8 Million Job Openings . . . and NO Candidates?

Remember when there were six million job openings in the United States? How about seven million?

Well, hang onto your recruiting hats, because there are now more than eight million job openings that employers are attempting to fill in this country.

Now, you might be thinking, “Hey, how is this possible during a pandemic?” Good question. Job openings did fall as low as 4.6 million last year during the early stages of the pandemic.

However, openings have risen dramatically since that time. They were at 7.5 million in February and then topped eight million in March for the first time ever. And now . . . we’re at 8.1 million job openings.

How is this possible? There are those who contend that the extra unemployment benefits (and stimulus checks) that have been issued since the pandemic began have given people less incentive to look for work. In addition, those who are already employed—including top professional candidates—are reluctant to switch jobs while the pandemic is ongoing.

You’ve heard it before when speaking with candidates: “Well, I don’t think right now is a good time to make a move.”

More than likely, your base of clients is willing to hire. So the problem is not the fact that they don’t want to hire. The problem is they can’t find anybody TO hire. Not anybody they want to hire, anyway.

Let’s face it: if employers could find the talent they wanted without recruiters, they wouldn’t use recruiters. But they can’t. That’s why they use recruiters.

But what happens when YOU can’t find the talent, either?

Well, then you have a problem. Not only are you not able to make a placement (and earn a placement fee), but your client might also think you can’t get the job done. That is a lose-lose situation.

Here’s the good news: you’re a member of Top Echelon’s recruiting network. As a member, you can use other recruiters’ candidates to fill your client’s job openings.

Sure, you have to split the placement fee. But of course, half of something is better than all of nothing.

With that in mind, I encourage you to use the Network to fill all of your job openings. Why? Because you can fill them more quickly! Will you fill every job you share with the Network? Of course not. However, it makes no sense to keep job orders back and not share them.

Yes, you might receive a job order and have the perfect candidate on hand in your database. Fair enough. But does that happen with ALL of your job orders? I would guess not.

And here’s a little-known secret: Network recruiters are making split placements through the Network Candidates sourcing tool.

In fact, there are more than six million candidates in the Network Candidates tool. That is reason enough for you to use this sourcing tool on a regular basis.

In addition, you should:

• Join a Virtual Core Group to help fill your job orders.
• Plan to join us in Las Vegas for the 2022 National Convention!

Last but certainly not least, please contact me. I can help you find the candidates that you (and your clients) want.

You can reach me by calling 330.455.1433, x156 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.