Unemployment numbers in Canada and the US are hovering between slightly up or flat, as they’ve been for months. Today, Canada’ unemployment is at 7.1%, and in the US it’s 4.3%.
That’s bad news for folks looking for work, as the economy isn’t adding a tonne of new jobs.. It also means continued high competition for open jobs for the immediate future.
Which is good news for people hiring….right?
Yes and no.
Weak job markets are a peculiar thing—like mayo on French fries—and like anything else, they have their upsides and downsides. More applications, for example, are great as long as the people applying are qualified—otherwise you just have more piles of (digital) paper to sift through.
It also means a shift in candidate motivations—the more motivated a candidate is to find work the less picky they will be about what job they get. Which can be a fine thing on its own, unless you end up hiring a candidate who isn’t really interested in sticking around.
How can you adjust to take full advantage of a market where more people are looking for work than usual? Read on for three things you can do to hire better in a down job market:
Do your research
Just because the job market is down in general doesn’t mean it’s down for YOU. Every industry and every role is different—and there are plenty of hot industries which have not, I am sure, even noticed that hiring is down.
If you take the time to understand what the job market is doing in your industry, for the role you’re searching for, in the place you are hiring, it will make a huge difference when it comes time to hire.
If you’re looking for a tool that can help you understand your job market, check out Raise Talent Intelligence.
Think long-term
A weak job market means more applications from qualified candidates. And when you have multiple qualified folks looking for a job, it can be tempting to negotiate lower salaries or reduced vacation/benefits.
And that can be a positive for your business in the short-term—but what is going to happen next year if the job market heats up? There’s a chance your new employee will go somewhere else to get what they really wanted.
Yes, you need to keep comp in line with the job market and current trends, but keep that as one data point among many when trying to achieve what you really want—a successful hire to meet your business objectives.
Keep a record of great talent that you don’t hire
Businesses are only ever as good as the people working for them, and sometimes a search goes so well that you end up with more people you want to hire than you have openings for.
Much like having too many vacation days, this is far from the worst problem to have—but that doesn’t mean there is nothing you can do about it.
Make a note of those Silver Medalists who fell just short of your top candidate. Let them know you’d be open to working with them in the future if the need arises. Maybe even set them up on job alerts, if your systems allow.
Exceptional talent only comes by every once in a while—a weak job market can help you connect with more of these people, so you can make more great hires when the time comes.
Wrap
Access to talent is an unquestionably good thing, but that doesn’t mean your strategies and tactics won’t benefit from change.
Some hires are still better than others, and if you’re not able to maximize your hiring—whether in times of feast or famine—your organization will come up short of where it could be.
Research, thinking long-term, and staying connected with the talent you don’t hire are all great ways to position yourself in a well-supplied talent market. And if you’re in an industry where talent is still sparse, you can always touch base with the experts at Raise to help build a hiring program that works for you.
