Is This the Tightest Market Recruiters Have Seen?

There is no doubt that the employment marketplace is tight right now. It’s a candidates’ market. Job openings are plentiful. Qualified candidates, on the other hand, are not.

But is it the tightest market that recruiters have ever seen? Well . . . that’s a tough question. And since it’s a tough question, we decided to pose it to the members of Top Echelon’s recruiting network.

After all, they’re tough bunch. They can handle it. Below is the question that we posed in the form of a poll in the Members’ Area:

Is this the tightest market with the most turn-downs and counteroffers that you’ve ever seen as a recruiter?

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

  • Yes, absolutely! — 24.3%
  • I’m inclined to think so. — 43.5%
  • I can’t decide.— 13.9%
  • No, I’ve seen worse.— 18.3%

The market majority rules

The most popular answer was, “I’m inclined to think so.” That answer garnered 43.5% of the vote. “Yes, absolutely!” was in second place at 24.3%.

Put those two percentages together, and 67.8% of recruiters are of the opinion that this is the tightest market they’ve ever seen. That’s more than two out of every three. (And keep in mind that some of these recruiters were around during the dot.com buildup.)

Another 13.9% admitted that they “can’t decide.” The fourth and final answer was “No, I’ve seen worse.” That answer accounted for 18.3% of the vote.

So to put it another way, less than 20% of TE recruiters are convinced that this is absolutely NOT the tightest market they’ve ever seen. That’s a relatively low number. To put it yet another way, 81.7% of poll respondents are not convinced that this is not the tightest market they’ve seen.

Is that clear as mud?

Other things are abundantly clear. Top talent is in demand, and there’s a scarcity of it. Employers are more than willing to pay recruiter fees in order to secure said talent. But even recruiters are experiencing difficulty finding the candidates they need.

That’s why using your trading partners to fill job orders and make split placements makes sense. Half a pie is better than no pie at all.

What happened to half a loaf? What would you rather eat—bread . . . or pie?

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