Recruiters Give Job Seekers Guidance and Glimmer of Hope

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Geoffrey Dubiski, Chief Talent Scout and Managing Director, Sumner Grace

Last month we asked you to tell us about 4 key themes within the resume that would lend guidance to job seekers during a very deep occupational recession. As we learned early in our recruiting careers those candidates currently employed were prime targets of our efforts. They were with the competition, learning new skills, and had certain pain points that we would try to address to woo them to the new opportunity.

Today with 1 in 10 Americans unemployed, and countless others underemployed, we are buried with resumes of candidates that fit, are desperate and or just shooting for any attention. That type of resume tsunami, compounded with processes that take time in the most efficient operations, have brought job seekers to a level of frustration not seen before. It has truly stress tested the networking ideas since we all know so many in this situation.

However things are looking up! Career sites, board aggregators and job boards are brewing with opportunity. At last count, in the openly advertised market, there were over 3.5 million jobs posted with more in the unadvertised market – and growing daily.

Now that we have a robust supply of talent the question is how do we screen appropriately to gain the best talent? In a Recruiting Trends May 2010 survey of 111 national recruiters some suggested that a gap in employment doesn’t necessarily mean that your chances of being hired are narrowed, here are the responses that you helped us put together:

81% of recruiters will lend leniency to time gaps on the resume
89% of recruiters will look favorably at volunteering as an alternative to career employment to fill in the gap
93% of recruiters were positive on temporary and consultative engagements as a bridge between positions
48% of recruiters would look toward individuals looking to make a significant career change

These responses are encouraging since the media has recently picked up on several ads stating the unemployed (or those unemployed longer than 6 months) need not apply. Let’s face it – this is not a good strategy for finding talent nor is it sustainable. Not to mention the poor impact on your organization brand! When the economy puts people on the street, indiscriminately, there is a much longer curve to recovery, and with homeowners upside-down in their mortgages or other reasons restricting relocation we need to think differently about engaging talent in virtual or remote opportunities instead of inside the 4 walls of Corporations!

As we continue to speak to recruiters we do find one sign of caution for both seekers and recruiters – and this is the disparity the recession has caused with compensation. During each economic downturn we find that companies recalibrate their expectations of which end of the compensation band to hire into; and seekers also know that there may be a need to adapt to this change. However; the question is IF they will stay WHEN the market heats up again. Just a cautionary sign to insure that offers are fair and the market is still competitive.

We thank you for your support with our survey and giving the guidance that many job seekers require at this point of our recovery.

Geoffrey will be presenting at onrec Expo 2010 on Thursday, September 16 on Recruiting Data Inside the C-Suite

During late 2009 Kennedy Information and Sumner Grace surveyed over 700 recruiting and top talent acquisition professionals regarding the use of metrics and analytics. During this session we will uncover some of the myths behind data, how to demonstrate return on investment within the recruiting function and what it takes to get your data in front of the C-suite.