According to CareerBuilder, over 40% of employers are having some trouble finding the right people. The demographic shifts, changing immigration policies, continuously evolving skill requirements, geographic dislocations (there's no one left in West Kansas), stable and low unemployment rates, and cost of living barriers in major urban areas all contribute to a legitimate sense of labor shortage. The people you want to hire are not banging on your door.

But, it's simply not true that you can't find people.

They may be currently employed, want more money than you have budgeted, live somewhere else, have the ability to do the job but can't meet your requirements or already work for you. You can find them, alright. It's just a case of knowing what you want, very clearly knowing what you want.

It is easier than ever to find people.

The trouble is that the ones who are really eager to work for you (10%)  clog the arteries of your communications channels; it's as easy for them to find you as it is for you to find them. You can count on an ever increasing supply of eager candidates as searching for employers becomes easier and easier. You'll recall that the friction has been taken out of the job search process.

80% of potential employees are completely ambivalent about the opportunities to work in your company. They have many options and their opportunity matrix improves every day. You can find them, they're just not immediately interested in you. Really, they have

The last 10% are actively disinterested. They don't want to work for you.

Unfortunately, there is an inverse relationship between an employee's desire to work for you and the benefit they are likely to bring. IN other words, the market has shifted to: the more you want them, the less they want you (initially).

Equally unfortunately, current recruiting software is designed to cull through the eager 10%. Recruiters sometimes call this "Interest and Availability". In the vast majority of cases, the people who can improve the viability of your enterprise have to be sold on the prospect of working for you. The question isn't matching or screening, it is reaching out.

• What It Was Like
• What Happened I
• What Happened II
• What Happened III
• What Happened IV
• What Happened V
• What Happened VI
• Where It's Going I
• Where It's Going II
• What's Going On I: Recruiting
• What's Going On I: People

John Sumser © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.
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