Dive Brief:
- According to the recent findings of a survey by Beyond, an online career network that connects job seekers and employers, more than half of HR professionals said it’s more difficult to find and land strong job candidates today.
- For the Business Journals How To: Human Resources, Dana Manciagli outlines three reasons why this struggle may be taking place. Her reasons: Job candidates appear unreliable, a technological disconnect is present, and managers immediately rule out “slobs.”
- More than a million jobs were added in 2015 so far, she writes, but “it will take time to fill them all.”
Dive Insight:
Why do job candidates appear unreliable? About 71% of responders to the survey said they aren’t willing to hire job hoppers. While part of this issue is on the applicant to solve via more strategic resume building, employers may want to take the opportunity to ask the applicant about their job experience to get a sense for how and why they moved jobs.
As far as technology goes, the onus lies on the HR managers. More than half of HR professionals admitted they don’t have a mobile-friendly job application process despite an upward trend in mobile job seeking, Manciagli notes. This behavior leads to more applications dropped or not completed due to accessibility problems.
And the slobs? About 60% of HR managers won’t hire a candidate if they aren’t dressed sharply during their interview. But in this job market (and this cultural time, when many workplaces are becoming more casual), a recruiter can’t really afford to throw away a truly qualified candidate only because of how they dressed, Manciagli says. Finding the right candidate can take months of searching, meaning employers need to consider how they approach each candidate carefully.
