Adapting to a Candidate-Driven Market

RECRUITING

ADAPTING QUICKLY TO A CANDIDATEDRIVEN MARKET

BY CARLY HAZEN

“When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.” — Benjamin Franklin

In different ways and in varying degrees, we’ve all experienced the chaotic events that the pandemic has unleashed toward the labor market (and life in general), but even as the pandemic stormed through the U.S. in 2020, no urban area in the country expanded the size of its labor force more on a percentage basis than Utah’s capital, according to a recent analysis from The Wall Street Journal. Utah reported the lowest average unemployment rate, the highest share of people actively working or looking for jobs, and overall, the “hottest job market in the U.S.” State leaders have boldly claimed that Salt Lake City is now back to where it was pre-pandemic.

These signs of strength and rapid recovery, while undoubtedly encouraging, have created a ripple effect of complex business issues surrounding talent acquisition. Leadership teams across every industry are facing unrelenting recruiting and hiring challenges, in what will now be the third year of an unprecedented labor market, characterized by record-level job openings, consistent turnover in critical roles, increased stress, and maybe the most notable — significantly changed candidate preferences, requirements, and expectations.

Candidates are now firmly in the driver’s seat, and if businesses haven’t already adapted their recruiting process to reflect, early on, how much the candidate experience matters to their organization, and how greatly they value their employees post-hire, that desperately needed talent will happily find work elsewhere, in a growing sea of opportunities.

In previous markets, most companies hired intermittently, which made it difficult to stay abreast of all the latest changes in the world of talent acquisition. Now, businesses of every size appear to be paying very close attention, as most companies have never done as much hiring as they are today — and they’ve never spent so much money doing it.

Here are a few guidelines on how to remain competitive:

1) Increase Transparency

Successfully recruiting new employees to any organization requires an important first step: a healthy dose of introspection. Organizations that focus on building a positive experience and company culture for their current employees will inevitably reflect upon their success by attracting new talent. A frequent refrain heard by recruiters everywhere is the need for increased transparency in the workplace. When a company makes an active effort to consistently share knowledge across the organization, it demonstrates that leadership values, trusts and respects employees at every level, which in turn, leads to more engaged, energized, and productive workers, who are infinitely more likely to aid in the efforts to recruit top talent through the best avenue possible — positive word of mouth. Ask for your employees’ feedback, value their opinions, and understand what drives them to stay. Then act on it.

2) Streamline the Interview Process

In 2022, every step in your recruiting, interviewing, and hiring process should be focused on the candidate experience. This doesn’t mean you have to abandon the process of thoroughly evaluating a candidate and checking every box of “must haves” for an open requisition. It means that you need to conduct the evaluation with a more nuanced approach that manages to sell and promote both the company and the opportunity, while also gathering the necessary information. Candidates are assessing you too, and first impressions seriously matter. Equally important is the speed in which this process moves. Most companies still rely on democratic decision making when hiring, which data has long supported leads to better outcomes, but having too many decision makers involved requires too many steps. Candidates in demand won’t settle for excessive interviews, scheduling headaches, or waiting weeks for an offer.

3) Sticker Shock: Consider All Factors

Employers do not have the advantage right now when negotiating pay and benefits with candidates, and the emphasis is squarely placed on the cost of the new hire. The struggle to afford higher salaries is one of the most painful outcomes of a candidate-driven market, to be sure, but the candidate requiring seemingly inflated levels of

compensation, commensurate with their level of experience and years of proven capability, isn’t the real issue, or at least it’s not the full story. Consider the amount of revenue lost as a result of the unfilled position. Calculating the price of vacancy is a valuable exercise, and the impact it could have on morale is worth serious consideration, as current employees will inevitably have to shoulder the burden and help bridge the gap — which can be weeks, months or even years. This could result in increased levels of employee turnover, and when those rates are above average, your workforce becomes at least temporarily less efficient every time someone leaves. This has real and lasting consequences, so having a long-term, strategic vision when hiring might pull some of the focus (and anger) away from the surprisingly high starting point requested from that fairly recent college graduate.

4) Play To Your Strengths

Salary and benefits have always come first for job seekers, but recruiters are watching the page turn on candidates prioritizing these items above all else. The pandemic has drastically shifted core values for employees across the globe — people have started to care more about how their life feels, as opposed to how it looks. There are now certain offerings from employers that are so desirable, employees are willing to trade a portion of their salary to get them, which is good news for small to mid-sized employers struggling to compete with larger corporations.

Chief among these offerings would be (1) personal flexibility (ranking particularly high among women), meaning remote or hybrid work options; (2) greater levels of inclusion with 62% of job seekers stating they would be more likely to apply for a job where a company is openly committed to improving diversity and inclusion in their workforce (according to survey from PwC on the future of recruiting); (3) the opportunity to learn new skills and receive quality mentorship from senior leaders; and (4) a healthy corporate culture where employees can thrive. Remember: There is more than one way to win top talent in a tight labor market!

5) Forge a Partnership With a Reputable External Search Firm

Partnering with the right recruiting firm can accelerate the hiring timeline, provide access to hidden, passive candidates, ensure a more efficient interviewing and onboarding process, and serve as a valuable source for market intelligence. Top performing companies recognize quickly when the need arises to tap into the capabilities of a leading search firm, and in today’s competitive landscape, the right recruiting partnership can mean the difference between success and failure. Experienced recruiters are in the trenches all day, every day, and can provide unique insights on how to locate candidates that are not only qualified, but also share in the company vision, mission and key cultural attributes. Hiring the right people, especially for critical roles, means building a solid foundation for the rest of the company to lie on.

Learning to adapt quickly to a candidate-driven market is hard because change is hard. It’s messy, discouraging and oftentimes expensive, but businesses that are not only able to adapt to fluctuating circumstances in the market for top talent, but willing to consider a newer, faster, more authentic hiring framework, that can more adequately meet the evolving needs of the modern workforce, will be the companies attracting (and retaining) the best and brightest this competitive market has to offer. n

Carly Hazen is the managing director for PrincePerelson. She joined in 2003 and specializes in executive search, finance, accounting, operations, and legal recruitment disciplines. She received a BS from the University of Utah in communication/PR and marketing and an MBA from Utah State University .

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