Recruiting Intensity

Recruiting Intensity

Bloomberg News discusses "Why Employers Are Slow to Fill Jobs: Business Class" based on work by Stephen J. Davis, Jason Faberman, and John Haltiwanger.

"...recruiting intensity per vacancy plummeted during the recession. Despite a modest rebound, recruiting intensity in 2011 remains 20 percent below 2006. Lower recruiting intensity leads directly to a slower pace of job filling.

Why did recruiting intensity plummet? More to the point, why hasn’t it returned to pre-recession levels? Labor-market slack is part of the answer. Many employers see little downside to passing on marginally qualified applicants when new candidates arrive daily. There is no rush to hire. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some employers see the current situation as an opportunity to upgrade labor quality, hiring only the most outstanding candidates."

Recently a friend applied for two project manager positions with a finance company. Both positions seemed to be a good fit, until a simple survey (6-7 questions) popped-up after the standard demographic questions. 

How many years of Oracle 12R programming experience do you have?

The good news is that the rejection email came back in less than one day. The bad news is that the position was for a Project Manager (not a developer, programmer, or analyst). The company must have felt that they could find a PM with 10+ years experience in a complex work environment with Oracle programming skills. 

My experience is that Project Managers are not usually good programmers, and programmers are not always good project managers. As a person grows in their career discipline, they are becoming more specialized.

The Bottom Line:

Outstanding candidates are in demand - and employers are being very selective.

~Xolo