Are YOU Drowning in Job Orders?

There’s no doubt that the employment marketplace is still positive for recruiters. But is it great? One indication of greatness is the number of job orders that recruiters are working. Are members of Top Echelon’s elite recruiting network drowning in job orders?

That’s an excellent question. It’s so good, in fact, that we decided to pose it to the Network membership in the form of a poll question. And when I say “we,” I really mean “me.”

This is the exact question that was posed. (By “me,” not “we.”)

How would you describe your current job order situation?

The choice of answers that we provided is listed below, along with the percentage of Network recruiters that selected each one:

• I’m drowning in job orders! — 13.7%
• My job order flow is steady — 41.9%
• Meh. — 23.9%
• I’m vaguely concerned. — 12.0%
• I’m VERY concerned. — 8.5%

When drowning is . . . a good thing?

Is drowning in job orders actually a good thing? Nearly 14% of recruiters participating in the poll indicated that they are, indeed, drowning. But to answer the initial question, that probably depends on the recruiter involved.

What’s drowning to one person might not be so to another. Taken within this context, drowning in job orders means that you have too many to work effectively. You’re taking orders and you’re not giving them all the attention they deserve. (So why continue taking them? Because they’re JOB ORDERS!)

Meanwhile, 41.9% of poll participants selected “My job order flow is steady” as their answer. All things being equal (and they’re usually not), this seems like the best situation. You fill a job order, you get another one, you fill a job order, etc. The job order flow is not too much or too little. It’s just right. (Call it “Goldilocks recruiting.”)

And now for my favorite answer of any poll: “Meh.” Almost a quarter of recruiters chose this electrifying answer. This indicates that they’re rather lukewarm about their situation. Those who chose “I’m vaguely concerned” (12.0%) are, not surprisingly, vaguely concerned.

And then we have those at the far end of the spectrum (8.5%). They’re not drowning. They’re lost in the desert without any water or job orders. They chose “I’m VERY concerned” as their answer, indicating that even in good times, job orders can dry up. Recruiting can be a cruel profession that plays no favorites.

So the final verdict: is the marketplace great for recruiters? Based on the results of this particular poll, good might be a better adjective.

At the very least, it’s better than “Meh.”