Unlocking Potential: Why Everyone is Hiring But Nobody is Getting Hired
June 2023A tale as old as time (or the last few years at least), it seems like there are plenty of job openings and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics consistently reports promising market conditions, yet layoffs seem to be a weekly occurrence and nobody you know is actually landing a job.
I’ve had dozens of conversations with candidates in the last few months that go something along the lines of “I’ve applied for tons of jobs and usually I’ll at least get a phone call for a few, but I just keep getting rejected.” How is this possible? No, the job openings are not fake and the need for talent is extremely real. Hot take – the true answer lies in those layoffs that plague our LinkedIn feeds week after week.
Recruiting Teams are #1 on the Chopping Block
Before layoffs became what seem like a weekly routine at this point, talent acquisition teams were always first to be cut. Logically, if a company is downsizing, they (hopefully) aren’t hiring. But in a time where budgets under scrutiny and profit margins are tight, that’s not always the case anymore. So, when the recruiting team is nixed and the company still needs to hire that social media manager or inside sales rep, who’s behind that job posting we see? Behold, the burnt-out hiring manager.
The Tale of The Burnt-Out Hiring Manager
Picture this, the hiring manager spends their entire 8+ hour workday focusing on their core function. They’ve got deliverables and deadlines, are in and out of meetings, know they need help and even have budget approval to make a hire. But when do they have time to sift through hundreds of applications, reach out to the qualified few, and facilitate an entire interview process?
In a pre-pandemic (read: pre-work/life balance) world, these tasks would be relegated to late at night, after dinner is cleaned up and the kids are tucked in. I’d wager that the vast majority of people have set some professional boundaries in the last few years, are prioritizing their mental health, and are no longer working until midnight or later anymore. That’s certainly where I’m at and what I hear daily from my friends, family, and professional network.
And so, inevitably, the hiring manager closes the role and hundreds of perfectly qualified applicants receive the generic rejection letter. It’s a vicious cycle and leaves both sides discouraged and frustrated. Sound like you?
The Staffing Solution
Specialized, boutique staffing firms are the simplest, yet often overlooked, solution to this conundrum. Take your given field of expertise, find a reputable, vetted recruiting firm that speaks your language, and you’ll find that sifting through a few resumes and having them facilitate your interview process suddenly becomes manageable. If you’re a candidate struggling to have your resume seen, these organizations are also your one-way ticket to getting directly in front of the hiring manager. If you’re in the marketing & creative world and this sounds like you, I’d love to chat and tell you how proud I am of the careful vetting my team does to ensure that you’re only seeing the top 2-3 resumes to ease your hiring woes. But the great thing about this industry is that there are specialized teams who can fill roles across functions easily and quickly, getting you back to doing what you love.
Alexis Blank, Client Success Partner at True Talent Group (alexis@truetalentgroup.com)