How to Hire when Unemployment is Low

Regions across the United States are currently experiencing record low unemployment rates!

This is great news for the economy and for job searchers, but what does that mean for you, as employers and human resource managers?

With the lowest unemployment rate we've seen in two decades, the market has made a shift from an "employers market" to a "job seekers market". With this shift needs to come a shift in how your company approaches hiring, or you'll be left with lots of open jobs, and few applicants to fill them.

Check out the video below where I list out a couple of ideas of how you can change your hiring process when unemployment is low.

Video: How to Hire when Unemployment Rate is Low

4 tips for hiring great employees when unemployment rate is low:

1. Change your mindset about hiring when unemployment is low.

Believe that you can impact what's happening and you can make a change. Further more, you need to believe that by changing things you will actually produce different results. When you make changes, you are going to get more applicants.

2. Get to know your applicant target market.

Targeting people who have a job is very different than targeting people who are frantically looking for a job. In this market you're talking to someone who is comfortable at his or her job, and we need to help him or her take a risk. Mostly you want to convince them to leave where they are at now, for something better.

What are the things that you can say about your job that will motivate them to leave your job right now? How do you get to know your target audience? Talk to them. You can talk to your current employees, or you can get on LinkedIn and look at the profiles of the types of people you're hoping to attract.

3. Write a better job ad.

Write a job ad that is focused on convincing someone that has a job and is comfortable that its time for them to switch jobs and time for them to upgrade. As company's we're harder up for talent, be more lenient for talent. This means its time to drop down a step of whom you'll accept.

Maybe they don't have five years of experience but they do have three years of experience, or maybe they don't have a Master's degree but they do have a Bachelor's degree and a few years of experience. Let your job ad reflect that you're willing to compromise on some of the requirements. As the unemployment rate continues to come down you're going to have to relax your standards or requirements. Explain in your ad "now is the time to jump ship and move up".

4. Make your application process easier.

When the unemployment rate is low, it becomes an employee driven market. With an employee driven market, or a market where job seekers hold the cards essentially, we can't make people jump through as many hoops as we could in an employer's market. One of the hoops I often see company's wanting their applicants to jump through is a long application process. If you make it easier for your applicants to apply, with a short resume submission, or a quick 2 minute application, you'll get more applicants. Remember that you can always shorten that application and then you can add a longer application later.

As you make these changes, you'll slowly see an increase in your applicant flow, as well your number of qualified applicants no matter what the unemployment rate is. For more information on how to write a better job ad, download the FREE eBook below!

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