• Interview Exchange integrates with HigherEdJobs
• Interview Exchange integrates JobTarget OneClick "Job Posting Distribution Interface"
• Interview Exchange Launches Employee Referral Portal
• New solutions reduce recordkeeping expense, while finding better applicants
• "The CRM model for HR"
• Weddle's selects IE as one of the best employment-related resources available online

Simple solutions to the looming big bang in employment

Although the US economy still appears frustratingly unsure of itself, signs of sustained recovery are beginning to appear. Key economic indicators are improving, such as corporate sales and profits, production, inventory turnover and other factors. Meanwhile, most analysts attribute the current high price of oil in part to rebounding economic conditions, particularly in the US, China and India.

If history is a reliable guide, persistent if only moderate hiring activity should rebound in the business sectors that demonstrate profitable staying power.

In this vein, a forward-looking firm recently sought guidance from Dr. John Sullivan, a well known thought leader in HR. Which sectors, the company asked, are most likely to lead a hiring boom here and abroad? Sullivan and others believe an upsurge in employment will rapidly escalate into a 'War for Talent. (1)

According to Sullivan, the sectors that will expand their hiring in 2004 include consumer technology, biomedical, corporate and personal security, telecom and defense, with China and India showing aggressive growth.

Undoubtedly, other industries will follow, so even if you're not a staffing or hiring manager in one of the above sectors, you may be wise to begin now planning for a dramatic upturn in hiring.

What hiring boom? The one that's been building throughout the economic doldrums of the past several years. The latent one that will be led by nearly anyone who has been stuck in unsatisfying jobs during this anxious period … top performers who know that even a dead-end job is better than no job at all ... anyone who has watched loyal colleagues lose their jobs when the dot.com Zeppelin imploded … who now may question their loyalty to the company.

In fact, current studies report that 20-40% of the work force are or will be looking for greener pastures. Are you ready for the gale force of job seekers who will test the waters early and often as the first warm breezes of economic springtime appear? To say nothing of job seekers who, often out of work for some time, take comfort from the improving employment forecast and more optimistically move to revive their job search.

Too Little, Too Late?
Unfortunately, say Sullivan and other observers, most HR directors have ignored the lessons of late 1990s employment boom. For example, it's highly likely there will be a shortage of recruiters, both corporate and external, to manage the recruiting workload.

Suppose - just for discussion purposes - that yours is one of those companies that is, shall we say, not quite up to speed in its preparations for dramatically more hiring. At one level, this is understandable. Why invest in HR staff and technology when the need has been so small for so long that expenditures of this kind cannot be rationalized?

Fair enough. But if the experts are right, demand for recruiters is about to take a jump of hockey-stick proportions. If so, how can you manage the impending flood of applicant information resulting from even the hint of increased hiring activity across the economy?

From a technology standpoint, the HRIS (information systems) options abound, as do the vendors eager for a hearing. ATS (applicant tracking systems). CMS (candidate management systems). EPO (employment processing outsourcing. The TLAs (three-letter acronyms) proliferate.

Many of you already have such tools deployed, ready to be cranked up to meet renewed hiring activity. Many others, particularly smaller shops, may not, often because of cost, complexity, long learning curves, and so on. Meaning you may have grown your own systems to manage the flow of information crossing your desk daily. And probably with varying success.

Even if you do use an ATS, you may not have the latest and greatest version. And if not, what would it cost you to upgrade to gain the features and benefits of the newest version? Plenty, most likely.

A Simpler Solution
As the prospect of a hiring takes flight, consider your initial critical needs. One may well be this: quickly, efficiently and early in the recruiting process identifying applicants who possess the basic skills, experience and other factors you consider essential to success in the job, e.g., years of experience in XYZ segment, demonstrated ability to hire and promote people, professional certifications, willingness to travel or relocate, etc.

If recruiters are scarce, this one activity alone - a time-consuming manual chore for many HR shops - could overwhelm even the most productive team of staffing pro's and frustrate hiring managers eager to fill critical positions posthaste.

Now, multiply this by the myriad other responsibilities of recruiters - the things that showcase their real value to the enterprise. Things like minimizing time and cost to hire, maximizing new employee job performance, advising corporate management on personnel management planning, and so on.

By even the most conservative estimates, the best applicant qualification screening technology has the potential to slash by half the number of applicants who meet the minimum job requirements. (Interview Exchange clients report the system slashes by up to 90% the number of resumes they need to deal with and saves them up to 34 hours per job.)

What busy staffing pro or hiring manager wouldn't welcome a 50% or more reprieve from plowing through stacks of unwanted resumes? Imagine the value your recruiters could add to the bottom line if they had an extra 34 hours of productive time to fill. Consider the boost in morale this could generate in your HR staff. Think of how much more efficient the hiring process could be simply by removing noise, clutter and waste from the system.

For more information, please contact the Interview Exchange at 508.836.3800 or office@interviewexchange.com.

(1) ER Exchange, March 8, 2004, http://www.erexchange.com/ARTICLES/default.asp?cid={58260A4B-945D-4139-B072-64F0DEE54B56. Contact Dr. John Sullivan at JohnS@sfsu.edu or through his website www.drjohnsullivan.com.