We’ve discussed why a lot of employers can’t make the mental shift necessary for hiring in today’s competitive marketplace.
But is that based on theory and conjecture . . . or on what is really happening in the employment marketplace right now? To find out, we thought it would be a good idea to ask recruiters. Specifically, we thought it would be a good idea to ask members of Top Echelon’s recruiting network.
So we did, in the form of a poll question in the Members’ Area of the Top Echelon Network software. The poll question was as follows: “What percentage of your clients’ hiring managers have a firm grasp of market conditions?”
The results, as you might imagine, were very telling.
Time to get a grasp
Let’s start with the fact that 15.2% of recruiters who participated in the poll indicate that less than 25% of hiring managers have a firm grasp of market conditions. That means for these recruiters, only one out of every four hiring managers who whom they work “have a grip” on what’s happening.
The most popular answer in the poll happened to be the next one: “Between 26% and 50%.” That answer garnered 51.1% of the vote.
So we’ve already uncovered some very impactful data. That data is as follows:
For 66.3% of recruiters participating in this poll, only half (at best) of the hiring managers with whom they work have a firm grasp of current market conditions. And for many of these recruiters, it’s far less than half.
What about the rest of the recruiters participating in the poll, you may ask? Well, 27.2% of them indicated that “between 51% and 75%” of hiring managers have a firm grasp. While that sounds like good news, it’s actually only a little over a quarter of poll participants.
Even fewer were those who believe that “between 76% and 100%” of hiring managers have a firm grasp. That percentage was a paltry 6.5%. In a perfect world, this is the response that would receive the most votes. We do not live in such a perfect world.
The challenge of client education
Client education has posed a challenge to recruiters ever since the profession started. There are quite a few reasons for this, including the following four:
#1—Hiring managers are biased about their organization.
Since hiring managers work for their employer, they probably believe their employer is a great place to work. And if that’s the case, then they assume that everybody will believe that their employer is a great place to live. That makes sense, but it’s simply not the case (the fact that everybody will believe it, that is). That’s why hiring managers must “sell” the organization, as well as the opportunity. However, they are often deficient in this area.
#2—Hiring managers overestimate the allure of their organization’s opportunity.
So they’re biased about their organization and they overestimate the allure of the opportunity, a deadly one-two blow in talent acquisition. As a result, they also fail to “sell” the opportunity adequately enough. Top talent needs to be sold, and those hiring managers who recognize this fact and act upon it have a firmer grasp on market condition than others.
#3—Hiring managers lack knowledge regarding the psyche of the passive candidate.
Passive candidates are different than active job seekers. Unfortunately, some hiring managers lump both groups of people together, especially when it comes to dealing with them during the hiring process. As a result, they sometimes treat passive candidates the same as they treat active job seekers. That is a mistake, one that can result in losing the interest of top passive candidates.
#4—Hiring managers are, by and large, too busy to research market conditions.
In some organizations, hiring is not all that hiring authorities do. They often have other duties and responsibilities, working “in the business” just as much as they work “on the business.” (If not more so.) As a result, it becomes easier to become out of touch regarding current market conditions. There’s just too much to do and not enough time to do it.
As long as there is a disconnect between what is happening in the employment marketplace and what hiring managers believe is happening, there will be frustration for recruiters. The only questions are how much frustration . . . and what can recruiters do about it?