Lack of Candidates

Where are all the job candidates?

Both active and passive job candidates are in short supply.  Combined with the unemployment rate being at an all-time low, the question on most hiring managers and human resource professionals’ minds is where is everyone?

As a recruiter, I hear on an almost daily basis from companies both large and small that they are struggling to find employees.

Having done recruiting for decades, I find there are basically two types of candidates:  passive and active.

Active Candidates

These are people who are either unemployed, under-employed or unhappy in their current position and who are regularly sending out resumes for new opportunities.  There are very few of these type of candidates in today’s market.

Passive Candidates

These are people who are currently employed and have a feeling they might be happier elsewhere.  This could mean they are “sort of” looking for a different position, title, line of work or just a different company. This could be doing similar work, hopefully for a higher salary or a complete change in industry and/or career focus.

Most passive job seekers have a few things in common:

• They don’t have time to be looking at everything. However, they are open to hearing about opportunities if something really amazing comes across my desk.
• They want to share their resume with someone they know they can trust. They need someone who will be honest about how their resume looks and how it presents.
• They want to be certain their resume won’t accidentally find its way to an employer for which they are not even remotely interested. Even worse, would be for it to appear on their manager’s desk as a candidate for a current opening. (Yes, I have heard of this happening—no I’ve never done it).
• They want to work with someone who will not “hard sell” or “bully” them into going for a job they are not really interested in pursuing. Someone who will listen to them. Someone who will be honest about requirements and can tell them where their resume appears weak and advise on what is missing. Also advise where they can improve their resume to showcase the skills they have that are not presented with enough information.

If you are even thinking about looking for a new opportunity, now is a great time to put out some feelers.