Only one-in-five employees considers their job rewarding and gratifying, according to research conducted by Right Management, while finding good candidates remains the top recruiting challenge for organizations, according to a new survey from Talent Technology Corporation, which also finds the more specific and higher skilled the job requirements, the harder it is to find qualified candidates – it’s been taking an average of 45 days for recruiters to fill a position. Survey results offer other insight: 63.4% of respondents see signs of economic pressure being relieved within their organization, and 51.4% expect to increase in size within the next 12 months (by about 12%) – suggesting new job requisitions, as well as corporate and economic growth, are possible in 2012.

While recruiters face even tougher competition for skilled candidates who will best fit their needs, building solid recruiting strategies is critical for success – as it always has been. For even the most experienced professionals, sourcing remains extremely valuable at the beginning of the process because they understand if they aren’t driving quality candidates into the hiring process they will not be successful in recruiting the best candidates.

This is a primary reason job boards continue to rank as the top source when it comes to finding candidates (at 17%) – even amid growing speculation about their demise. As social recruiting continues to be a hot industry topic, LinkedIn remains the social network of choice for recruiters. However, only 12.5% of candidates come from social recruiting (placing 5th).

The following is a ranking of sources for candidates based on research from Talent Technology:

1. Job Boards – 17.0%
2. Employee Referral – 15.8%.

3. Corporate Websites -13.8%
4. Internal Applicants – 13.7%
5. Social Networking – 12.5%
6. Outside Recruiters – 9.9%
7. Outside Agency – 8.7%
8. Corporate ATS – 8.7%

Source: Talent Technology “State of Recruiting 2012”

With a weak job market and tools which allow applicants to apply for jobs almost instantly, recruiters and hiring managers are becoming more overwhelmed with the volume of resumes pouring in – yes, even with utilization of applicant tracking systems (above 90%) designed to filter out unlikely candidates (screening out about half of all resumes). Job boards and networking websites help companies broadcast their job openings to a wide audience they normally wouldn’t have access to, which results in an increase of unqualified or unwanted candidates. According to a recent survey from The Wall Street Journal, most recruiters report at least 50% of job hunters don’t possess the basic qualifications for the jobs they are pursuing.

According to other information from The Wall Street Journal, in order to stem the number of duds companies receive, many have begun to seek alternative methods of hiring – and/or finding the right “fit” for their organization’s needs.

One company, which has a strong investment in the Internet and social-media, asked applicants to send links representing their “Web presence” (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc.) and submit videos demonstrating their interest in the position. Their method results in better-quality candidates and saves much time for the hiring team – and time for the potential hire.

Another company launched a program dubbed Code Foo. This program, which taught programming skills to passionate gamers with little experience, paid participants while they learned. Instead of asking for resumes, they used a series of challenges aimed at gauging candidates’ thought processes and asked candidates to submit a video demonstrating their love of gaming and the company’s products. This method resulted in nearly 30 people out of about 100 applicants who were picked for the six-week Code Foo program – six eventually hired full-time, several of whom were nontraditional applicants who hadn’t attended college or had thin work experience and wouldn’t have been hired simply based on their resume.

In times of high unemployment, bypassing resumes can also help companies weed out candidates from a broader labor pool. Yet, at most companies, resumes are still the first step in the recruiting process – even at supposedly nontraditional organizations. Meanwhile, companies are increasingly relying on social networks such as LinkedIn, video profiles, and online quizzes to gauge a candidate’s suitability for a job. While most still request a resume as part of the application package, some are bypassing the requirement altogether because they don’t provide the same in-depth review of the candidate as online profiles.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employers added 200,000 jobs last month – contributing to the lowest unemployment rate in about three years (8.5%). It’s the sixth straight month the economy has added at least 100,000 jobs. Although seasonal hiring contributes to the job total, other evidence of some form of recovery comes from a report on CEO turnover compiled by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., which finds the economy saw 1,178 CEO changes for the year – the lowest since 2004. Among those departing CEOs, 341 cited resignation as the reason for departure; another 245 CEOs retired from their companies; while 223 stepped down from their positions but stayed on the board.

Meanwhile, a study conducted by CareerBuilder finds voluntary staff turnover is on the rise, with 34% of HR managers reporting an increase. Employers cite the desire for higher compensation and feeling over-worked as the top two reasons employees gave for resigning. CareerBuilder also reports 30% of employers acknowledge they lost top performers to other organizations in 2011, and, among those surveyed, 43% indicate they are concerned top talent may jump ship in the new year.

However, employers are bridging the gap by training their employees as well as the unemployed – with 38% indicating they plan to train people who don’t have experience within their particular industry.

Given these factors, and increased job creation, it may not be long before there is a complete jobs recovery, or until unemployment drops significantly.

According to research from Intuit, small businesses created 55,000 new jobs in December and the November rate was revised upward to 70,000. This marks a growth of .3% in December and an annual growth rate of 3.3%. Yet, the hours worked also picked up, resulting in a December growth of .4% (2.5% for the year). In light of this, compensation per employee is up 3.4% for the year – a slight gain of after the noted 3.3% (+-) for inflation. However, on a brighter note, the fraction of hourly people working full time is now 31%, up from 29.7% in 2010. These statistics strongly suggest the small business economy is on the rise – as a result of growth among existing small businesses or new business development.

According to separate research, from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, unemployment among job seekers with college degrees is completely dependent on the type of major the degree represents. Given that industries are dependent on certain types of degrees this information is relevant as it provides insight into the number of individuals who are unemployed within segments of a population. For example, the risk for recent graduates within the Architecture industry are at a higher risk due to unemployment (currently 13.9%) related to the constraints the construction industry has seen since the beginning of the recession; unemployment remains high even for experienced college graduates at 9.2%. However, the numbers for those with college degrees are much better than for those with no more than a high school diploma (at 22.9%) and people who are high school dropouts (at 31.5%). It is also worth noting that the overall unemployment rate for people with graduate degrees in the Architecture industry is only 3%.

Both reports show it is important to take into account the entire picture, including the current amount of total unemployed, those who are entering the workforce, those exiting (either for retirement or returning to school), the amount of hours worked and added, the number of jobs created, and the number of jobs available because, although growth may be apparent, there will still be a time lag before the total number of unemployed drops below pre-recession levels.

According to a recent study from the Society for Human Resource Management, recruiters are having difficulty finding candidates to fill specific jobs – 52% of survey respondents report difficulty recruiting for specific jobs in their organization. To fill these positions, some organizations are beginning to hire from outside the U.S. But most are not, suggesting they’re looking locally and domestically for the help they need. Those that have hired from outside the U.S. tend to be larger organizations – they are more likely than smaller organizations to have hired workers from outside the U.S. – yet only 23% of organizations believe they are facing global competition for qualified applicants for jobs they are having difficulty filling. However, with 26% of responding organizations including multinational business units it is no wonder the survey finds 24% have hired workers from outside the U.S.

As SHRM shares its survey findings, another report, this one from ManpowerGroup, finds that job creation across the world is set to slow in the first three months of next year as companies scale back hiring in response to global economic uncertainty. Yet the report also finds a high-level of employer uncertainty, with 7% of companies saying they are unsure of their intentions, and U.S. employers indicating they plan hiring to increase slightly.

The two reports raise two questions: Among organizations expecting hiring to increase, how many will continue to have difficulty filling open positions, and will they recruit from outside the U.S. for those positions?

More than 70% of employers responding to the Recruiting Benchmarks Survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) report their organization has a formal effort to hire diverse candidates – and these respondents averaged a higher percentage of new college graduate hires than those who hadn’t had a formal diversity recruiting effort. The study also finds that larger organizations are more likely to have programs in place and those with more than 1,000 employees are more likely to recruit globally.

Although larger organizations are more likely to have these programs in place they tend to have more difficulty in hanging on to their new hires, with the current five-year retention rate for new grad hires at 69.2%. Yet their efforts yield the following results:

Also of note in this survey: 45% of 2010-2011 entry-level hires were new college graduates, and the organizations which recruited them retained 92% of their graduate hires after one year on the job.

According to the October Jobs Report released by Department of Labor, the number of people who voluntarily left their job increased from 967,000 in September to 1,070,000 in October (up 9.63%) – while organizations step up their retention efforts. TNS Employee Insights research indicates that strategies geared toward engagement can increase retention, yet employees are still discontent with their jobs. In another survey by Right Management, workers continue to feel trapped in their jobs and continue to want to (and do) find new employment elsewhere – with 84% of employees polled saying they plan to look for a new position in 2012. And those companies seeking to retain their talent should be worried, because according to yet other findings, these from Robert Half, professional level hiring is expected to rise in the first quarter of the new year. A full 87% of C-level executives responding to a Robert Half survey say they are somewhat confident in their organization’s ability to grow during this period, with a net increase in hiring of 10% expected (16% anticipate hiring, while 6% expect reductions).

Even so, according to the Right Management survey, not only are 84% of employees actively seeking new opportunities (unchanged from 2010), but another 9% are thinking about changing organizations and are networking, 2% have updated their resumes, and only 5% plan on staying in their current positions.

Here are Right Management survey findings:

Why are so many employees looking to change jobs? The Towers Watson Staying@Work survey finds workplace stress is at crisis levels – which will continue affecting employee discontent and disengagement, and, for employers, increase the difficulty in retaining and recruiting talent.

Perhaps due to this downward trend in satisfying employees, 26% of those responding to the Towers Watson survey report they’re planning to offer some financial reward to employees who participate in their organization’s heath management programs – up from the 13% who currently do offer some reward. Not only does implementing health management programs control health care costs and maintain a productive workforce, but the stress and health risk of employees decrease as well – resulting (although not guaranteed) in a slight increase in production and lower average turnover rates at 8% instead of 10.4%. However, respondents cited excessive workloads (89%), lack of work/life balance, unclear or conflicting job expectations, and inadequate staffing as the top sources of workplace stress, suggesting that talent will continue to look for other work if they become disconnected from their work environment.

As retention continues to be an issue for organizations even more executives are seeing a rise in recruiting challenges. Among executives surveyed for the Robert Half Professional Employment Report, 67% indicate it will continue to be somewhat challenging to find skilled employees in the first quarter of 2012 – up from 59% reporting on the same for this year’s fourth quarter and 42% for the third quarter.

Are executives expecting their talent to leave? Or are they expecting talent to be captured by better offers?

Have you continued to see increases in talent recruiting? And, what are you expecting your activities to be in 2012?

According to a new BenchmarkPro survey from Compdata Surveys, 79.5% of companies have formal pay structures. The survey finds pay ranges and the average pay range adjustment for 2011 were 1.7%, up from 1.6% reported for 2010 (with a projected 1.8% for 2012); however, the length of time in which these adjustments occur is also growing. Although companies are making efforts to increase their pay rates and retain their employees, individuals are waiting longer to see these efforts put into effect, as reflected in BenchmarkPro survey results, where companies reported an average of 15.5 months since their last adjustments were made – up from 14.5 months reported in 2010, and 11.4 months in 2009.

At the same time companies continue to act cautiously in regards to pay, many leaders are failing. According to a study released by Right Management, the top reason for a leader’s failure is their inability, lack of effort, or unwillingness to build relationships and form a team environment (at 40%) followed by a mismatch for the corporate culture (at 226%), then followed by not delivering acceptable results (at 11%) – which for many tie into their personal work efforts and benefits such as pay. According to this report the following are the identifiers which predict leadership success:

Predictor of Leadership Success
(Frequency cited by respondents)

Another poll, this one from Gallup, finds that 71% of U.S. workers are either “not engaged” or “actively disengaged” in their work.

While, according to The Hay Group, employee frustration wears down those who are dedicated and motivated, and they fail to obtain administrative and organizational support to get the things they need to enable them to do the job properly and effectively – representing another 20% or more of the total workforce. This, too, contributes to and eventually leads to engagement issues.

The book, “The Enemy of Engagement” by Mark Royal highlights the main drivers of frustration as:

• Poor Communication about goals, performance: Nearly one-third of employees indicate that their managers do not effectively communicate the goals and objectives for their teams.
• Resource constraints: One-third of employees report that they do not have the resources and information they need to do their jobs well. More than half of employees express concerns about inadequate staffing levels in their work areas.
• Unclear authority: Thirty percent of employees indicate that they do not have enough authority to carry out their jobs effectively, and more than 40 percent feel that the potential for adverse consequences discourages them from taking actions or making decisions.

As more individuals become less engaged and frustrated with their work environment – their efforts and attitude affect their relationships and the bottom line, causing further discontent for their managers and eventually contributing to leadership failure and eventually even tighter company “purse strings.”

So, perhaps the bottom line is, if an individual has the proper tools to do their job effectively and contribute to the productivity of the organization, it is necessary for leaders and the company as a whole to recognize the individual’s effectiveness and retain them any way they can – even if it means going above the 1.7% average salary adjustment.

As companies prepare to honor our veterans on Nov. 11, many organizations are in the process of making them a part of their team. Several news releases this week indicate companies are teaming up with organizations involved with hiring transitioning veterans. Partnerships include Joining Forces and Taleo, and the National Resource Directory and SimplyHired.com. Meanwhile, realizing the benefits of veterans in the workforce, Chase is set to hire over 300 veterans on Friday.

But there is still more to be accomplished. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national unemployment rate among newer veterans (those from Iraq and Afghanistan) was 12.1% in October – up from the 11.7% it had been in September (and a slightly larger increase from the average 10.5% for 2010). However, the good news is that as organizations recognize the significant benefits they receive from hiring veterans more realize the importance of considering them among their top prospects for talent; as the unemployment rate nationally remains at the 9% level, the overall jobless rate for all generations of veterans dropped to 7.7% in October from the 8.1% it had been in September.

The federal government has increased its efforts in helping those transitioning from the military connect with post-service employment, and many organizations now rely on the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for assistance in meeting the needs of veterans. A recently published DOL report, “The Veteran Labor Force in the Recovery,” details these initiatives.

To learn more about the advantages of hiring veterans, check out this presentation from a recent Recruiting Trends webinar: Recruiting Military in Transition: Channeling the Sea of Goodwill…

According to a new Robert Half survey, the bonus checks may be a little bigger this year. The survey finds a majority of executives expects to award the same or higher bonuses at year-end. Among companies that awarded bonuses to executives last year, 30% say they plan to give higher bonuses in 2011; only 14% expect to dole out smaller bonuses in comparison to 2010, and 53% report no change. One of the departments most likely to receive higher bonuses is human resources.

Here is the department breakdown: