News & Events

There were mixed signals with the release of the June JOLTS report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) as job openings fell by over 600,000 to 10.7 million, but for the 13^th consecutive month more than 4 million workers voluntarily left their jobs.

“The drop in job openings marks the third month in a row of declines, indicating that labor shortages are beginning to ease, although levels remain nearly twice as high as the pre-pandemic norm,” wrote Roy Maurer for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS) for June 2022 released on August 2, 2022, showed that, while down slightly, “the number of quits was little changed at 4.2 million.”

In a perfect world your hiring managers would only select top talent to join your organization.

These are not perfect times, however, as HR teams must navigate one of the tightest labor markets in memory while being buffeted by external factors such as the pandemic and rising inflation which have changed both workplace and salary expectations.

In this challenging environment, assembling your team with “A” and “B” players is harder than ever. While business leaders never want to see their positions go unfulfilled, settling for less-than-stellar hires can be a costly move.

Much of the HR playbook has been rewritten, if not completely run through the shredder, since the COVID-19 pandemic started, and talent acquisition is certainly no exception.

Hiring experts at the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) recent Talent Conference & Expo 2022 highlighted a shift in HR tactics during a historically tight labor market.

“The experts on the panel agreed that the typical recruitment practice of screening out—or eliminating candidates because they don't meet all criteria—is not workable in the present environment,” wrote SHRM’s Roy Maurer. “Instead, talent acquisition teams should practice more “screening in” or hiring for competencies and training on the particular role.”

The Great Resignation, far from abating, hit historic levels in March as a record 4.5 Americans quit their job while employers posted a record 11.5 million job openings.

“A gap between the number of job openings and of people unemployed but seeking work has persisted since last spring. In February, there were 1.79 job openings for every unemployed person, according to Labor Department data,” reported the Wall Street Journal.

When software engineer Mike Conley posted a rant on LinkedIn recently about a broken hiring process where he was being asked to do nine rounds of interviews, it hit a nerve with job seekers everywhere.

His viral post racked up nearly two million views, 40,000 “likes”, and a whopping 4,000 comments, almost all supportive.

After a year of navigating the uncertain waters of the COVID-19 pandemic, business owners can be forgiven for wanting some clear sailing, but workplace experts are predicting a turnover tsunami in 2021.

“Employers were experiencing high rates of turnover prior to the economic shutdown triggered by the pandemic last spring, but since then, quit rates reached their lowest level in nine years,” wrote Roy Maurer in March for the Society for Human Resource Management. “Retention and turnover experts now predict voluntary job-leaving will increase significantly in 2021 as employees resume job searches they put off for the past year.”

On the heels of a disappointing April jobs report, the U.S. Department of Labor released a much-anticipated May jobs report on June 4 that showed an uptick in hiring, but overall numbers signify that the labor market is still lagging a heated-up economy.

CNBC said, “Job creation accelerated in May but is still below lofty expectations”, while the Wall Street Journal termed the news as, “Hiring picked up in May but lagged behind broader recovery”.

Artificial Intelligence or AI may conjure up images of Steven Spielberg’s 2001 science fiction film where advanced-thinking robots and humans uneasily coexist in the future, but the reality is that AI is here today, and the disruptive technology is changing the way we do business.

Most of us interact with different forms of AI on a routine basis without even realizing it and those interactions are only going to increase as the COVID-19 pandemic has sped up digital transformation in all sectors, including AI.

In a recent study, participants were asked about how their current career relates to what they studied in college. It’s an interesting question because college is a big financial investment. The whole idea behind attending college is to get education related to a field in which you want to work. It’s fair to say that college graduates fully expect to enjoy a thriving career in the area of their college major. But is that what ultimately ends up happening? The results of this study about how current careers related to what participants studied in college may surprise you. 

Recruitment best practices take time to master. The newest trends in recruitment encompass a whole array of marketing strategies that require full-time attention. Does your company really have the time and energy needed to devote to recruiting for new hires? The costs of not doing it correctly are high. Bad hires cost companies thousands of dollars in training expense and lost hours. When your company needs to make sure that new hires are the right hires, consider using a quality recruiting service you can depend upon. Following is just a small look into the entire recruitment process that you won’t have to do when you hire a recruiting service.