Tag: Economy

Sometimes employers become overly egocentric when it comes to recruiting, deciding that in a weak economy they have the pick of the litter when it comes to job seekers. However, job seekers are often no better at focusing their resumes around the old-fashioned idea of an objective and expecting employers to meet their personal needs by offering them their dream job.

The fact of the matter is that recruiting needs to be a give-and-take situation. That doesn’t mean one side gives and the other takes. It means there should be a balance on both sides.

In the article, “The Importance of the Give-and-Take Job Interview,” writer and human resources consultant Deborah S. Hildebrand suggests
that:

… job seekers (and employers) should focus on creating the type of give-and-take environment that naturally lends itself to a quality fact-finding session. Because that is what job interviews are supposed to be all about. It’s just business professionals gathering information.

In a truly idyllic job interview, both sides would feel confident in what they bring to the table and be able to discuss openly the benefit of what they each offer. It would be, as Hildebrand suggests, a more level playing field.

For employers, writer and speaker John Picoult sees it this way in his Monster.com article, “Does your Hiring Process Sentence Applicants to Hard Labor?” Employers need to consider how their company treats customers and apply these same rules to job seekers. After all, customers are just job seekers on their day off.

Consider this: if you make the shopping experience uncomfortable or difficult for customers, they are likely to stop patronizing your business, right?

The same principle applies in the recruiting arena. If it’s unreasonably difficult and onerous for candidates to interact with your firm, they’ll be inclined to look elsewhere for employment. (And no matter what the state of the job market, talented people will always have other alternatives.)

Making the recruiting process as free of stress and friction as possible should be your goal. It’s our goal. That’s why we offer a complete recruiting software solution for your applicant recruiting, sourcing, and tracking needs. Check out PCRecruiter for more.

As everyone anxiously awaits tomorrow’s employment numbers, a separate report is showing that companies are making the lowest number of layoffs in over a year.

The most recent report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that employers made 37,551 layoffs during June, a whopping 39 percent decrease from May, and marking the lowest number of job cuts in the last 13 months.

Although we’re not out of the woods yet, this is a huge step in the right direction, and offers a glimmer of hope at a time when many people are predicting that the economy is still getting worse.

“Even with recent signs that the economy is headed for another summer slump or worse, including the first contraction in manufacturing activity in three years, employers appear reluctant to shed too many workers,” Challenger CEO John A. Challenger said in a press release. “While it does not take long to shrink payrolls, it can take a significant amount of time to rebuild them, particularly as reports of the growing skills gap becomes more widespread.”

Even more encouraging is that the biggest job cuts in June were in education, just in time for schools and universities to wrap up things for the summer. And even that industry’s 6,569 layoffs were down 36 percent from last year.

“Continued weakness in the recovery will further delay hiring, which will, in turn, further delay the full recovery,” Challenger said. “Whether or not we see an  increase in job cuts depends on the length and severity of the recovery’s slowdown.

“However, barring some major economic catastrophe, companies in  the U.S. are likely to hold steady for the remainder of the year,” he added. “We probably  will not see a major ramp up in hiring or firing; certainly, not before the November elections. Even after the election and regardless of who wins, it  could be several months until companies understand the full implications of  the outcome and how to plan for the future.”

Check out the full report for more info on what industries and states are seeing the most layoffs, the top reasons companies are letting people go, and the industries planning to hire in the coming months.

What this country needs is more small businesses. So the U.S. Department of Labor recently announced it was providing $35 million for states to help develop, enhance, and promote Self-Employment Assistance programs to encourage unemployed Americans to realize their dreams of business ownership.

The program allows “participants who are currently receiving or eligible for federally funded Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Extended Benefits” to receive “financial assistance equal to their Unemployment Insurance benefits while they receive important entrepreneurial training and resources to help launch their own businesses.”

Small Business Vital to Recruiting

Small businesses not only create opportunity for their owners, but they create opportunities for other small businesses, as well as job seekers in the community. As the Small Business Administration suggests:

“… The overall importance of the small busi­ness community has been well documented and the importance of new venture creation is widely recognized.”

And nowhere is this more important than in the creation of new jobs. In fact, as of 2010, the SBA reported that small businesses (fewer than 500 employees per the SBA) accounted for 75 percent of net new jobs in the U.S.

Additionally, a study conducted by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) suggested that entrepreneurship is a major factor in any country’s well-being in both economic and job growth.

Technology Makes Small Businesses Competitive

However, the difficulty for many small businesses and entrepreneurs is in competing with larger organizations. That’s where technology can provide an advantage.

Technology makes small businesses competitive. As Stephanie Faris suggests in her article, “Technology Helps Small Businesses Restore Competitiveness to U.S. Economy”:

“Thanks to technology, those smaller companies can now compete with the largest corporations in the country. Cloud services are leveling the playing field, allowing small and mid-sized businesses to tackle larger projects …”

And one such large project is managing the recruiting function. That’s where PCRecruiter can help.

We offer tools that enable human resource and other business professionals to manage the entire recruiting process, from requisition approval and submission to resume database management and diversity tracking. Whatever you need to streamline staffing, we have the recruiting software tools that are right for your current needs.

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