Several months ago I blogged about the unique recruiting campaign launched by Australia. The recruiting campaign was hugely successful with over 35,000 applicants applying for the job. Sadly, the winner of the ‘best job’ was stung by a jellyfish last week. I doubt that was in the benefits package.
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Nevada, particularly Las Vegas, recently experienced a bubble burst in the real estate industry. Speculators were buying and selling homes at such rampant rate that it drove up the cost of housing. Today, housing prices are where they were in 2000.
In the late 1990s we experienced the dot com bubble burst. Hundreds of tech companies went under, the stock market plummeted and the economy was weakened.
Today, there is a “talent” bubble forming. And when the talent bubble bursts, employers will be the ones left picking up the pieces. So what makes up the talent bubble:
This all creates a fictitious sense of security with the War for Talent. All this is doing is temporarily extending the timeline for retirement. And this bubble is primarily made up of the baby boomer generation……so it is expanding exponentially. In a few years, when the economy has fully recovered and 201(K)s are again 401(K)s, this demographic will feel comfortable enough to retire from the workforce. When that happens, it will happen in masses. Employers will be left trying to fill the holes created.
(Las Vegas, NV) In an AARP survey released today, Clark County businesses identify finding employees with the right skills and qualifications to be their biggest worry when it comes to workforce concerns, with 53 percent suggesting it had been their top challenge over the last five years. Eighty-six percent (86%) said that they believed it is highly likely that they will experience problems finding qualified workers over the next five years. These were the top workforce challenges identified by employers in Clark County, despite the current economic climate in the county and across the state according to the survey, The Boomer Factor: Rethinking an Underutilized Workforce in Nevada.
Remarkably, though finding qualified workers is of paramount importance, employer interest in retaining existing workers with the bulk of organizational knowledge is split with 43 percent surveyed viewing it as not important. And only 45 percent of all companies surveyed have any processes in place to transfer worker knowledge when employees leave the company.
Additionally, two thirds (59%) of respondents said that their organization does not factor turnover into their employment costs at all. This despite the fact that when employees leave an organization, not only do they take with them the skills and knowledge that contributed to the operations, goals, profits and successes of the organization, their departure will cost the organization in replacement hiring, training new hires and lost productivity. In a 2005 Towers Perrin report commissioned by AARP, turnover costs of average employees can be 50 percent of that employee’s annual salary. According to the Clark County survey 53 percent of employers were not sure what percentage of human resource costs could be attributed to employee turnover.
Michael Traficanti, Senior Vice President of Human Resources with Nevada Federal Credit Union is one of the hiring managers who truly understands the value of the company’s workers. “NFCU workers that have been with us for years are familiar with the unique regulations and standards that are common to our industry. They are also invaluable for assisting with cross training new employees. Along that same line, seasoned job seekers are highly revered when we have new positions to fill.”
As baby boomers leave the workforce, “brain drain” has the potential to become a serious problem for business. Worker shortages and challenges with retaining organization knowledge are already negatively impacting such industries as healthcare, engineering and teaching. The current recession gives business an opportunity to rethink their hiring strategies to gain a competitive edge in the future.
This AARP survey was designed to better understand the extent to which employers in Clark County are adapting to shifting labor force demographics and a pending future labor shortage as baby boomers, one of largest and best educated generations our country has ever produced, begin to retire from the workforce.
AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. AARP does not endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to either political campaigns or candidates. We produce AARP The Magazine, the definitive voice for 50+ Americans and the world’s largest-circulation magazine with over 34.5 million readers; AARP Bulletin, the go-to news source for AARP’s 40 million members and Americans 50+; AARP Segunda Juventud, the only bilingual U.S. publication dedicated exclusively to the 50+ Hispanic community; and our website, AARP.org. AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity that provides security, protection, and empowerment to older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers, donors, and sponsors. We have staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Adult Industry Thriving in Down Economy
Well, I am not sure if “thriving” is the right word, but it seems like the adult industries’ War for Talent has been reversed. According to several recent articles, many young women are changing their careers to be an adult industry professional. Check out these stories:
A buddy of mine, just shared this video with me:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nteiqLgZFOU]
It shares some eye-opening facts that are relevant to Human Resources and Recruiting:
It is a quick-watch and very engaging. Enjoy!!
How can government get in the way of recruiting?
When they are responsible for licensure. And the licensure process takes longer than it should.
This is particularly the case with medical professionals who need Nevada licensure before they can practice. Annette Wells of the Las Vegas Review Journal did a nice job uncovering the issue in an article titled: Nevada’s tough laws weed out good physicians with bad.
Many times a physician loses patience (or would that be patients:)) waiting for the process. Other times, the opportunity to relocate passes.
Let me share a personal experience:
One of my best friends (and a fraternity brother) from college is a podiatrist. He has a successful practice with multiple offices in Pennsylvania. His skills as a diabetic wound care specialist are in high demand in Las Vegas with our aging population.
I have been sharing my incredible experience of living in Las Vegas with him for over 15 years. He has visited on many occasions and has talked about how great it would be to start a successful practice in Las Vegas.
Well, over the last year he became more serious about this desire and took the necessary exam to start the process. He also scouted out office space, met with several hospitals to start the process of getting privileges to practice in their facilities and even had his wife out to begin looking at housing.
His goal was to open up a practice in the early Spring and relocate his family to Las Vegas after the kids got out of school for the Summer. The short story is – it took several more months to get his license than he expected. When he did get his Nevada license, it was the middle of Summer and the opportunity to move had passed.
Now with his children back in school and the crashing economy, we more than likely will not get him to consider relocating for a few more years. This is a loss to the entire Nevada community.
I imagine there are many similar situations like this.
With Nevada having one of the worst physician (and nurse) to population ratios in the country, you would think that we would give a higher priority to the licensure process. Unfortunately, with our Governor’s lack of commitment to health care, I imagine the situation will only get worse.
Although Nevada has reached the highest unemployment level (7.1%) in over 20 years, critical workforce shortages still exist in particular industries such as health care, engineering and mining.
During economic slowdowns the mining industry booms as the value of gold and silver continue to increase. In Nevada, mining is the third largest industry, only following gaming and construction.
So what are the Mining Jobs in Nevada? Nevada needs mining engineers, geologists and safety professionals.
And just like the nursing shortage, there is no end in site. The United States needs 350 new mining specialists each year and the educational infrastructure is only providing an average of 130. And just as the nursing profession, the mining professors are retiring at an alarming rate. The average age of a miner is over 50 years old.
Also similar to the nursing shortage, the mining shortage is a global shortage. Australia has over 80,000 vacancies including not only engineers and geologists, but bolters, truck drivers and other mining specialities.
As a life-long student of human resources, and more specifically, recruiting – I enjoy studying and continuously learning about recruitment strategies and processes. I find recruiters to be the warriors of any business looking to grow through the acquisition of top notch talent. And recruiters, just as warriors, know how to take advantage of chaos and seize the moment when they sense weakness.
Well, the chaos last week in the financial markets with Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG has created a huge opportunity for recruiters in the financial industry. According to Workforce Management, recruiters in this niche are in the midst of a ‘feeding frenzy.’
When I was returning from vacation with my wife , I grabbed the magazine in the back of the airplane seat for some light reading as I always do. In a section dedicated to the “Spirit of Nevada” I saw the below ad:
What a refreshing sight. For years I have been encouraging employers to consider this strategy. Why? Because it makes sense. For a company like the Las Vegas Valley Water District who needs talent with very specific skills, that talent does not exist in Las Vegas….yet. So we need to go find it. We can use job boards who market Engineering Jobs in Las Vegas, but sometimes that is not enough.
Think of the target demographics of the person who just picked up the magazine:
Although they may, or may not, be an engineer, systems analyst, micro-biologist or someone interested in a job with the water district, they more than likely know someone that could be. And with a cool and compelling ad such as the above, I expect Las Vegas Valley Water District will get a good ROI (Return on Investment) on this advertisement. Great job on thinking ‘outside of the box.’
One of the biggest challenges for any organization is sourcing. There are several ways to do it, but few do it well. Well, one of the best sourcer’s in the country, Shally Steckerl, will be in Las Vegas to share his secrets along with some other very notable speakers.
If you plan to attend the upcoming Kennedy Conference, this is considered the “Post-Conference Summit.”
Here are the basics:
World renown Sourcing Guru, Shally Steckerl, hosts Kennedy Expo’s Post–Conference Sourcing Summit which brings together the very best in the business to share their techniques and pass along the secrets that have made them so successful.
…learn the latest sourcing techniques
…hear from proven sourcing experts
…elevate your skills to “specialist” status
…uncover new avenues for identifying talent
View the agenda, and you’ll see the future of your own advanced skills set…
9:05 AM – 10:00 AM
Internet Sourcing at Lightning SpeedAll the gems are unearthed as one of the world’s best minds in recruiting research, Shally Steckerl, presents his top 10 greatest hits. Become familiar with many of the powerful yet little-known, hands-on techniques that have made him successful, and walk away with techniques you can apply immediately to your requisitions.
You’ll go from one “Aha!” moment to another as Shally rattles off such examples synonym & thematic search for finding resumes, companies, associations, etc., LinkedIn tips that will get your viewable network into the millions in minutes, find profiles beyond your 3-degree network, and more.
You’ll discover search engine time-savers like bookmarklets (“browser power tools”) that eliminate the need to remember Boolean syntax and turbocharge your productivity, competitive intelligence, blog searching and much more.
Keynote Speaker: Shally Steckerl, Chief CyberSleuth, JobMachine
10:05 AM – 10:55 AM
Sourcing Hard-to-fill and High Level Positions
Have you ever used an ordinary phone book to call a CEO at home – and get referrals from his wife? Are you familiar with Web 2.0 technology and its power as a recruiting tool? Have you used LinkedIn to find likely candidates? How about “stunt” recruiting – like using the debut of the Halo game release as a way of connecting with techies.
Those are just a few examples of the kind of off-the-wall recruiting tips and techniques you’ll take away from this eye-opening, mind-bending session, designed to provide you with successful but little know “guerilla” recruiting tactics that will make something of a magician at sourcing, boost your career, but most of all, get results.
Featured Speaker: Chris Murdock, Executive Sourcer & Knowledge Manager, Yahoo!
10:55 AM – 11:15 AM
Networking Coffee Break11:15 AM – 12:00 Noon
Online Recruitment Made Simple
All staffing professionals will not want to miss this exciting and informative session where Gautam Godhwani, Co-Founder and CEO of Simply Hired, will share his expert staffing industry insights, highlight never seen before hiring trend data and walk the audience through a practical “how-to” guide for tapping into the online recruiting market to attract and retain the new generation of talent.
Gautam was a pioneer in the Web. 1.0 days as Co-Founder and CEO of AtWeb, where his team passionately focused on helping employers engage in and simplify their use of technology to increase the operating efficiency of their overall business. Gautam continues his passion today by helping employers, recruiters and staffing agencies to understand the cost per hire efficiencies gained by effectively utilizing the Web as one element in their recruiting plan mix and how to navigate through the complexities of the Internet, including the emerging social networks, to identify and acquire the untapped passive candidates.
Gautam Godhwani, Co-Founder & CEO, Simply Hired
12:05 PM – 1:00 PM
Measuring Sourcing Success
As economists debate the likelihood of a recession in 2008, smart companies are tightening their belts and investing their resources strategically. With this renewed focus on ROI, it’s critical for recruiters to demonstrate their value to the executive suite. Proactive recruiters are looking beyond traditional cost and quantity metrics, such as cost-per-hire and time-to-fill, to measure their success.
Tad Goltra, vice president and general manager of ZoomInfo’s recruiting business unit, will moderate this session designed to present and discuss new measurement strategies focused on the effectiveness of candidate sourcing and the larger impact on the business. With audience participation, Goltra will also focus on how metrics can — and should — be adjusted based on your specific goals and company needs.
Tad Goltra, Vice President & General Manager, Recruiting Business Unit, ZoomInfo
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Networking Luncheon2:05 PM – 3:00 PM
The Art of Recruiting Passive Candidates
Passive candidates, by definition, are not actively looking for a job. For the most part, they could care less about you and your opportunity. So you must recruit them differently.
This sourcing expert has mastered the art of intriguing and ultimately recruiting “rock star” candidates to some of the most powerful and successful corporations in the world. In this session, you’ll uncover her secrets of how best to market opportunities to candidates by email and phone, how to position your company, how to construct your pitch, and ultimately how to recruit a candidate the way you’d most want to be recruited yourself.
In the end, you will know how to transform the a list of potential candidates into viable contenders.
Krista Bradford, Founder & Principal, The Good Search
3:05 PM – 4:00 PM
Ask the Experts — a Sourcing Summit Town Hall
In this fast-paced session, you’ll join sourcing pros Shally Steckerl, Gautam Godwani and Krista Bradford for a free-wheeling, candid discussion of sourcing issues large and small. And remember, nothing is too small to discuss at Town Hall, so bring your stickiest wickets and prepare to let loose!
Moderator: Shally Steckerl, Chief CyberSleuth, JobMachine
Panelists: Dave Mendoza, Master Cybersleuth, Dave Mendoza & Associates
Gautam Godhwani, Co-Founder & CEO, Simply Hired
Krista Bradford, Founder & Principal, The Good Search
Chris Murdock, Executive Sourcer & Knowledge Manager, Yahoo!
I hope to see you there!!
