Employers Share “Inside Information” on Recruiting Talent

In our 2015 Central Florida Employment Outlook, employers recruiting talent in the Orlando MSA openly shared very candid recruiting challenges they are experiencing.
  
To get this direct information, we have our account managers speak directly to talent acquisition managers, human resources and internal recruiting departments to.  What gain valuable insight on what is “really” going on with the hiring/recruiting process that may be some of the same things you experience in your own company.

For the Central Florida job market, these are some of the comments of surveyed employers:

1.  Too Many Unqualified Resumes.  Shocker alert.  However, many employers said they do not have time to “fix” the problem.  While this issue is common, employers think that job seekers just apply to any job to “put their name” in the running for the job. Since technology allows this to happen fairly easily (unless you have the dreaded dinosaur applicant tracking system), employers also admit that many of them (not all) don’t respond back to non-qualified job seekers.  The fix?  Better job descriptions and screening questions is the normal answer.  “Until we come up with a strategy that sways a job seeker to consider that they may be wasting time applying to jobs they don’t qualify for, this issue is only going to get worse.”, mentioned by an employer. 

2. Competition.  With more people employed in Orlando than any other time in the regions history (1,145,000), competition for talent is heating up; especially in the hospitality and leisure sector.  Hoteliers, theme parks and restaurants are all recruiting for record number of job openings from a much smaller pool of qualified talent.  Professional services sector is expected to gain over 10,000 jobs this year and employers surveyed recognized the increased activity their departments will be (if not already) will experience. 

3. Sales, Technology and Call Center positions are hard to fill.  Employers told us that they are having a very hard time filling these types of positions.  One employer told us that even when they find a qualified technology candidates, if they don’t make an offer in a very short period of time, they will lose the job seeker to the competition.  Some employers said they have had issues with being competitive with salary (and hourly) compensation.  With a tightening job market, finding hard to fill jobs will get even more difficult.  

4.  Live Career Fairs.  Many employers said they are considering more live career fairs to help fill job requisitions.  Many stopped going to career fairs during and after the recession because they were getting plenty of candidate flow online.  This report clearly shows employers are going to need many other resources to make sure they can fill their positions and stay competitive. 

5.  Skilled Trades in High Demand.  Plumbers, HVAC, framers, welders, warehouse and electricians is in huge demand in Central Florida.  While the construction industry is still a long way off from the total number of employees it had before the recession, the industry is heating up.  Home builders need workers (dry wall, roofers, framers, masonry, wood workers and painters)

Finally, many of you also noted that you just don’t have the budget to keep up with the demand for hiring at your company.  Many of you fear that unless this changes, with the tightening job market, the future to find future hires may get even harder.