiting departments need to succeed are changing. Effective recruiters are adopting proactive processes with social media and emerging technologies to build their brand and connect with the best passive candidates directly.

There is a shift in recruitment best practices occurring right now. Companies are finding that it is far more productive to reach high quality candidates with online research and social media networking. This requires recruiting teams to develop new skills to communicate with potential candidates in their own online communities.

Finding qualified candidates is only half the battle — the challenge is to get them interested in your positions. JCSI provides companies with the expertise and resources they need to make the best quality hires faster.

- JCSI President and CEO Jim Sullivan

JCSI ran this study during November and December last year and collected responses from over 100 recruitment professionals. There is some great information here. In addition to these social media trends, we asked about:

* The biggest concerns facing recruiters and what are they planning to do about them
* How budgets are shifting and if many are anticipating a jump in employee churn.
* What are the most popular metrics recruiters use to measure success.
* The one thing recruiters say they’ll do differently in 2010.

Download this ebook to learn what your peers think about major recruitment trends and what they are doing about it.

Download the study: http://jcsi.net/landing/recruitment-survey