It’s no secret that it’s a tough recruitment market out there – and the latest jobs figures show exactly how tough.

Here are the key take-aways from the latest Labor Department data:

• Layoffs are at an 18-month low as companies concentrate more on retention than recruitment.
• Against record-low unemployment figures, the hiring rate remained unchanged at 3.7% although new hires fell from 5.51 million to 5.43 million.
• The number of unemployed workers almost exactly matched the number of job openings at around 6.5 million.
• The number of workers quitting their jobs rose by more than 130,000 compared to February numbers showing that workers’ confidence in finding better jobs or better pay has risen.

In such a market there are five key areas to concentrate on for recruiters – all of which are central to the way in which QJumpers recruitment software has been designed:

Work smart and fast. The numbers show that, although it’s tight, there’s clearly an ideal applicant for any role you require – it’s just a matter of finding them. Whether you need to be able to trawl social media to find people with the right skills, or you simply need to be able to target an applicant ahead of the competition by reaching them via their mobile devices, a recruiter’s role has become more focused on hitting the maximum number of potential candidates, flexibility and speed.

1. Know your target applicant. A robust recruitment strategy knows both the ideal roles a company needs to fill and the quality of applicant required to fill those jobs. As the figures show, American workers are willing to shift jobs for the right job – it’s your job as a recruiter to explain those roles well. It’s a natural reaction to the current recruitment climate for companies to focus on retention (as those layoff figures demonstrate), but that doesn’t mean you should ignore the huge numbers of American workers who would come to you and potentially enhance your company if you could just reach out to them. QJumpers was built around the concept of creating talent pools and then refining how that data is handled so companies can access potential workers fast.
2. Use technology to the best of its ability. The fact that the hiring rate has flatlined for another month shows that recruiters clearly have their work cut out – work that can be helped considerably by technology. QJumpers Sales Executive Michael David has highlighted the use of mobile technology and video especially as ways to stand out from the crowd as a potential employer while also speeding up the application process. “Being able to execute in the mobile space is more important than it’s ever been because it’s going to be tough to innovate in that area because the technology has already gone so far – what that means is that it has already become the established channel for communication and the companies that can work out how to use it effectively are going to be in a much better position to those that don’t.”
3. Understand your candidates’ experience. When the focus is on attracting the right applicants, in such a limited market, it’s vital to ensure they get the best possible experience from the first point of contact through all interviews and communication, to either the onboarding process or retaining the applicant’s details for potential future roles. QJumpers prides itself on having created an intuitive system that’s built around a company’s recruitment strategy and ease of use for both those involved in the hiring process and those applying for roles.
4. Raise your company’s profile as an ideal employer. It stands to reason that America’s jobs figures aren’t going to change hugely in the near future and that the days of high unemployment (back in 2007 at the start of the recession, there were nearly two unemployed workers for every role required) are behind us for now. This means that companies can look to implement longterm strategies around recruitment built on pushing their profile as a good potential employer. How a company recruits and uses innovative recruitment software is only part of the equation – other aspects include workplace and work hours flexibility, perks and how the company is branded online. Against the sort of employment figures we’re experiencing at the moment, a company’s positive profile is possibly its strongest weapon in the battle to attract ideal employees.

To experience QJumpers’ innovative approach to recruitment technology in a touch employment market, or for more information on how QJumpers can help you develop a successful recruitment strategy email us at [email protected].